S-04 fermenting "hot"?

[winvarin]

I pitched a rehydrated pack of S-04 into a beer Sunday afternoon. Wort temp was 68F. Ambient temp of my fermenting fridge was 66F.

I usually use US-05 for most of my standard beers. With this yeast, I can usually get pretty consistent temps when setting my ambient temp about 2F lower than my wort temp. By consistent, I mean that fermenter's the stick-on thermometer and the temp on the setting dial for my fridge controller are usually within 2 degrees of each other. The fermenter's sticky thermometer usually stays 2F higher than what I have the controller set at until active fermentation subsides.

This is my first try with S-04. And I have been having trouble keeping the temp down. I got home last night and my fermenter thermometer read 72F while my fridge controller was set at 68F. So I knocked back the fridge controller to 66F and went to bed.

Ambient temp of the garage where the fridge is has been a pretty consistent 65F for several days now.

When I got up this morning, the beer was still showing 72F. So I knocked back the temp setting to 62F on my fridge controller and will see what I have when I get home from work.

Has anybody else had trouble with this yeast throwing off that much heat? Is it really that active a fermenter?

 

[worksnorth]

O4 is usually faster to start fermenting and usually runs hotter than the 05. Just like you're describing.
And just like you're doing... adjust! : )

 

[MonsterBrew]

Do you have space to put the fermenter in a water bath? This can help stabilize the temperature more effectively than air alone. I would also stick the element from your temp controller on the fermenter itself if possible.

-David

 

[chapa]

Maybe I'm not understanding your scenario correctly, but does your temp controller have a probe connected to it? Wrap that probe in a paper towel, and tape it to the side of your carboy, and it will control the temp of the fridge, based on the temp of your fermentation.

 

[winvarin]

Maybe I'm not understanding your scenario correctly, but does your temp controller have a probe connected to it? Wrap that probe in a paper towel, and tape it to the side of your carboy, and it will control the temp of the fridge, based on the temp of your fermentation.

It has a probe. I thought about wrapping it in a towel but thought the evaporation of the water would cool the probe and only widen the gap between the temp of the beer and temp of the probe.

I do have the probe taped directly to the side of the BetterBottle. With US-05, this has always consistently allowed me to keep the beer (as measured by the stick on thermometer, and a weather thermometer probe I tape to the side of the fermenter as well) within 2 degrees of the set temp of my temp controller.

The beer had cooled considerably when I got home tonight. I am now sitting at 66F, with my fridge controller set at 60F. I'm guessing what worksnorth said is likely to work for me. I just need to adjust my temp controller to account for the heat this yeast produces. That and I will need to watch closely over the next couple of days so that I can turn my temp controller back up as fermentation slows.

 

[winvarin]

While we are on the subject of what to expect from yeast performance, what about Nottingham? The beer I have on deck will use Notty and it's my first time using this strain. Any temp concerns here. Does it also run a little hot?

 

[worksnorth]

The fellers are right, I strap my temperature probe to the carboy that I think will ferment the hottest with a small belt of neoprene and let my temp controller run the freezer up or down which ever way it needs to go to keep my fermenting brew at the temp I want. In the winter we let our garage where the freezer is get down into the 50's so I've got a heat blanket on low and a small fan in the freezer to actually help keep the freezer warm enough for fermenting ales