yeast head

[ploar]

1st ag went well we feel.even had time to fry up in garage on camp stove. now all seems well in fv but the head has gone from light white fluffy to tight light brown smoothish.hope this is ok. have lid loose at mo should i snap lid down and fit bubbler.it.s good to see a fv in it,s rightful place in the kithen even more now we did,nt just open 2 tins of goo cheers

[BarryNL]

S-04 is a top-fermenting yeast - I thought Nottingham was too though I'm not sure about that one.

Personally, I'd leave it alone - I've never found any particular benefit to skimming off gunk and I certainly don't think it justifies the extra infection risk.

[ploar]

so best left alone. just got in , and under light brown foam, 2 volcano like white fluffy eruptions pushing up. never saw any thing like this with kit.cheers for replys. looking forward to 2nd ag

[BarryNL]

Nope, SO4 isn't a true top cropping yeast, it doesn't form a yeast crust on top of the beer, just foam. Nottingham isn't either. SO5 is a top fermenting yeast.

"Top fermenting" is not the same as "true top cropping". Top fermenting is basically any strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

[boingy]

so best left alone. just got in , and under light brown foam, 2 volcano like white fluffy eruptions pushing up. never saw any thing like this with kit.cheers for replys. looking forward to 2nd ag

Yeah, best left alone and, yes, AG fermentations can be most spectacular. Try not to have nightmares about the evil foam tentacles reaching out for you whilst you are asleep....

[BarryNL]

Yes, a careless turn of phrase, however

Safale S-04 Ale Yeast

A well-known, bottom-fermenting ale yeast strain

Hmm, the terms seem to be used fairly inconsistently. However, a quick Google on "S-04 top fermenting" gives more than 4 times as many hits as "S-04 bottom fermenting" so this does seem to be the more commonly used terminology - correct or not. Wikipedia gives the definition that top fermenting yeasts are those where their hydrophobic surface causes them to bind to CO2 and so float to the top - which includes all Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Strangely the Fermentis website lists their Saflager strains as also being Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

[Iank]

I have always used SO4, and find the yeast normally sinks and forms a cake at the bottom of the FV.
My recent brew (GW's McMullen' AK), fermented with SO4, behaved oddly. It was slow to start (though I only 'sprinkled'), and then the yeast didn't sink. Everything seemed fine (in fact it got down to 1.006), but the yeast remained 'buoyant', up until I racked it 13 days later. I have no idea why that is. Anyone?