Diacatyl in British Ales

[erikn68]

I am planning on doing a Dark mild ale, but the british yeast sometimes has a high diacatyl(buttery) flavor. I normally ferment at 68F and the recipe is for all grain. Is there a good way to reduce the buttery flavor from the yeast fermentation in british ales. I will be using white Labs wlp002 (English Ale Yeast). I normally use it for ESB I make. Any help to reduce the buttery flavor would be nice.

Thanks

Erik

 

[dmtaylor]

Swirl the fermenter a couple times a day, and give the beer several weeks to mature after packaging. In doing so, the diacetyl, if present, will be minimized.

 

[refect]

I've never really had a problem with diacetyl from 002. They work pretty fast, but just give it some extra time to clean up. I routinely use this yeast. I like to start fermentation at 62 F. Then let it free rise to 66 F three days later and let it finish at that temp. I always get a pretty clean fermentation and eater profile with this method. I've experienced some dark fruit/plum/pear like characteristics in the higher temperature during fermentation, which you may experience.as well at 68 F. You can also do a forced diacetyl test before you bottle or keg to make sure the yeast have finished cleaning up. It's pretty simple to do. There are some videos on YouTube showing how to do it if you aren't sure how.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

As not an expert on mild the last one I drank I was 16 and now I’m 73 but it was a drink you could not get drunk on even a 16. It got a bad reputation which was deserved for a beer that slops from the drink tray and beer left on tables got poured into including cigarettes ash. Cheers.

 

[Yooper]

I've never really had a problem with diacetyl from 002. They work pretty fast, but just give it some extra time to clean up. I routinely use this yeast. I like to start fermentation at 62 F. Then let it free rise to 66 F three days later and let it finish at that temp. I always get a pretty clean fermentation and eater profile with this method. I've experienced some dark fruit/plum/pear like characteristics in the higher temperature during fermentation, which you may experience.as well at 68 F. You can also do a forced diacetyl test before you bottle or keg to make sure the yeast have finished cleaning up. It's pretty simple to do. There are some videos on YouTube showing how to do it if you aren't sure how.

Me neither- in fact sometimes I use 002 for my American IPAs at a lower temperature too, because I like it. Not too many esters at all, and pretty nice malt flavors and yet the hops and bitterness still shine. Never picked up diacetyl in it.

 

[Miraculix]

You actually want to do all you can that English yeasts have no chance to clean up after themselves. This includes gradually lowering temperature from peak fermentation onwards.

 

[DuncB]

Agree with @Miraculix
start cool and let slowly rise, ensure the wort has nutrients and oxygen at the start, @northernbrewer quotes this reference
https://web.archive.org/web/2019071.../Tobias-Fischborn-NHC2009-Yeast nutrition.pdf

Also cooling slowly at the end of fermentation benefits reduction of diacetyl.

You could of course ignore all this and just add ALDC.

 

[Bobby_M]

The main reason WLP002, or the Omega version "extra special" would kick diacetyl is if you have really poor temp control that puts it through rollercoaster rise during the day and cooling at night. Once it gets close to final gravity, that night cooling will crash it out too soon. Another reason would be if you rack the beer off the yeast too quickly. If the temp has to change at all, it's better that it's going in the upwards direction towards the end of fermentation.

There's no reason to avoid the strain as it makes a VERY good ESB or Mild.