How near to FG should i perform Diacetyl rest ?

[tanglefoot]

Morning all , I am after some more pilsner advice ! It was two weeks ago today when i brewed my first pilsner my OG was 1050 and last sunday i took a reading of 1040 . Today i am down to 1022. My FG was about 1012 . My question is at what SG should i raise the wort temp for the diacetyl rest and at what temp ? I was thinking around 17-18 ? I have had the obligatory sip from the hydrometer sample vial and i think it has great potential once the buttery taste goes

I am also unsure on which finings to use , i used protofloc as copper finings and in all my ales i use isinglass . Is it the same with pilsner ?

Cheers for all ya help !

[HighHops]

I normally raise it 3/4 way through primary, so 1022 (yesterday) and I normally increase it slowly over a couple of days to 20-21C. However everyones got a different opinion on this one, but this works for me!

[tanglefoot]

Cheers HighHops , i was getting worried as no one had responded but i suppose this is a bit of a difficult one . i just check the SG and its on 1018 with final expected at 1012 i think i will start to raise the temp . Is it normal at this stage after 2 weeks and 2 days to still not have dropped bright or does this happen when i crash the temp to 0 deg for lagering stage ?

[unclepumble]

what yeast are you using,if lager yeast at 13 deg its should have got down to 1008 1010 within about 14 days, a 3 day rest at 15 near the end is preferable.

then crash cool once the desired gravity is reached, then transfer to a pressure vessel and lager at as close to 0 deg for a couple of weeks.

UP

[tanglefoot]

I used WLP 800 Pilsner yeast which is recommended 10deg-12.5deg primary ferment , i have set my stat at 19deg which with cool to 18deg and overshoot to 17.5 ish and i will leave this for 24 hrs and hope that is enough to get rid of the diacetyl .

Another question i have is when i rack off to my corny keg and lager for a couple of weeks at 0 deg , will the lagering create a lot of sediment in the corny that will be sucked up on the first pint pulled or is it best to shorten the dip tube by a couple of centimeters ?

[unclepumble]

18-19 is a bit high, you would be better to pitch at 13 and let free rise to 15 and hold for 10 days, you will get a crisper taste and less esters. crash cool it in primary for 3 days if possible with an air lock then transfer to corni, you will drop loads of yeast out if you can do that,, shortening the dip tube will help.

UP

[Jolum]

Hi Tanglefoot, I picked up a rule of thumb somewhere that's easy to remember (that's why I remember it ). Slowly raise the temperature by 5 degrees when you're at half the original gravity. Half and 5 seemed to stick, dunno why And sorry to contradict the previous posters but I went from 13-18C and it came out fine...perhaps I was just lucky, who knows.
Anyway, just hold it there until the diacetyl has gone. To test that just warm up a sample and taste it, not sure if there's a more scientific method but it worked for me, if you can still taste a buttery note the yeast is still doing it's thing so keep holding it at that temp, even if it means holding it there until you ferment it out completely. When you're done, lager the sucker

Hope it all turns out OK for you

[tanglefoot]

Cheers for the advise everyone , i have 1 week left of lagering and cannot wait to force carbonate and get drinking the stuff . Its a test of paitence the old Lager brewing but if it comes out good i am sure there will be another in the FV very soon !!