This is the color my wort just before the Diacetyl Rest. I was not expecting it to be clear, but was not expecting it to be this hazy either. Am I worrying too much?
You’re worrying too much. It has yeast in it. It will clear in the bottle or keg. It will clear best when cold (don’t chill until after that diacetyl rest).
It looks good. Just needs more time. It will clear up in another week or two or three.
it will clear with time, and even if for whatever reason it doesn’t… it is just hazy!
is this your first beer brewed?
what yeast did you use? some yeasts tend to be slower at clearing out than others
Why are you doing a diacetyl rest?
It is my second beer brewed. I used LalBrew Diamond Lager Yeast.
The recipe is for an American Lager.
OK. Doesn’t necessarily mean you need a d rest. Especially with that yeast.
Honestly, this is my second batch of beer ever. I’m very comfortable stating, “I have no idea what I am doing, but here we go.” :) I read that I needed to do a D Rest to get rid of the buttery flavors when brewing a Lager, so that is why I am doing it. I am totally open to learning from those who are more experienced than me. And at this point in my brewing life is pretty much anyone. So how can you tell when you need to do a D Rest and when you can skip it?
A D-rest is often unnecessary, if you pitched sufficient yeast. Taste the green beer or at least smell it to see if you can detect diacetyl. Also, if you are blind to the taste, try to determine if there is a slick mouthfeel to the beer. I have to work backward from mouthfeel to detect diacetyl in low concentration. It doesn’t always come through to people as buttered popcorn, but it has a similar flavor, aroma and mouthfeel as buttered popcorn to most people who are not blind to it.
You can look into a forced diacetyl aroma test which involves heating a sample and comparing its aroma to an unheated sample of the same beer - it usually stands out to most people when they do that. If the aroma is the same, then diacetyl is not a problem to be remedied.
Finally, diacetyl can go away with time, regardless of temperature - but it can also re-appear due to an infection (by say, pediococcus). Welcome to the forum. I am sure others will provide more details.
or from hop creep lol
… or you can just be patient and do a diacetyl rest. It’s easy.
I would not be concerned with a haze.
My brews range from medium haze to crystal clear,
and hasn’t been an indication on the quality of brew.
I’ve had great tasting brews either hazy or clear.
So much other stuff to focus on, haze would be my last one.
The pretty clear look can be deceiving.
Cheers, and welcome
As the lowest scored characteristic, the Beer Judge Certification Program would seem to agree that appearance takes a significant back seat to flavor and aroma. It even comes in under mouthfeel on their scoresheet.
Which almost never happens
Or you can email patient and let the d clean itself up
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
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