Diacetyl Rest for Sommerbock

Evan! · 04-20-2007, 02:12 PM

Alright. I brewed my München Sommerbock the Sunday before last. It was supposed to be a Dunkel, but I exceeded my efficiency expectations by a really long shot, and ended up with 1.070...alas, it's a bock. I pitched a mad crazy Bohemian Pils starter that was fermenting heavily at pitch time. Lag time was short, and I nearly had a blowoff. After 5 days or so, it slowed down a bit.

I took a sample on Monday, and SG was around 1.032. I took another one last night, and it was only 1.030. Only 55% attenuation. But, sitting in the lagerator @ 52f, it seemed like fermentation had stopped, so last night I took it out and set it in my brewstation, which is hovering around 58f-62f depending on the weather. This morning, the fermometer says 58f. I'm noticing a few more bubbles in the airlock too.

Wyeast says that it benefits from a 24 hour diacetyl rest @ 58f. My question is, should I leave it at 58 for longer than 24 hours (and perhaps rouse the yeast) just to see if it will attenuate any further before dropping it down to the 30's to lager? I tasted the sample yesterday, and it's damned fine, honestly. I mean, it's a bock, so it's supposed to finish sort of sweet. I'm just concerned that there are still enough fermentables in there to result in gushers once I bottle it. The last thing I want to do is lager it before it's done...