Diacetyl in Witbier - already kegged

[Dannyboy87]

Hi all,

First of all, let me apologize if this question has already been asked and answered elsewhere. I searched but didn't find quite this exact scenario.

I brewed a Belgian wit with Wyeast 3944. It's already been kegged and carbonated, and after carbonation I noticed a stronger dacetyl taste and smell than what I'd like. The likelihood that it's an infection is pretty slim - I switched out my tap lines the same day that I kegged this batch and, ever since a bad experience about a year ago, I'm pretty sure I've given myself OCD when it comes to sanitizing any possible part of the keg. The taste was not this strong straight out of the primary, so the only thing I can assume is that the carbonation is bringing out diacetyl that was already there.

This batch was brewed with a 2L starter and turnaround time was 10 days. It hit FG on day 9 and I gave it a day to clean up before I kegged it (in retrospect, probably too short, but that's what I get for being impatient).

My question is, if I let it warm back up to 68-70 degrees still in the keg, do you think there's still enough yeast left in there to clean up the diacetyl? It's a wit and this yeast is known for staying suspended longer than normal.

Thanks for the help!
Danny Boy

 

[LLBeanJ]

I would think so.

 

[NZhomebrew]

Hi,

Did you harvest your yeast? I recently had a beer with a very strong diacetyl taste / smell. I re-pitched all of the same yeast I harvested from the fermenter and let it sit for another week at room temperature. The beer cleaned up and almost all of the diacetyl tase / smell was gone, there was only a very slight hint left that only I could detect.

 

[giraffe]

Yeah, Ive cleaned up beers in the same situation by warming them up to room temp for a week. It usually works. Unless you are alot more careful than I transferring, or used gelatin finings, theres probably enough yeast in the keg to clean up.

 

[Dannyboy87]

Thanks everyone! Unfortunately I didn't harvest any of the yeast, but I wasn't too careful during transfer either, so there should be plenty left in the keg.

Should I bleed the CO2 off from the carbonation or leave it?

 

[SHAIV]

I got the same thing different beer. I found this
http://onlinebeerscores.com/blog/how-to-fix-diacetyl/
You can make another yeast starter and pitch it and it should clean up the off flavor. Let me know what you do I'm going to try to fix mine soon by making a starter for it good luck

 

[Dannyboy87]

Quick update: It's been sitting out for about 3 days now. Just hooked it back up to the tap for a quick sample and it's clearing up nicely. I'm going to leave it out for another day or two and it should be great.

It's sad to think that if it's working this quickly when the beer's already been taken off the yeast cake, if I had left it on for just an extra day I probably wouldn't be dealing with this. My father-in-law is a bourbon distiller and constantly calls us beer guys 'impatient' because the turnaround on beer is so fast (he has to wait 4 years at minimum for a finished product). Sure as hell doesn't feel fast to me!

Thanks for all the help.

 

[crusader1612]

moral of the story?
let you yeast clean up and give it14 days.

lol. chances are it wont clean up as well as it should, given you've taken it off the main yeast cake. you might get lucky and it might condition out warm, but IME unlikely.

although to be fair, i cant say i've really experienced diacetyl in belgian style yeasts.

 

[SHAIV]

Quick update: It's been sitting out for about 3 days now. Just hooked it back up to the tap for a quick sample and it's clearing up nicely. I'm going to leave it out for another day or two and it should be great.

It's sad to think that if it's working this quickly when the beer's already been taken off the yeast cake, if I had left it on for just an extra day I probably wouldn't be dealing with this. My father-in-law is a bourbon distiller and constantly calls us beer guys 'impatient' because the turnaround on beer is so fast (he has to wait 4 years at minimum for a finished product). Sure as hell doesn't feel fast to me!

Thanks for all the help.

Omg 4 years! That's just crazy. I don't know if I could do that. I guess I'm just not into making something that burns my mouth.
Anyway i did a two week primary and two week secondary. I just racked my diacetyl beer out the keg yesterday. It was so clear I was sure there wasn't any yeast in it. I'm gonna make about a gallon of wort and a yeast starter for it soon to try to clear up the off flavor. Mine wasn't so bad till it lost its hop flavor. Lol View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1490006496.938906.jpghere's some eye candy