After 50+ brews I had my first obvious case of diacetyl present in a Vienna Lager. After looking up previous forum discussions I made a small starter and pitched it into the keg at high krausen. After 2 weeks sitting in my closet in the mid 60’s I’m happy to say the diacetyl is gone, leaving me to enjoy one of my favorite styles without the buttered popcorn flavor.
Glad you fixed the D.
The yeast likely helped, but in my experience, maybe what helped more than anything else was the extra 2 weeks warm. I don’t believe the standard “3 days” diacetyl rest is long enough honestly. I find 3 WEEKS helps a whole lot more than the typically promoted 3 days does. YMMV.
Glad your beer is better, whatever the reason. Cheers.
I tried 2 weeks at 17C after FG was reached (using Imperial Harvest yeast). This didn’t clean up the diacetyl. Then made the small starter with Imperial Flagship. Even after 1 week still had diacetyl, only after a second week was it finally cleared up
If fermentation was finished, it was definitely the yeast, not the temp
TIME plus yeast is what did it, much moreso than temperature. Another case where patience is rewarded. My main point is that the existing yeast probably would have cleaned up after themselves after 3-4 weeks, such that the addition of more yeast may or may not have had any significant impact.
I’m thinking this happened because I transferred the beer to a corny keg after 7 days with a spunding valve attached, hoping there was enough yeast in suspension to clean things up at 17C for 2 weeks. I left a considerable amount of sludge behind to use for another beer. Perhaps next time I should transfer more of the sludge as well…