Started brewing lagers about 4 months ago - so very new to it. Im trying to figure out how and when to perform the diacetyl rest. its my understanding all lagers will produce diacetyl - how much depends on temp, yeast, etc, and how much you personally detect in smell or taste depends upon your sensitivity to diacetyl. for me personally, i can detect the taste or smell even in small amounts - and even if the slick feeling people describe isn't present. Ive read people letting the lager finish up at about 2 weeks, and then let it rise to about 60F. i'm somewhat curious about this practice, as my understanding is by that point fermentation is completed and would seem there's not as much yeast in suspension that are active enough to clean up diacetyl (??).
I currently have a 1.052 pilsner and 1.053 vienna lager that have been fermenting for 6 days at 49-50F (i pitched yeast at 48F wort). the krausen has dropped and is starting to settle. i really don't want to pull the airlock and release the co2 to take a hydrometer reading - so wondering if there's a method anyone uses to determine when to do the d-rest? i'm leaning towards waiting for krausen to drop, and then around day 10 let the temp rise to about 60F for 48 hours or burnout, then slowly bring it down to 45F before lagering - -thoughts??