Diacetyl rest for my first Lager

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DanPoch

DanPoch

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I took the plunge and moved to all-grain and did my first lager at the same time. I know, I know, I'm changing to many things at once, but it's more fun this way.

Anyway I'm making a black lager which started at 1.063 2 weeks ago.
Last night it was 1.022. BeerSmith predicted 1.020 for a FG.

I brought this up from my basement where it had been going at about 53F and put it in a small room with a constant ambient temp of 65F.

Now for my questions.
1) am I too late for the Diacetyl rest that I've been reading about?

2) the beer is very sharp at this time. I know I've had plenty of ales that have mellowed and I'm presuming that the lager will too, right?

Thanks for any help or suggestions you can offer.
:mug:
 
Don't feel bad... I never brewed in my life and my first beer was a 10 gallon batch of an all-grain lager of my own recipe. (Turned out alright!)

You're pretty much too late for the D-Rest, but you may have not needed it in the first place. By your description of the beer as "sharp", it doesn't sound like the description of a beer with diacetyl. Unless you had a bad diacetyl taste, I wouldn't recommend trying to do anything about diacetyl at this point.

But bringing the beer up in temp at the end can't hurt it... it may help you squeeze out a few more points of SG.

The sharpness will mellow with lagering. You should lager this beer for a good 8 weeks.
 
DanPoch said:
I took the plunge and moved to all-grain and did my first lager at the same time. I know, I know, I'm changing to many things at once, but it's more fun this way.

Anyway I'm making a black lager which started at 1.063 2 weeks ago.
Last night it was 1.022. BeerSmith predicted 1.020 for a FG.

I brought this up from my basement where it had been going at about 53F and put it in a small room with a constant ambient temp of 65F.

Now for my questions.
1) am I too late for the Diacetyl rest that I've been reading about?

2) the beer is very sharp at this time. I know I've had plenty of ales that have mellowed and I'm presuming that the lager will too, right?

Thanks for any help or suggestions you can offer.
:mug:
Click to expand...

You're fine. Unless you're beer tastes like buttered popcorn you will be ok. Moving it was fine...you may get some cleanup going. Sometimes I just think the agitation of moving it helps as much as the temp change.

Patience is the key with lagers. I hated the vienna I did for about 2 months. It was watery and tasteless. Then at about 10 weeks, bam...all the flavors came out. It's still not a great lager, but pretty drinkable. Good luck.
 
Thanks guys :)

No buttery tastes at all. It had a hint of maltiness after the sharpness dissipated. I'm hoping that that will stand out more after two or three months of aging.

My plan is to lager it in a bucket of ice water for at least 2 months (more if changing the 1L ice bottles doesn't drive me crazy). I may end up getting a freezer chest before the end of this.

I've always used a secondary for my ales letting them sit for a month before bottling, so the extra month for a lager isn't too bad. Never had a cold enough basement before to try a lager.
 
Just an update here, I kegged this lager a few weeks back and tapped into it last week.

Wow, nice and smooth, with just the right amount of malt flavor and a nice creamy head.

Thanks for all the help from my HBT forum friends :rockin: My first AG was a smashing success!
 
Congrats! It's always nice to make good beer when you put in a lot of time and effort. Happy brewing!
 
For future reference, there is a trick to fixed a missed D-Rest. You can add a quart of wort with fresh pitched yeast. Once the wort/re-starter hits high krausen add it to the fermented beer. The yeast will clean up what ever is in there, principally feasting on the diacetyl.
 
Mateo said:
For future reference, there is a trick to fixed a missed D-Rest. You can add a quart of wort with fresh pitched yeast. Once the wort/re-starter hits high krausen add it to the fermented beer. The yeast will clean up what ever is in there, principally feasting on the diacetyl.
Click to expand...

Awesome. I just tried an Oktoberfest that I thought I had performed a good D-rest on at the three week mark. Now, after it's been lagering for over two months the buttered popcorn flavor is overwhelming. A few weeks ago I couldn't taste any buttered popcorn, but now it's there. I'm planning to bring this beer to a family reunion in June.
 
Gameface said:
Awesome. I just tried an Oktoberfest that I thought I had performed a good D-rest on at the three week mark. Now, after it's been lagering for over two months the buttered popcorn flavor is overwhelming. A few weeks ago I couldn't taste any buttered popcorn, but now it's there. I'm planning to bring this beer to a family reunion in June.
Click to expand...

Diacetyl can develop after the diacetyl rest, too... from infection or from oxygenation at transfer (splashing).
 
Okay, dumb question.... I just did my first lager, and I thought that once it was done fermenting, you brought it up to 65º, and that was how you did a d-rest. Are you supposed to bring it up before fermentation is done? How do you know when to raise the temperature?
 
turkeyjerky214 said:
Are you supposed to bring it up before fermentation is done? How do you know when to raise the temperature?
Click to expand...

Yes, for a diacetyl rest, I believe you are supposed to bring it up before fermentation is done (seems strange, I know). You'll have to take gravity measurements to know when to raise the temp.

10 days ago I brewed a doppelbock with an OG of 1.080 and it is now right at about 1.040. I'm waiting for another couple of drop in gravity points and then I will start to raise the temp. I am looking for a FG between 1.020 and 1.025.

I know that a diacetyl rest is not always necessary, but I don't trust my palate so I am going to do it anyways because I don't think it can hurt.
 
Ah, that makes sense I guess. I'm actually brewing a 10 gallon batch of doppelbock on friday and did this Vienna lager as a test run for both a decoction and lagering.
 

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