Resurrecting an old thread, but these comments about Liberty Bell v S-04 interested me. In my early days, I too used S-04 for bitters, but had been discouraged by adverse comments here, partly, and have tried others since.
Anyway, while back I brewed a batch of Flakey Bitter (my own recipe, but so named because of an addition of flaked barley). I decided to split the batch, and pitched half with LB, and half with S-04. By the way, the beer had pretty much hit its targets, and all looked good at pitching time. Both sets got down to around 1010 OK. Well, that was
<checks spreadsheet> 44 days ago (since bottling).
I'm drinking one of the S-04 half-batch now. It's lovely and clear, and the graininess of the barley comes through just how I'd like. The LB bottles still look well cloudy (although they are slowly improving), and look far from ready. I haven't tasted one yet.
Will they be worth the wait and eventually produce something better than the other lot? It strains my patience!
). Made a lovely stout.
