Diacetyl question-

[Mike Newman]

How long does it take for yeast to clean up diacetyl in bottle conditioning? I have an English IPA that I decided to taste after 8 days and it had a heavy diacetyl flavor (not unexpected). It’s FG was 1.015 giving it 5.91% abv, so not really a “big beer” by any stretch. I read that some beers may take 4-5 weeks to clean up diacetyl but most were much heavier than this EIPA. Is this just a time issue or can I do anything to help decrease this?

 

[dmtaylor]

Takes about 3-4 weeks in my experience. Keeping it at room temperature should help clean it up faster than if you have it cold.

 

[jekeane]

How long was it on the yeast cake? Did you pitch enough healthy yeast?

There is basically two ways the beer can go.

If when you bottled you had enough yeast actively working on reducing the diacetyl then you would be looking at a few weeks assuming they go back to cleaning up after priming.

If you have too much diacetyl due to pulling off the yeast cake too soon or stressing the yeast then it won't go away and will only get worse with time.

If you still have butter after 3-4 weeks of conditioning at room temps I have doubts that it will ever clear up.

 

[Mike Newman]

How long was it on the yeast cake? Did you pitch enough healthy yeast?

There is basically two ways the beer can go.

If when you bottled you had enough yeast actively working on reducing the diacetyl then you would be looking at a few weeks assuming they go back to cleaning up after priming.

If you have too much diacetyl due to pulling off the yeast cake too soon or stressing the yeast then it won't go away and will only get worse with time.

If you still have butter after 3-4 weeks of conditioning at room temps I have doubts that it will ever clear up.

It was on the yeast cake for 15 days and pitched 11.5g of Nottingham ale yeast. It sounds like I’ve got some waiting to do...

 

[springinloose1]

Interesting... I don't do d-rests in bottle; I do them in secondary and only raise the temp in the ferm chamber about 5 degrees for like 4-5 days max. The lagers typically turn out wonderful. Let us know how long she went before you can't tell the off flavors are present anymore.

 

[Mike Newman]

Interesting... I don't do d-rests in bottle; I do them in secondary and only raise the temp in the ferm chamber about 5 degrees for like 4-5 days max. The lagers typically turn out wonderful. Let us know how long she went before you can't tell the off flavors are present anymore.

Honestly I am brand new to homebrewing (2 months) and this is only my third brew so I’m learning as I go. What is the purpose of putting into secondary? And when do you do that?

 

[yeahfairly]

Some folks want to get the beer off of the yeast/trub cake as soon as possible (fear of off flavors).... They move to a secondary and let the yeast that is still in suspension clean up the beer. Some don't bother with secondary unless they are adding fruit (or various other additions) to their beer and plan on running an extended fermentation. Some folks don't bother with a secondary fermentation at all.... There are several camps with different trains of thought. As long as you are producing beer that you like..... and having fun doing it.... that's really all that matters!

 

[MaxStout]

It cleans up faster in primary, as you have the whole yeast population working on it. I do a d-rest the last 4 or 5 days of primary, bumping it up to about 68-72, then cold-crash before bottling. If diacetyl is still present when it's bottled, it will take at least a few weeks for the smaller yeast population to clean it up. Store the bottles at around 70 and try one in a couple weeks.

However, if the diacetyl is caused by an infection (i.e., pedio), nothing's going to help.

 

[Mike Newman]

It cleans up faster in primary, as you have the whole yeast population working on it. I do a d-rest the last 4 or 5 days of primary, bumping it up to about 68-72, then cold-crash before bottling. If diacetyl is still present when it's bottled, it will take at least a few weeks for the smaller yeast population to clean it up. Store the bottles at around 70 and try one in a couple weeks.

However, if the diacetyl is caused by an infection (i.e., pedio), nothing's going to help.

Okay I have them stored at 70 on top of my fridge to see if the extra heat will spark the yeast into cleaning up the diacetyl. Should I agitate the bottles to force the yeast back into suspension, or will the heat be enough?

Also how do I tell if the beer is infected?

 

[MaxStout]

Don't shake them. The warmth will keep the yeast active. If it's infected, you'll know it--it might erupt when you open one.

 

[dmtaylor]

Getting yeast back into suspension I think is a good idea. This is as easy as turning each bottle upside down and back right side up again -- shaking would be unnecessary.

I doubt this is an infection. Diacetyl from an infection is quite rare. An infection would typically cause gushers or explosions or the beer to go sour in addition to other off-flavors. An infection would be very obvious. I seriously doubt that is your issue.