Diacetyl rest

So I brewed my first lager (bock) on Friday May 6th and pitched at around 70F, waited for fermentation to start, then cranked the temp down to 51F. On Monday of this week (10 days in) I checked and there was no activity in the air lock whatsoever. At this point I was a little worried that I missed my chance for a diacetyl rest, but I went ahead and turned the temp up to 61F. Last night I checked and air lock activity has started up again and it was still going this morning. It's no where near vigorous, just a bubble every now and then. So my question now is, do I let it sit at 61F now until there's no airlock activity, then lager it? Should I crank the temp back down to 51F to finish fermenting?

Did yyou take a grav reading. You renewed bubbling could just as easily be co2 coming out of solution, because you raised the temp and the gas in the fermenter is expanding. This is why airlock bubbling should not be equated with fermentation...

Good point on the gas expanding, never really thought about that. That's my plan tonight... take a gravity reading and go from there.

I would pull hydrometer sample first of all, all your decisions based on airlock activity and time is pointless. You might have stalled fermentaton after all. If you would pitch yeast at 50F and hold it there you wouldn't need diacetyl rest. I ferment maibock as we speak and at day 6 its down to 1.044 from 1.080 and so far I cannot detect any diacetyl, but time will tell

I know if I pitched lower I could avoid a diacetyl rest, but in Texas heat, even with a 50' wort chiller it takes way to long to get the wort to 50F.

Brett3rThanU said:

I know if I pitched lower I could avoid a diacetyl rest, but in Texas heat, even with a 50' wort chiller it takes way to long to get the wort to 50F.

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I use 50' IC also and there is no way I can cool my wort to 50F in reasonable amount of time. Solution in this case is to chill wort overnight! I done 5 lagers this year already and its my standard procedure. Cool wort to around 70F, transfer it to fermentor (carboy in my case), set sealed fermentor and yeast starter in fridge overnight at 45-46F, pitch yeast next morning, than gradually raise temperature to 50F. Works like a charm and never fails. I never understood all that rush to dump your yeast in wort. You doing more harm pitching warm than good. Woort will be ok for up to 24 hours if your sanitation is good.

paraordnance said:

I use 50' IC also and there is no way I can cool my wort to 50F in reasonable amount of time. Solution in this case is to chill wort overnight! I done 5 lagers this year already and its my standard procedure. Cool wort to around 70F, transfer it to fermentor (carboy in my case), set sealed fermentor and yeast starter in fridge overnight at 45-46F, pitch yeast next morning, than gradually raise temperature to 50F. Works like a charm and never fails. I never understood all that rush to dump your yeast in wort. You doing more harm pitching warm than good. Woort will be ok for up to 24 hours if your sanitation is good.

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Thanks for the tip!

paraordnance said:

Cool wort to around 70F, transfer it to fermentor (carboy in my case), set sealed fermentor and yeast starter in fridge overnight at 45-46F, pitch yeast next morning, than gradually raise temperature to 50F.

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Did something similar on my lager last weekend, except put my whole kettle in the freezer to chill then transferred. Even a short cold crash made for a very clear beer in the primary, it's chugging away at 46 and smells absolutely great. It's a Rauchbier and I'm really excited about its potential.

osagedr said:

Did something similar on my lager last weekend, except put my whole kettle in the freezer to chill then transferred. Even a short cold crash made for a very clear beer in the primary, it's chugging away at 46 and smells absolutely great. It's a Rauchbier and I'm really excited about its potential.

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I wasn't brave enough to leave wort in boil kettle overnight but I will give it a shot next time! I imagine it will be super clear next morning since all that trub will have plenty of time to settle. I love to experiment and I gone as far as lagering for 3 weeks on yeast cake in primary carboy with great results! I'm doing this not because I'm lazy, I just trying to remove unnecessary steps from a process

paraordnance said:

I wasn't brave enough to leave wort in boil kettle overnight but I will give it a shot next time! I imagine it will be super clear next morning since all that trub will have plenty of time to settle. I love to experiment and I gone as far as lagering for 3 weeks on yeast cake in primary carboy with great results! I'm doing this not because I'm lazy, I just trying to remove unnecessary steps from a process

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My wort was in the kettle for about two hours post-boil; worked like a charm as far as I can tell. Also think your idea of lagering on the yeast is probably a good one. There has been all kinds of discussion about extended primary; my guess is that the yeast aren't doing a whole lot at lagering temperatures but it shouldn't hurt anything either.

I just bottled my light lager after it was in the primary for two weeks. It came out super clear straight out of the primer and was carbonated to an extent because of the 60F temp so it was more like a steam beer. But the beer/wort was drinkable at this stage. However im going to let it sit in bottles in the fridge for 3 weeks a least. This is my first attempt and seems ok.