Light Adjunct lager and diactly

[burkecw]

hey howdy hey,

Has anyone in the process of making essentially a Bud Light clone noticed a higher amount of diactyl present post primary fermentation (2 weeks at 50) and 3 day rest at 62? I picked up much more in this batch than in any of my previous lagers (including 2 dunkels made in the weeks before) which follow the same schedule.

Might this be a side effect of using 35% rice in the mix for the first time? I feel like the wort itself going into the fermenter had a slick, almost buttery feel to it pre-ferment. Additionally, this was a re-pitch of yeast from a previous ferment a month prior. I pretty much followed Don Osborn's yeast rinsing protocol, and the slurry sat in a sterile mason jar for a month i the fridge. Boosted it up with an appropriate starter to get things going and meet the right cell count.

Think that's about it. anyone ever see this before?

Thanks

 

[CadillacAndy]

I don't think the percentage of rice would really effect anything. It sounds more like a yeast health issue, or not pulling it out for a diacetyl rest while it's still actively fermenting. If it totally done when you increase the temperature the yeast will have most likely already dropped and have nothing to eat at the warmer temp. Usually you'd want to increase the temperature when you're 2/3 - 3/4 to your estimated gravity. The yeast are still in suspension and are active. Giving them a warmer environment will keep them active longer and allow them to clean up after themselves.

You can fix diacetyl fairly easy though. Here's a blog post I put together about how to fix diacetyl.

 

[progmac]

yeast nutrients might be a good idea.

 

[CadillacAndy]

yeast nutrients might be a good idea.

Certainly couldn't hurt. I was going to mention that too.

 

[AerationStation]

That and oxygenating the beejeesus out of it. The more times you reuse yeast the more careful you need to be about your yeast health, especially lager yeasties

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[burkecw]

cool. thanks for the info and insight. I've just re-pitched an actively fermenting starter of the same yeast to see if I can clean things up at 65 degrees. I'm guess it is in fact a yeast health issue, as I'm a quite few points above my estimated terminal gravity this time. Maybe from now on I'll stick to a single re-pitch of yeast on closely timed batches. Rather spend the $8 and assure a good ferment.