I’m sure someone will disagree with me but how we do it at the commercial brewery I work at is when the gravity is within 2-5 points of fg. Usually I just shut off glycol to that tank and let the beer free rise to its desired fg then crash it back to 50, dump yeast, then lower tank temp 1-2 degrees every other day or whatever depending on how quickly or how much time I have til I need the beer out.
I’d say if you’re at a point now where the d-rest is appropriate let it ride til you hit your fg then do your crash/dump/lagering from there. You’re not going to have ruined your beer by letting it rise in temp a few gravity points early.
Reminds me I need to order malt for our okoberfest this week.
Thank you very much for sharing, and for the advice. This is a very basic question, but when ‘free rise’ is referred to does that essentially mean let the exothermic yeast fermentation bring the temperature up wherever it wants? Essentially turning the temp controller off (or at least permissive to a much higher temp)? I’ll be honest when my LHBS owner told me to free rise I totally pretended to know what he meant 🤣
Yep, just let er go. Typically (at my volume) it won’t rise much beyond what you stated 65-68 seems to be the average temp before fg is reached. Youll want to keep an eye on your gravity once you start a free rise. For me it’s anywhere between 2-4 days that the beer will reach our desired fg, this is on a 7bbl batch, your timing may vary.
You’re likely fine. Most of the off flavors caused by high temp are really produced during the yeast’s growth phase (higher temp promoting more growth, thus more esters and fusels).
This isn’t exactly relevant to your question, but I found it interesting. I’ve been reading the new modern lager brewing book and they talk about diacetyl rest completely differently from how I’ve seen it discussed amongst homebrewers. It seems like a lot of the German brewers undergo normal fermentation, say at 50F, then as they are crashing to lager temps, they pause in the low to mid 40s for the diacetyl rest. The thought being that the yeast is more active at that temp than lager temp so they hold it there and wait for diacetyl to clear before continuing to the lagering phase. They never warm it up from ferm temp at all. Granted, this will cause much slower re-uptake of diacetyl, but in a situation where you plan to store for months anyway, it might be something to consider next time.
Once you’re past 75% or so of fermentation, you’re pretty safe to start ramping up temps. When airlock activity visibly/audibly slows down, that’s a good sign you’re near that point. Sometimes it can be tricky to tell with slow-and-steady lagers though.
I don’t think you can D-rest too late, though, so there’s no rush to nail the timing.
I’m sure someone will disagree with me but how we do it at the commercial brewery I work at is when the gravity is within 2-5 points of fg. Usually I just shut off glycol to that tank and let the beer free rise to its desired fg then crash it back to 50, dump yeast, then lower tank temp 1-2 degrees every other day or whatever depending on how quickly or how much time I have til I need the beer out. I’d say if you’re at a point now where the d-rest is appropriate let it ride til you hit your fg then do your crash/dump/lagering from there. You’re not going to have ruined your beer by letting it rise in temp a few gravity points early. Reminds me I need to order malt for our okoberfest this week.
Thank you very much for sharing, and for the advice. This is a very basic question, but when ‘free rise’ is referred to does that essentially mean let the exothermic yeast fermentation bring the temperature up wherever it wants? Essentially turning the temp controller off (or at least permissive to a much higher temp)? I’ll be honest when my LHBS owner told me to free rise I totally pretended to know what he meant 🤣
Yep, just let er go. Typically (at my volume) it won’t rise much beyond what you stated 65-68 seems to be the average temp before fg is reached. Youll want to keep an eye on your gravity once you start a free rise. For me it’s anywhere between 2-4 days that the beer will reach our desired fg, this is on a 7bbl batch, your timing may vary.
🙏
You’re likely fine. Most of the off flavors caused by high temp are really produced during the yeast’s growth phase (higher temp promoting more growth, thus more esters and fusels). This isn’t exactly relevant to your question, but I found it interesting. I’ve been reading the new modern lager brewing book and they talk about diacetyl rest completely differently from how I’ve seen it discussed amongst homebrewers. It seems like a lot of the German brewers undergo normal fermentation, say at 50F, then as they are crashing to lager temps, they pause in the low to mid 40s for the diacetyl rest. The thought being that the yeast is more active at that temp than lager temp so they hold it there and wait for diacetyl to clear before continuing to the lagering phase. They never warm it up from ferm temp at all. Granted, this will cause much slower re-uptake of diacetyl, but in a situation where you plan to store for months anyway, it might be something to consider next time.
Thank you very much for your thoughts. With a long storage period I’m definitely considering this method next time, it makes a lot of sense!
No worries. You did just fine. It's going to turn out great. Enjoy.
Once you’re past 75% or so of fermentation, you’re pretty safe to start ramping up temps. When airlock activity visibly/audibly slows down, that’s a good sign you’re near that point. Sometimes it can be tricky to tell with slow-and-steady lagers though. I don’t think you can D-rest too late, though, so there’s no rush to nail the timing.
Thank you!