Too slow of a rise for a diacetyl rest?

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IDoBleedBrew

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So I brewed a munich helles last Sunday (8 days ago). I pitched at 51° and held it for 5 days before I started a slow (2 degree per day) ramp up to 66. So I'm only up to about 56.5 right now on the ramp up to 66. I just did a reading and taste test. I went from an OG of 1.047 to a current gravity of 1.005 which is quite a bit lower than I expected. That is putting me at an ABV of 5.6 which is a little higher than I expected. The airlock activity has slowed substantially but I'm still getting a bubble every 30 or 40 seconds (and this is the big Speidel airlock which bubbles slower than a traditional airlock anyways).

So what are your thoughts? Should I keep the fermentation schedule as is or have I already waited too late for an effective diacetyl rest? Should I speed things along a bit? What say ye?

Flavor and aroma is great. I don't have an experienced enough pallet to really detect diacetyl as I probably should. I'm getting a slight buttery smell and not that much of a buttery taste at all (very slight), but more experienced pallets may be blown away by the smell and taste. Not real sure.

Thoughts?
 
I use brulosophy's method and it works perfect for me. Here is my schedule for the lager I am doing this weekend.

5-7 days @ 51
1 day @ 55
1 day @ 62
2 days @ 65
Ramp down to 32 degrees until cleared about 2 days
Add Gelatin
Hold until keg
 
Thanks for the tip. I had the Mrs try a sip and one of my homebrew buddies try a sip and neither of them were able to pick up on much of any butter or butterscotch smell or taste. So while I'm sure it is there at least in part, it isn't too noticeable. I've sped the ramp up to 4 degrees per day to get to the diacetyl rest a bit sooner.

Thanks for the link. That is an interesting read. This is my first attempt at a lager, so I may give that schedule a try next lager.
 
So I brewed a munich helles last Sunday (8 days ago). I pitched at 51° and held it for 5 days before I started a slow (2 degree per day) ramp up to 66. So I'm only up to about 56.5 right now on the ramp up to 66. I just did a reading and taste test. I went from an OG of 1.047 to a current gravity of 1.005 which is quite a bit lower than I expected. That is putting me at an ABV of 5.6 which is a little higher than I expected. The airlock activity has slowed substantially but I'm still getting a bubble every 30 or 40 seconds (and this is the big Speidel airlock which bubbles slower than a traditional airlock anyways).

So what are your thoughts? Should I keep the fermentation schedule as is or have I already waited too late for an effective diacetyl rest? Should I speed things along a bit? What say ye?

Flavor and aroma is great. I don't have an experienced enough pallet to really detect diacetyl as I probably should. I'm getting a slight buttery smell and not that much of a buttery taste at all (very slight), but more experienced pallets may be blown away by the smell and taste. Not real sure.

Thoughts?


Diacetyl rest is not necessary for every brew, especially if you are brewing at a temperature as low as 51. Your OG ad FG indicate that your brew is finished fermenting and could technically be done without a "diacetyl rest" if you really wanted to. The biggest key here is that you tasted your beer and state that there is not much of a butter taste, only very slight. If you want to do a rest then that is up to you.

Anyone who posts a so called method such as raise temp by 2 degrees per day till up to X temp for a diacetyl rest is just pulling numbers out of thin air with no evidence to support such a thing. All you need to do is raise the temperature by any degree you choose, most do about 10-15 degrees F and leave it there for a night. At this point, re-taste and see if there is any remaining flavor. If so then keep at this temp for another day till you notice no change in flavor and your beer at a steady state. Anything more than this is most likely overkill and you risk autolysis potentially. Also, depending on the size of your carboy, even if you change the temperature in your fermentation chamber it will take hours for your beers temp to equilibrate. thus giving your beer a mechanism that will slowly raise its temperature anyway and giving your yeast time to adjust. The method that someone else posted is quite frankly overkill and may potentially lead to some adverse outcomes in my opinion as previously mentioned.

After all this is said and done the only thing that matters is what you already wrote in your original post. "Flavor and aroma is great." :mug:
 
Thanks for the tip. I had the Mrs try a sip and one of my homebrew buddies try a sip and neither of them were able to pick up on much of any butter or butterscotch smell or taste. So while I'm sure it is there at least in part, it isn't too noticeable. I've sped the ramp up to 4 degrees per day to get to the diacetyl rest a bit sooner.

Thanks for the link. That is an interesting read. This is my first attempt at a lager, so I may give that schedule a try next lager.

There is a large thread about this method some where...but I will tell you it works if you follow the directions like he writes them..the only people who had problems and complained...didn't follow the directions. Ive done it a few times and its so nice having my lager in a few weeks rather months.
 
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