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Author Topic: I’m new to Brewing. Is the color of my wort supposed to look like this?  (Read 1985 times)

Online denny

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… or you can just be patient and do a diacetyl rest. It’s easy.

Or you can email patient and let the d clean itself up
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline HighVoltageMan!

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Finally, diacetyl can go away with time, regardless of temperature - but it can also re-appear due to an infection

or from hop creep lol

Which almost never happens
Unfortunately, it's not that uncommon to get butter from hop creep. I wish it wasn't true, but I have been burnt by it and so have a lot of breweries.

As far as a d-rest, if it's a new brewer, I would recommend a d-rest. After you been brewing lagers a while you can try without. The d-rest also works to speed up the fermentation a bit. You can always add ALDC and not worry at all about diacetyl.

Online denny

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Finally, diacetyl can go away with time, regardless of temperature - but it can also re-appear due to an infection

or from hop creep lol

Which almost never happens
Unfortunately, it's not that uncommon to get butter from hop creep. I wish it wasn't true, but I have been burnt by it and so have a lot of breweries.

As far as a d-rest, if it's a new brewer, I would recommend a d-rest. After you been brewing lagers a while you can try without. The d-rest also works to speed up the fermentation a bit. You can always add ALDC and not worry at all about diacetyl.

I have tried 3 times to make it happen and couldn't get it .I don't know anyone whom it's happened to. Of cours3 it can happen to homebrewers (not talking commercial brewers here) but Mt experience is that it's rare
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline chumley

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Seems that the logical thing to do, holding that sample of green beer, is to taste it. If it tastes like butterscotch, then do the d rest.

I myself like a little diacetyl in a Czech pilsner (think fresh PU) but rarely am I able to get it. In my opinion d rests are more unnecessary than using a secondary fermentor.

Online denny

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Seems that the logical thing to do, holding that sample of green beer, is to taste it. If it tastes like butterscotch, then do the d rest.

I myself like a little diacetyl in a Czech pilsner (think fresh PU) but rarely am I able to get it. In my opinion d rests are more unnecessary than using a secondary fermentor.

Couldn't agree more
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline BrewBama

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IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.

Offline tommymorris

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IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.
My last lager, made with diamond, tasted it great on day 8. I decided to keg. A week later it was a diacetyl bomb. It’s been sitting upstairs ever since. Hopefully, time will fix it.

Offline BrewBama

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IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.
My last lager, made with diamond, tasted it great on day 8. I decided to keg. A week later it was a diacetyl bomb. It’s been sitting upstairs ever since. Hopefully, time will fix it.
Any way you can add some krausen to that beer?

Online denny

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IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.
My last lager, made with diamond, tasted it great on day 8. I decided to keg. A week later it was a diacetyl bomb. It’s been sitting upstairs ever since. Hopefully, time will fix it.

If it took a week after kegging to appear, it's unlikely a fermentation flaw that a d rest would have prevented. At least as far as I know
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline tommymorris

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IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.
My last lager, made with diamond, tasted it great on day 8. I decided to keg. A week later it was a diacetyl bomb. It’s been sitting upstairs ever since. Hopefully, time will fix it.

If it took a week after kegging to appear, it's unlikely a fermentation flaw that a d rest would have prevented. At least as far as I know
I have always gone by the information in this presentation from Kara Taylor of White Labs.

The diacetyl rest raises the temp to speed up transformation of precursor to diacetyl where it can then be reabsorbed by the yeast. Precursor is tasteless.  If you remove beer with precursor from the yeast that precursor will slowly become diacetyl. If the yeast is gone, then no reabsorption can occur.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/presentations/pdf/2015/2015%20AHA%20Avoiding%20a%20D-domb%20-%20A%20Key%20to%20Understanding%20Diacetyl.pdf

Offline tommymorris

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IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.
My last lager, made with diamond, tasted it great on day 8. I decided to keg. A week later it was a diacetyl bomb. It’s been sitting upstairs ever since. Hopefully, time will fix it.
Any way you can add some krausen to that beer?
I brewed a similar beer today. I increased the volume by 0.1 gallons. I plan to take that extra 0.1 gallon at high krausen and add it to the diacetyl beer.

