Easy home diacetyl test

[Kealia]

I saw this elsewhere under the heading of "Ask a Pro". The tips came from a brewer at Deschutes (makers of Fresh Squeezed, etc.).

This may be a handy process for those that do lagers - or for anybody that wants to check for diacetyl:

- Take a small sample of your beer. (2-3 ounces is good)
- Put the sample in a water tight and microwave safe container. (I use 4 oz Nalgene containers)
- Microwave the beer with the top on, but not tight. You just want to warm the sample to about 170 degrees. You DO NOT want to boil it. If you accidentally
boil the sample, dump it out and start over.
- After tightening the lid of your warmed sample, submerge it in a bucket, pitcher, bowl, or sink filled with 175-190 degree water for 30 minutes. This simulates
rapid aging and will convert any VDK into diacetyl.
- Once the beer has been kept warm (again 170 degrees is the target) for 30+ minutes, chill it to room temperature and taste.
- If the beer has no detectable buttery character and/or slick, silky mouthfeel (another characteristic of diacetyl), you can drop the beer temperature and/or
package it up.
- If there is a buttery character, allow for a few more days of maturation at room temperature. If you have a flocculant yeast, you could even give your
fermenter a shake to get some of the yeast back up into suspension. This will help speed the removal of the diacetyl.
- Repeat this process until you have a clean final product.

I am very sensitive to diacetyl, or a so-called super-taster of it. Any small amount and it's very off-putting to me. So, a lot of English beers are off my list as a result.

I'd be curious to hear of anybody trying this. I have my beer cold crashing now but may try this on a future batch....just because.

[Beer-lord]

That's a great little 'recipe'. I rarely do lagers but am bookmarking this for possible future use.

[BlackDuck]

Very interesting. I’ll have to give it a try sometime.


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[mashani]

I've never had d-rest problems with lagers, but I'm always fermenting my lagers at 57 degrees instead of 52 degrees or lower like some do and I always leave them in the fermenter for 3 weeks.

But I will have to try this when using yeasts like West Yorkshire and Ringwood, because they can have diacetyl problems. A lot of the English beers Kealia can't handle probably have one of those types strains in them. Handled well, there will likely still be a little, which is normal for beers made with them (but not good for Kealia). Handled poorly, they can make lager type diacetyl problems seem like nothing and make everyone go "bleah". I happen to love those yeasts, but I'm always leaving beers I make with them on the yeast cake for 3 weeks too usually, and rousing the yeast every few days after the primary fermentation is over with. This might be a trick to "get 'r done" faster then that.