Diacetyl rest

[citizensnips]

That sounds like the go, lowering reasonably slow will give me enough time to let it sit comfortably at ferment temps.
Cheers manticle

 

[bjbear77]

If your raising temps at around 75-80% of your FG this is evidently going to be 5 days in or so.

I have never had this happen with a lager, usually takes much longer

 

[verysupple]

I have never had this happen with a lager, usually takes much longer

Sounds about right to me for an OG of ~1.050 at ~10 C. You have to pitch enough yeast, of course.

 

[micblair]

You should do it for every beer -- as VDK-P isn't detectable until its converted to VDK. All I do is take a sample at the end of fermentation, microwave until I reach 60-70C (whilst cling wrapped), allow to cool, then smell/taste.

 

[danestead]

I have never had this happen with a lager, usually takes much longer

I'm with you. I always do a starter yet my lagers ferment away at a maximum of 3 points per day. Are some people pitching much more yeast?

 

[Tropico]

With this cold snap, it seems to be the season for lager.

Started one last Wed, pitched yeast at 15C, maybe a little warm but I thought it would drop overnight.

Came down to 13c by the next morning, and remained there till day 4, when it came down to 12c which was the setting for temp control (heat only).

Today, day 5, after it has looked more like an ale ferment than a lager, it actually looks like it has begun clearing (caught me by surprise actually).

The question is, if I slowly ramp up the temp, how high would be recommended max?

 

[manticle]

Just ale temps is enough. 18-20.

 

[Tropico]

Thanks, I'll go for 18 over 4 days

 

[Rocker1986]

Without starting a new topic, I haven't brewed a lager in a long time and need to refresh my memory on D-rests. Can someone clarify for most of us brewers who like to leave our beer on the cake for 2 weeks to do its thing, what do you do in the case of a d-rest? If your raising temps at around 75-80% of your FG this is evidently going to be 5 days in or so. Do you then drop back down to regular temps for a week to let it sit for a total of two or just go straight to cold crashing or in this case lagering?

That's basically what I do yeah. I take the last two digits of the OG, halve it, and begin the temp rise when it gets down to that. My latest one's OG was 1046, but with a lower ferment temp of 10C I raised the temp controller when it was about 1026-27ish (day 5 in), to 19C, and just let it come up by itself inside the fridge. It took about 3 days to come up. I left it sit at the ale temps until a few days post reaching FG (1010 in this case), then I just went straight to cold crashing for two weeks before bottling, which will be on Sunday.

I kept the 1023 sample tube on the kitchen bench with the hydrometer in it so I could get a rough idea when it would probably be at FG, as it was basically sitting at the same temperature as the brew itself. It was at 1010 in about 9-10 days post pitching, so it got around 4-5 days post FG up there before being crashed. The FG samples tasted excellent too. Couldn't detect any buttery/butterscotch flavours that are associated with diacetyl.

 

[verysupple]

I'm with you. I always do a starter yet my lagers ferment away at a maximum of 3 points per day. Are some people pitching much more yeast?

Getting a little off topic, but others are probably pitching more yeast than you. I'm yet to do a lager since getting a stir plate but when I was using 3 L juice bottles and shaking it ever time I went past I would make a 1.5 L starter and then split that into 2 x 2 L starters. According to yeastcalc.com (using JZ/Mr.Malty growth model) that was giving me 480 - 520 b cells. I try to pitch 20 - 21 million cells / mL which for my typical OG of ~1.048 is about 1.7 - 1.8 million cells / mL / P.

EDIT: I should add that I try to pitch at about 8 C and ferment at 9 - 10 C.

 

[danestead]

Getting a little off topic, but others are probably pitching more yeast than you. I'm yet to do a lager since getting a stir plate but when I was using 3 L juice bottles and shaking it ever time I went past I would make a 1.5 L starter and then split that into 2 x 2 L starters. According to yeastcalc.com (using JZ/Mr.Malty growth model) that was giving me 480 - 520 b cells. I try to pitch 20 - 21 million cells / mL which for my typical OG of ~1.048 is about 1.7 - 1.8 million cells / mL / P.

EDIT: I should add that I try to pitch at about 8 C and ferment at 9 - 10 C.

Interesting. I always pitch a 'calculated' 500b cells for 22L of roughly 1.050 wort, aerated with pure oxy. 500b cells is about a 25% overpitch so either some people are pitching much much more than me or there is something else different from the norm I'm doing.

I'd love my lagers to ferment quicker because it'd mean I'd be more inclined to brew them

 

[seamad]

Is it yeast dependent ?
I've only made a few lagers with 2124 and with a pitch rate of 1.75 mil/ml/degree plato and pure O2 I get to @ 80% attenuation around the 5 day mark at 10C. It's been a while since I used s189 but at 13C i thought it was a bit slower.

 

[verysupple]

Interesting. I always pitch a 'calculated' 500b cells for 22L of roughly 1.050 wort, aerated with pure oxy. 500b cells is about a 25% overpitch so either some people are pitching much much more than me or there is something else different from the norm I'm doing.

I'd love my lagers to ferment quicker because it'd mean I'd be more inclined to brew them

Hmm, it's probably something else then. As seamad said, maybe the strain you use is just known to be a slow worker? I've used Wy2124, W34/70 and Wy2308. Always hit FG in about 5 days, never anything like 10 - 12 days.

 

[Rocker1986]

I can't say I've hit FG in 5 days with a lager yeast, but lately they've been there by day 9 or 10. Been using Wy2001 Urquell on the last few batches. I'd read a number of reviews of it taking 4 weeks to hit FG :blink: but haven't had that issue at all. I use the Brulosophy quick lager method, which only adds an extra week to my turnaround time compared to ales anyway.