Henceforth, I will go back to doing a diacetyl rest. Easy cheap insurance. YMMV.

Offline BrewBama

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I’m new to Brewing. Is the color of my wort supposed to look like this?
« Reply #26 on: March 15, 2023, 07:56:19 pm »
IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.
My last lager, made with diamond, tasted it great on day 8. I decided to keg. A week later it was a diacetyl bomb. It’s been sitting upstairs ever since. Hopefully, time will fix it.
Any way you can add some krausen to that beer?
I brewed a similar beer today. I increased the volume by 0.1 gallons. I plan to take that extra 0.1 gallon at high krausen and add it to the diacetyl beer.

Henceforth, I will go back to doing a diacetyl rest. Easy cheap insurance. YMMV.
Keep us posted on the outcome.

Offline fredthecat

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IDK. When a mfr says, “Be sure to give beers made with XYZ yeast a sufficient diacetyl rest.” I tend to believe them and give it a day or two at 65°F or so to rest.

I guess I could take a hydrometer sample and taste test it. …but a day or two doesn’t hurt one way or the other IMO so I let it rest in those cases.
My last lager, made with diamond, tasted it great on day 8. I decided to keg. A week later it was a diacetyl bomb. It’s been sitting upstairs ever since. Hopefully, time will fix it.

i had the exact same thing with diamond lager on the first beer i used with it, second beer (just checked my notes since it was from a year ago) i warmed up after 5 or 6 days to mid 60s and no diacetyl.

im not going to explicitly say it, but lol some people will always disagree with certain brewing opinions and in the end you simply have to choose what you go with and what you dont.

i think a factor re: the value of a d-rest or not and diacetyls existence in the finished and packaged beer that explains why some people don't believe in it could be having strong temperature control during fermentation AND very stable temperature to store the packaged beer. somewhat related but re: hop creep's existence or not - a similar thing, i was listening to vinnie cilurzo discuss his battles with hop creep (heh - indicator - it does exist!) and that the enzymes that cause it are not active if the beer is stored in the 50s or lower after packaging. my beer ends up needing to be in the 60s to bottle condition and often ends up all the way up to the low 70s by june let alone july.

these things like hop creep or the value of a d-rest, which are widely noticed and discussed do exist, but may be absent or heavily mitigated dependent on a ton of individual's factors.

and to clarify the diamond beer i had the issue with, i distinctly remember tasting it on bottling day and noting "wow this is so aromatic, pleasant and flawless." then 10 days later yeah, completely different flavour with flaw.

Offline dmtaylor

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Diacetyl is a sneaky bastard.  Sometimes it shows up unexpectedly when you thought a rest wasn't needed.  It's happened to me with Diamond, S-189, and pretty much every lager yeast I've tried.  Not always, but maybe 50% of the time.  But, "rest" assured... time heals all diacetyl.  No actions are needed from humans, other than patience.  In my experience, the oft-touted D rest of 2-3 days is woefully inadequate in a lot of cases.  In my experience it can take closer to 3 WEEKS to get rid of all of it.  Don't do anything fancy.  Keep the beer in the 50s or 60s Fahrenheit, but no need to add more krausening yeast, or worry.  Just leave it be for a while.  The yeast will process the diacetyl at their own pace, leaving you with a lovely beer when they get around to it.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2023, 06:03:29 am by dmtaylor »
Dave

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Other than an early test taste, batches aren't in drinking rotation for approx 2 1/2 months.
The pipeline is big enough to ensure brews everyday.  I don't' have the issues discussed above.
If I may suggest, instead of touting the speed of grain to glass, increase pipeline and/or be patient.

Cheers