Diacetyl slaugher...

[dannedry]

So I stupidly rushed an IIPA... brew day to keg in 4 weeks. Then into the bottle (2 bottles to be sent into the competition) after 2 weeks in the keg. Judges slaughtered me with the diacetyl flaw. I had such high hopes for this one too. Is there ANYTHING I can do now that this beer has been on CO2 for a month now? I hadn't even really tried it, I just bottled it and sent it in. Judges remarked that there was little to no hop flavor/aroma, despite what should have been 130 ibu, and dry hopped with 3 oz of amarillo and 3 oz of Simcoe.

Has anybody been able to turn something like this around?

Live and learn. I ALWAYS give my brews at least 8 weeks before they are bottled or kegged.

OG: 1.087
FG: 1.020
3 pkts of dry US-05 pitched, and maintained pretty steady fermentation temps right at 65 degrees.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[Robin0782]

8 weeks kinda seems like a long time to me. Especially for anything very hop forward. I keg my 1.060 IPAs 3 weeks from brewday usually. How long did you leave it in the primary?

 

[dannedry]

8 weeks kinda seems like a long time to me. Especially for anything very hop forward. I keg my 1.060 IPAs 3 weeks from brewday usually. How long did you leave it in the primary?

2 week primary, 2 week secondary...

 

[Robin0782]

Do you know how long it took to reach 1.020? Diacetyl should've clean up pretty quickly after final gravity was reached. I've never had any diacetyl in a beer I fermented with US-05. Honestly, not sure what to tell you. Doesn't seem like you rushed it to me.

 

[phoenixs4r]

5 gallons?

 

[chumpsteak]

I've had mass diacetyl with US-05 before in an IPA that I primaried for 8 days and then went right to cold crash. I was in a hurry and figured that once the kraussen dropped and FG was at target I was good to go. I also gave it a big dry hop and the beer tasted like buttered popcorn with no hop aroma at all. I now wait until primary fermentation is about 75 to 80 percent done and then start kicking the temp up a degree or two a day for at least 3 days. This keeps the yeast active and gets rid of the diacetyl. You can get super clean beers in as little as 10 days in primary as long as ferm temps arfe controlled and you keep the yeast active and let them clean up the diacetyl for a few days after FG is reached.

 

[AussieBrewerInColorado]

Agreed don't think it was rushed. I have had diacetyl problems in the past and it usually happens to me after sitting in the keg for a while. Still don't know why. Haven't had this with my US-05 brews yet, but they haven't lasted as long either.
When I got diacetyl after a while and not right away, I replaced all my tubing....haven't had the same problem thus far.

 

[dannedry]

Yeah... 5 gallons. Is it possible something got funky when bottling from the keg? Both judges hammered me on: diacetyl, beer was flat, and low hop aroma... but like I said, 130 ibu worth of hops, and TONS of late edition hops & dry hops.

Im not sure how long it took to hit 1.020... plus I had been using my refractometer and the correction formulas for fermenting wort. Was under the impression my FG was 1.008. There were still periodic bubbles in airlock ever since I dry hopped but figured at 1.008 that it HAD to have been done.

What about pulling the kegs, warming them up and dumping in a pkg or 2 of us-05? Or would the alcohol content kill new yeast?

Thanks again for any ideas you have.

 

[dannedry]

Oh and the 1.020 reading came today... I pulled a vial, let it come up to room temp and go flat and used my hydrometer.

 

[daksin]

Bring the beer up to room temperature, and brew a moderate gravity IPA or pale ale with similar (doesn't ahve to be the same) grain and hop bills. When that beer is at high krausen (as SOON as you see big krausen on your beer, earlier is better) take a quart or two of that beer and put it into your buttery IPA. Let it sit for a week or two and the very active yeast from the krausening beer should finish up on the sugars they were working on and get to work scrubbing your beer of diacetyl at the same time. I had a butter bomb ESB that this worked perfectly on- judges detected no diacetyl after doing that.

 

[TyTanium]

Bring the beer up to room temperature, and brew a moderate gravity IPA or pale ale with similar (doesn't ahve to be the same) grain and hop bills. When that beer is at high krausen (as SOON as you see big krausen on your beer, earlier is better) take a quart or two of that beer and put it into your buttery IPA. Let it sit for a week or two. That should help with the diacetyl.

+1 Kräusening works.

 

[Psych]

You sent a beer into a competition without even trying it? What's the point of that?

 

[dannedry]

Well I sampled it here and there. Tasted great when I sent it in... or so I thought. Haha. Thanks for the help everybody. I brewed up a 1/2 gallon starter at 1.075 and pitched a vial of wlp090 San Diego Super Yeast. When this is rocking I will dump right into my keg that is sitting in my basement now at 65*. Thanks again!