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I recently made the switch to Safale - 04 yeast. I've brewed a pale ale and a stout, both of which tasted great out of the primary and secondary and I can't wait to open the bottles.

However I have found it curious that safale seems to do it's work very very quickly and covertly. Both brews have been made and pitched at night, ~11pm. Then by morning there are no bubbles, but there is a krausen, by the following evening (~5pm) the krausen has fallen back in and SG measurements suggest fermentaion is complete. Racking and leaving for 3-4 days incurs no further drop in SG (and no bubbles either).

The first time this happened I assumed a leak around my airlock, second time around I eliminated that possibility and monitored more closely. It seems to me that my safale is fermenting overnight!! I'm not complaining because it's making unreal beers quickly, I'm just curious what everyone else's experience is with safale fermentation times.

P.S. The temperature is typically 22-24 deg.

Rubber.Piggy wrote:I recently made the switch to Safale - 04 yeast. I've brewed a pale ale and a stout, both of which tasted great out of the primary and secondary and I can't wait to open the bottles.

However I have found it curious that safale seems to do it's work very very quickly and covertly. Both brews have been made and pitched at night, ~11pm. Then by morning there are no bubbles, but there is a krausen, by the following evening (~5pm) the krausen has fallen back in and SG measurements suggest fermentaion is complete. Racking and leaving for 3-4 days incurs no further drop in SG (and no bubbles either).

The first time this happened I assumed a leak around my airlock, second time around I eliminated that possibility and monitored more closely. It seems to me that my safale is fermenting overnight!! I'm not complaining because it's making unreal beers quickly, I'm just curious what everyone else's experience is with safale fermentation times.

P.S. The temperature is typically 22-24 deg.

I initially had the same issue with S-04 RP...pitched @ 24*C...2 days...nothing....got worried & pitched the can yeast, then within 2 hours the airlock was bubbling its head off...but I think the issue I had was not rehydrating the yeast properly but only the yeasties know if I did it right or not!

Safale is a very good Ale yeast, but best used around 18 - 20 degs, for cleaner less fruitier beer.It has very good flocculating properties too. Which means it gathers up the fermented by products and sticks....sinks them hard to the bottom of the fermenter.

Which makes for cleaner racking or bottling. My humble experience.

P.S. Pitch it rehydrated, less shock for the little buggas.

They do work quickly- especially at the warmer temperatures. Back when I believed the Coopers video, I used to run them at 24-26*C. The brew was done in 2-3 days regularly. Tasted pretty good too, considering. There is no reason you can't make fruity ales if that's your taste. I run the odd batch hot still.

The packet says recommended temp 18-24 so i assumed that 22 was fine, and I'm not getting any hint of fruitiness.

I'm pitching a 750ml starter so they are definately getting running start. I just had not idea it could be so fast!!

My experience with safale so4 is only two brews old,but i rate it highly as a replacement for kit yeasts.It isn't quite as aggressive as coopers yeasts,but is a better attenuator.There is also a new one called us56,american ale that i'm using at the moment.As far as i can see,it's going to be a good sugar muncher ,probably even better than so4; this is the first brew i've had in 5 that is still bubbling away merrily after 5 days,excellent!!!

i use this yeast all the time and it does ferment quickly, overnight is a bit much tbh, but still i run it at 18degrees c.

i use it by eather getting a cup of water (preboiled and cooled) at about 28degrees and tipping the yeast onto the top of it then covering it with clingfilm and leaving it for 5 mins i stop cooling the wirt at 22degrees then whisk the cup and yeast vigurously with a sanitised whisk for a few seconds, then pitch to the fermentor( i try and get the mixture to around the same temp as the wirt usaly it has cooled enough in 5/10 mins), i let the temps drop and stabalise at 18 and it takes about an hour to kick off and 4/5days to stop compleatly,

also a have been known on as many occasions to just tip the packet straight onto the top of the fermentor and leave it, takes about 10hours longer to start but i see very little difforence other than that.