No diacetyl rest

Hi everyone......I brewed today with WLP800 yeast but i am going on holidays at the end of the week and wont be around to do a diacetyl rest. I keep reading that some people do a rest and others dont. The beer is fermenting at 51 degrees and i plan to leave it there for three weeks at that temperature. I pitched plenty of yeast and chilled the wort to 58 degrees before pitching. This should be good eh? What do you think?

Thanks

Eric

Can you set your chamber (or whatever it is you use) on a timer? You could set it to 60-65 before you leave, but then set the timer to turn it back down a few days later. It really depends on how far it gets, and maybe if you leave it at the warmer temps the whole time you'll be OK. The flavor profile has already locked in at that point anyway.

my fermentation chamber is a mini fridge with a temp controller......not able to ramp up and down automatically. Thanks for the idea though but i think i will just let her go at 51 degress for a few weeks and take my chances.

Eric

do you detect diacetyl in the beer? if not you don't need to worry about it.

Leave the beer at 51 degrees till you return. At that time warm it up ten degrees for 3-4 days then crash cool it and transfer. I do the exact same schedule all the time. I generally wait till there is no more air lock activity befre I warm my lagers up for a D-rest and they turn out fine.

How long are you going to be gone? Ideally, you do the diacetyl rest when the yeast is still active but if it's after fermentation has stopped, you can still do a diacetyl rest before racking and lagering.

I'd leave it until you get back. Warm a sample up and taste it, if you detect diacetyl then you have one of two options:

1. Let it go at room temp for a week, then taste it again.
2. Krausen it and let the new yeast reduce the diacetyl.

Thanks for the responses......i will let it go until i return from holidays. I will then take a hydro sample and taste it. At that point i'll either raise the temp and let it go another week or keg.

Eric

I used the same yeast on a Pils at the same temp you have for 3 weeks. I warmed it to 58 for 3 days then kegged and it is stored at 40 for two weeks. I will tap it this weekend and see how it turns out. Good luck

Let me know how it turned out Wetzie.

I have been brewing lagers for about 6 months......i am not entirely happy with the results. They are a little harder to brew than I thought.

Eric