Two weeks ago I brewed a porter (1.053, three gallons) with S-33. After it went like gang busters for a couple of days it slowed way down, airlock burps. I took a reading at five days and it was only down to 1.022. So I waited for nine days to take another reading and it was still 1.022.
My previous batch was a pale ale at 1.050. I used a pack of S-33 and a pack of Munton’s. It was down to 1.014 after nine days and ended up at 1.010 after three weeks. It started out the same way as the porter, but ended down where I wanted.
Anyone else have this happen with S-33?
I’m going to throw in a Munton’s and see if the porter drops some more.
what was your recipe? how old was the yeast? it’s unlikely that a 1.053 wort is done at 1.022 but not impossible. did your fermentation area get very cold at some point? adding the extra yeast won’t hurt anything though.
Adding more yeast at this point will not help unless you pitch a starter of actively fermenting yeast. Dry yeast won’t help.
Looks like you’re right, the dry yeast is doing nothing.
three gallons
3 3/4 lbs. pale ale malt
1 1/4 lbs. rye malt
12 ozs. British brown malt
12 ozs. chocolate rye malt
8 ozs. carawheat malt
2 ozs. pale chocolate malt
7/8 oz. home grown goldings
pinch Irish moss
1/8 tsp. nutrient
rice hulls
S-33
mashed at 154 for 45 minutes
The yeast was a couple of months past the best by date, but should have been okay for a three gallon batch. I pitched the yeast at 3 pm and had signs of fermentation by 10 pm and the airlock was burping once a second by morning.
I think I’m going to steer clear of this yeast in the future.
It actually tastes pretty good and doesn’t seem like it’s at 1.022
The only thing I did different from normal is to use a campden tablet to remove chlorine instead of filtering the water.
then you have no problem. I don’t usually judge a beer by it’s analysis because, unless I brewed it I don’t have that available. I judge it by perception and if it tastes good you won!
It does indeed taste good so I’m not going to complain too much. I’ll bottle probably the middle of next week and see what it’s like after it carbs.
Did you rehydrate yeast? Highly recommend doing that with all dry yeast. It will help w/ lag time and help get the fermentation going strong.
What was the fermentation temperature?
I don’t usually rehydrate on normal strength beer, The lag time was short I had signs of fermentation in about 6 hours and it was burping once a second after 15 hours.
I’ve seen the same thing from S-33 when the temperature fluctuates. To me it seems that if it gets cold, a lot of the activity just stops, & doesn’t return when things warm up.
How is your temperature control?
My brew room is a steady 63-66 this time of year.
S-33 does not breakdown maltotriose very well. Wheat malt is very high in Maltotriose.
Any yeast will need to chew through the simpler sugars before it will break it down.