diacetyl rest

I'm doing my first lager, specifically an Oktoberfest. It's been at 55° for 12 days. Fermentation appears about complete however I have not taken a gravity reading. Have I missed my diacetyl rest period? I took it out today and put at room temp ~70°. I plan on leaving it there for 48-72 hrs then racking to secondary before putting back in to the keezer for the lagering phase. Is there a way to know if I've missed the diacetyl rest? Will it be alright? I'm not really craving butterscotch flavored Märzen. Thanks.

I've read that it's better to do the diacetyl rest when you're 75% of the way to FG, and that's what I try to do. However, I don't take daily SG readings so it's easy to miss it. Don't worry about it- the yeast should still be active and able to clean up any diacetyl. If you pitched enough yeast at a cool temperature to begin, you may not even need a diacetyl rest at all, although doing one as a matter of course is fine. When you take the SG, you can taste for diacetyl.

If you detect any diacetyl, leave it at 70 degrees until it's gone. In large amounts, diacetyl tastes like butter or butterscotch. In small amounts, it is more of a "slick" or "oily" mouthfeel. If you get any slickness on your tongue, keep the beer at d-rest temps until you no longer get that.

Listen to her! She helped me with my first lager and it turned out to be the best beer I've ever had. Before coming here, I had no idea about a diacetyl rest, but thank God I know! Good luck!

So then Yooper_Brew, if I read this correct, even if I am passed my 75% fermentation, I can leave it in primary at ~70° until the taste is gone, then rack to secondary put back in the keezer, and lower the temp by a couple degrees back down to upper 30's - low 40's? (no penalty for run-on sentence) Is there a maximum amount of time I want to avoid leaving in 'd-rest'?

I really have high hopes for this Oktoberfest; It's my favorite style.

brewyourbrews said:

So then Yooper_Brew, if I read this correct, even if I am passed my 75% fermentation, I can leave it in primary at ~70° until the taste is gone, then rack to secondary put back in the keezer, and lower the temp by a couple degrees back down to upper 30's - low 40's? (no penalty for run-on sentence) Is there a maximum amount of time I want to avoid leaving in 'd-rest'?

I really have high hopes for this Oktoberfest; It's my favorite style.

Click to expand...

Yes, yes, no. So there. That's repayment for your run-on sentence.

I like to lager at 34 degrees, I think it makes a "smoother" lager. Another thing I like to do is lager for one week for every 8-10 points of OG. For example, for an OG of 1.060, I'd lager for 6-8 weeks.

Check the SG before racking, just to ensure the FG is reached and the beer is not stuck. It won't drop much, if at all, in lagering.