First lager, Diacetyl rest after 3 weeks?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Intercom

Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2014
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Hi people,

I brewed my first lager on Sept 27th and it is now in a temp controller fridge at 11 degrees C (52F).

I am going to USA for 12 days on sunday (5th) and will be back Oct 17th. Is it then too late to crank the temperature up for a diacetyl rest?

I am worried I got a problem since I believe it is too early for a diacetyl rest BEFORE i go away, and maybe too late when I get back. It will then have been 3 weeks since brewday.

What do you guys think?
 
You can do a diacetyl rest any time as long as there are yeast present and something for them to eat (a couple °P apparent extract). Easiest thing to do would be to just skip the diacetyl rest. It really isn't necessary if you are willing to do a gradual (1 °/da) temperature gradient to layering temperature followed by at least a month of lagering.
 
You can do a diacetyl rest any time as long as there are yeast present and something for them to eat (a couple °P apparent extract). Easiest thing to do would be to just skip the diacetyl rest. It really isn't necessary if you are willing to do a gradual (1 °/da) temperature gradient to layering temperature followed by at least a month of lagering.

When do I need to start this 1deg/day increase? Remember, for 12-13 days I won't be able to adjust the temperature:confused:
 
When do I need to start this 1deg/day increase?
Decrease!

Remember, for 12-13 days I won't be able to adjust the temperature:confused:

You should start it when you are 1 - 2° P from terminal. The object is to get some yeast and some sugar into the lagering tank. If you are not there and there is no one who can lower the thermostat for you then that's a problem for sure. In such a case I suppose I might try lowering the temperature gradually as much as I could in order to slow down the approach to terminal while I was away and then resume the descent when I returned. This wouldn't be ideal but should work reasonably well.

Another approach to diacetyl reduction is to add some krausen beer to the finished beer. If you were able to brew another batch as soon as you get back you could just hold the current batch at fermentation temperature until then.
 
Decrease!



You should start it when you are 1 - 2° P from terminal. The object is to get some yeast and some sugar into the lagering tank. If you are not there and there is no one who can lower the thermostat for you then that's a problem for sure. In such a case I suppose I might try lowering the temperature gradually as much as I could in order to slow down the approach to terminal while I was away and then resume the descent when I returned. This wouldn't be ideal but should work reasonably well.

Another approach to diacetyl reduction is to add some krausen beer to the finished beer. If you were able to brew another batch as soon as you get back you could just hold the current batch at fermentation temperature until then.


Ok, thanks a lot mate. My temp controller (stc1000) is a bit tricky to set up for other people, so what if I can get someone to just get into my house and turn the fridge off for 1-2 days (is that the right amount of time for diacetyl rest?) and then come back and plug it back in again? I reckon the room temperature is about 18-20 C (64-68F).

I really want this to turn out well!:mug:
 
I just took a gravity reading, and it seems like it is at 1012-1014 already :S Isnt this too fast? It wasnt very high to start with though, maybe 1035-1040.

What should I do now? Diacetyl rest already - before it reaches FG?

All input is valued greatly!
 
Anyone please? I have made a circuit that makes me able to control the temperature to whatever I want remotely.

Should the temperature be lowered slowly down to almost freezing already now since the fermentation seems to be nearly complete?
 
Is it 75% done? If so do the rest....if more then 75% done, do the rest
increase the temp not decrease......after 3 days at 64/5 then slowly reduce temp to 34 ish to lager (1 week per 10points Gravity) that should be 4 weeks.... Check out "Yoopers" advice on lagering it helped me loads, might need to look for it but she knows her stuff
 
You can raise it a few degrees before you go. It's not that critical. Depends on the yeast strain, and abv (higher abv on a less tolerant yeast, or even a more floccuant strain would be more prone to leave diacetyl). What would I do? Just unplug it before you go. I ferment lagers a few days cold then just unplug the fridge for a week.
 
Assuming you started at 10 °P (1040) and that it is going to attenuate 75% terminal would be 2.5 °P and you are just about there ( 3 - 3.5°P) so if you are going to do a diacetyl rest do it now. OTOH if you can control the temp while you are gone you can start a 1 °C/da decrease to as close to freezing as you can get. Then hold it there until you get back and perhaps a week after that before transferring to lagering vessel or bottle (which becomes the lagering vessel). The diacetyl rest was conjured up for the commercial brewers to enable them to get the beer out the door faster. It gets rid of diacetyl without compromising the beer too much but the glide, condition, lager (traditional) method gives you better beer though you must wait longer for it.
 
Thanks A LOT guys, i really appreciate it!

I am however still a little bit confused as to wether I should raise the temp or decrease for the diacetyl-rest. I see there are some different opinions here, or maybe Im misunderstanding what you guys are trying to say.

So: Would there be anything wrong with me raising the temp to 64/65F for a couple of days then slowly decreasing back down to almost freezing?

Or would I be better off not raising the temp at all, and just go straight to freezing (slowly)?

Thanks again!:)
 
I see there are some different opinions here, or maybe Im misunderstanding what you guys are trying to say.
No difference of opinion. If you are going to use a diacetyl rest then you raise the temperature and then crash it. If you are going to use the traditional method you gradually lower it.

So: Would there be anything wrong with me raising the temp to 64/65F for a couple of days then slowly decreasing back down to almost freezing?
This is a diacetyl rest. After a couple of days the temperature is lowered rapidly and lagerin commences.


Or would I be better off not raising the temp at all, and just go straight to freezing (slowly)?
This is the traditional method. You do not raise the temperature but rather lower it slowly to near freezing and then commence lagering.
 
You're gonna make delicious beer no matter what you do.

You might consider the diacetyl rest if you underpitched or didn't aerate well. Though I underpitch and skip aeration and have yet to see diacetyl in lagers I make.


It is said that dropping or raising the temperature rapidly stresses the yeast and they could either drop out early or excrete some chemicals into the beer, but this is also something that is way beyond my ability to taste in my beer.

It is said that raising the temperature would keep the yeast in suspension a little bit longer than if they were at colder temperatures. Your 11*c is pretty warm to begin with so it's not gonna really factor in this case.
 
It is said that dropping or raising the temperature rapidly stresses the yeast and they could either drop out early or excrete some chemicals into the beer, but this is also something that is way beyond my ability to taste in my beer.

One if the reasons for the crash is to encourage flocculation and rapid drop out of the yeast. I believe one wants to get the beer off the yeast as soon after this as practical and release of products which are flavor negative may be part of the reason for this (I don't use diacetyl rests and am, therefore, not that familiar with the protocol).

Conversely with the traditional method the decline is gradual both to avoid shocking the yeast and thus keep them in suspension and to keep them active while they do their cleanup work. This is done so that the beer will be exposed to yeast during lagering (remember 'beechwood aging' and that sort of thing).
 
Back
Top