Preventing Diacetyl -or- "Hold The Butter Please"

[h22lude]

Subscribe...great thread.

I could be completely wrong but my last two batches taste or smell like they have/had diacetyl. My ipa smelt strong of butterscotch at first but then after a month in the bottle it tasted better. My Belgian wit now tastes a little buttery but it has only been in the bottle for 3 weeks.

 

[gio]

Just tried an IIPA (9% ABV) I brewed. I fermented it in the primary for only 4 days because fermentation was complete by then (according to my hydrometer). I was following the advice of "rack to secondary when fermentation is almost finished" and I racked it and left it in the secondary for 4 1/2 weeks before bottling.

It's been in the bottle for just a week now (not quite completely carbonated) and it tastes good but definitely has a buttery IHOP aroma that is more intense when the beer gets warm. I'm hoping it goes away with time but I've seen to hear very mixed experiences regarding diacetyl here.

 

[TomOliver]

Welp. Got some butter beer here.

Thanks to this thread, hopefully it won't happen again.

Tom

 

[jman300sd]

Apart from not fermenting long enough and perhaps warm enough what else causes diacetyl? Infection? I have an american wheat I had in the primary for 5 weeks and after bottling I have noticeable levels of diacetyl. It varies from bottle to bottle in terms of intensity. I don't recall tasting any diacetyl before I bottled and I could have sworn I cleaned the hell out of the bottles. I did use washed yeast from a previous batch and I fermented at about 68. I don't know where else to look and evaluate. I am trying to improve my process. This is my first batch out of 16 that has bad diacetyl.

 

[pkgmsu2000]

Apart from not fermenting long enough and perhaps warm enough what else causes diacetyl? Infection? I have an american wheat I had in the primary for 5 weeks and after bottling I have noticeable levels of diacetyl. It varies from bottle to bottle in terms of intensity. I don't recall tasting any diacetyl before I bottled and I could have sworn I cleaned the hell out of the bottles. I did use washed yeast from a previous batch and I fermented at about 68. I don't know where else to look and evaluate. I am trying to improve my process. This is my first batch out of 16 that has bad diacetyl.

perhaps the batch was underpitched and you didnt have enough yeast?
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

or perhaps it was just a bad batch of yeast?

that is a bit strange for you to have this problem if you've already brewed 15 other batches. usually i hear that it happens on the first few batches because they didnt make a starter or didnt properly sanitize, or they tried a lager with way too little yeast.

 

[IMNOTL8]

So... I got dinged at a competition (my first) for off flavors and the possibility of poor sanitation, bacterial ring forming? on the inside of my bottle, etc. I had a few more bottles of this beer that I had bottled from the keg at the same time and noticed no "bacterial ring" forming. Didn't notice the off flavors. I will have to admit that I am not sure if I have tasted anything that has that buttery flavor... This was an Imperial Pilsner that was 10.5% ABV. I entered it in a Bohemian Plisner category. I had some friends who were beer judges tell me that it was one of the best homebrews they'd ever had! I was taking his word for it when I entered the competition when I received 15/50 points! So.... I guess my question is could the high ABV of the beer be a contributing factor to the diacetyl/off flavors? I acutally did a diacetyl rest and this beer was in the priamry for quite some time.

 

[Amarillo4BRKFST]

I love this thread - as diacetyl in Central TX is a reality similar to taxes and death. However, it touches on an issue that constantly plagues me -

How does an IPA condition in a bottle for an entire month without ending up utterly devoid of hop flavor?

 

[sddanc]

I love this thread - as diacetyl in Central TX is a reality similar to taxes and death. However, it touches on an issue that constantly plagues me -

How does an IPA condition in a bottle for an entire month without ending up utterly devoid of hop flavor?

100% brett fermentation

 

[sammyreyes]

So what are my options? I make a Irish Red from extract. After one week in the primary, I transferred it to the carboy. After a week in the carboy transferred it to my keg. I didn't take multiple SG readings in the secondary. Just once when I transferred, and once before I put it in the keg. Once in the keg, it sat for 2-3 days before I tasted it. Its been in the keg now for about 1 1/2 weeks. Still has that burnt butterscotch taste.

Is it a loss? Or is there a way to salvage this batch?