Diacetyl Rest for Saflager 23 - Necessary?

[sonvolt]

My first lager is in active fermentation right now. It took a few days to really get moving (didn't pitch enough yeast), but I am getting a pretty good fermentation right now. I am fermenting with Saflager-23 on the warmer end of its spectrum - 56-58 degrees most of the time.

How necessary will a diacetyl rest be for this fermentation. From what I understand, sometimes a d-rest is not necessary depending upon the yeast strain and the fermentation conditions. Now, I know nothing about the yeast strain, but if my fermentation temps are on the higher end, I think that my yeast should be active enough to take care of all the butter-flavored yuckies, right.

I am leaving town for a conference tonight, and I will have no opportunity to check gravity to determine when it will be the right time to do a d-rest (and I don't trust SWMBO to be poking around my beer, etc. ). I suspect that I am about 1/3 the way to my anticipated OG and that I will be 2/3's the way there sometime tomorrow.

Should I tell SWMBO to stop adding ice to my water bath in order for the temp to rise for diacetyl rest?

 

[Kaiser]

You don't have to raise the temp for a diacetyl rest. Many commercial German brewers even do the "diacetyl rest" in the 40s.

Give the beer a taste. Do you detect a buttery note? If not, no need to worry about a d-rest. Just leave the beer at fermentation temp a little longer and the yeast will clean-up. It might take a little longer, but lagers shouldn't be hurried anyway.

Kai

 

[boo boo]

Yeah, I use S-23 a fair bit and don't do a rest. Never had an issue with diacetyl.