1st Lager AG "Fritz's Fuel"

[Frisfur]

Bloody Hell Adm
3 months and still going!!!

the missus want a pilsner, but 3 months it will be october b4 its ready

Ah idea! Maybe I will do an oktoberfest!

Off to do some research....

[mysterio]

I always thought that Diacytel was a "butterscotch" taste. I thought that the green apple taste came from acytlealdyhde, and that was due to it being too young?

Obviously could be horribly wrong.

You're right! My mistake.....it is indeed acetaldehyde according to Palmer.....and should clean up during conditoning.

Right - off to turn the fridge down to 2C then....

Don't know if anyone has replied to this already, but you won't clean up any acetaldehyde or diacetyl at lagering temps unfortunately. This is the purpose of the diacetyl rest, to make the yeast more active to absorb any by-products. You should hold the rest until yeast activity has completely subsided; The beer should taste great before the lagering, which is just for clarification purposes.

More yeast definately, 2 weeks should be more than enough, I've had lagers finish in 8 - 9 days when re-pitching lager yeast, even fermenting down at 9C.

[adm]

Yeah.....although I did give it a good diacetyl rest before lagering, I let it come up to 18C and left it there for 4 days - then I turned it down to lager.

I think however, the taste I am getting is not actually diacetyl or acetaldehyde, but the hops, as an ale I did with a lot of the same batch of Saaz has exactly the same taste and the only ingredients they share is those hops and lager malt. It's difficult to describe - kind of appley/earthy/spicey/fruity - but definitely more on the apple side than I'd like. It's not a bad taste per se...and I did use a LOT of hops in each beer.

Ah well - I'll drink it anyway and brew another lager when I get back from my hols.