Diacetyl !

[MrBIP]

Firsts...
Made an IPA, I fermented upper end (68-70), not sure why now. But, this has been in bottles for three weeks and now chilled. When I tasted previously, I thought estery from higher end ferment temp, but it's not. It's very evident now that this is diacetyl. I've read the about it, but never actually smelled or tasted it (that I'm aware of).
The smell is enough that I don't get any awesome IPA hoppy smell - and I dry hopped this. The taste is muted, it's subtle in the background. So, I guess worse case I got two case of bad smelling, mediocre IPA.

Question 1: will it diminish with time? Given that's it's been in bottles in a warm area for three weeks now, I'm not imagining taking them out of the fridge and warming it up is going to do anything now.

Question 2: it was 9 days in primary then racked for 5 days before bottling. a) guessing I let impatience win and should have left it a full 2 weeks in primary even though hydrometer said it was done and b) previous thread discussion on "the swirl" at the end of fermentation maybe would have forced the yeast back into action to clean up?

Good thing it's an IPA .. if this was something light, without the hops dominating over the butter and toffee, it probably wouldn't be palatable.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

well first, do not store your bottles warm, every degree higher a beer sits makes the shelf life shorter, on beersmiths pod casts there is a guy in england that did testing and can say more I think is something about lasting flavor

anyway the yeast could have been stressed, I just took a beer out last week that had a fruity taste that wasn't hops and it faded in a 2 weeks carbed but was chilled in the keezer too

the swirl is for exciting the yeast to get back to work, you don't bottle right after, you let it condition for a week to allow gravity to pull the yeast down.

sounds like your tasting yeast and needs to sit chilled for 2 weeks

 

[MrBIP]

right, but if I'm bottle carbing, that won't happen at 45 degrees, right?
Once bottled, I've been leaving at room temp for 2-3 weeks, then got to beer fridge.
Hopefully it clears it up with cold time, the taste is ok, but the smell .. not so good .. unless you're in a movie theater.

I think I understood from the "swirling" conversation .. let fermentation nearly finish, transfer to warmer location, swirl to rouse the yeast up, give it a few more days then either rack and dry hop or just take to colder temp for another week or so... I've got a beer in the brew closet now that has been 52-56 for 1 week tomorrow, it's still got some head on it, but has definitely slowed, so I'm thinking of doing exactly that .. and rack later in the week or next weekend if gravity says it's done.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

oh I see on the bottling, I miss understood, but in a nutshell while the carboy is fermenting the yeast will either die, go to sleep or just hang suspended.

normally gravity will drive everything to the bottom eventually, so when you swirl your moving everything from the bottom back to the middle or top and that whole week of gravity is now gone and you need time to let the yeast and trub to settle again so the point is to wake the "asleep yeast" up and do more work, so if it worked fermenting will start again but then you have to wait for everything to settle after its done.

if your in a hurry "don't swirl" you need to put the carboy somewhere undisturbed to let everything settle again then after another week bottle

 

[The Brew Mentor]

^^ 52-56°... for an ale? :?

 

[MrBIP]

^^ 52-56°... for an ale? :?

Yes, a bit low .. limited options right now for temp, but it staying very consistent.
Wyeast American Wheat says optimal range is 58-74, I used same grain bill and yeast in December and fermented at the high end, so trying to go the other way this time.

*edit: ambient temp in beer closet 52-56, so kinda thinking actual in the carboy just at bottom end of recommended range?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

may not be possible for you but 62 to 67 in most ale yeast will almost never fail

 

[MrBIP]

may not be possible for you but 62 to 67 in most ale yeast will almost never fail

Ya, that's the difficulty right now... it's mid-50s in one relatively stable location, the other will run more like 68-72.
Last fall, that brew closet was perfectly in that range... probably will be again in another month or so.

I bought a controller then realized my stand up freezer has fixed shelves, so gotta find an old cheap something to make ferment chamber.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

holiday freezers, $159 to $220 most of the time, my 72 cu ft was 220 at lowes free delivery, bought a stc 1000 off ebay, works great

 

[Foster82]

.... so gotta find an old cheap something to make a ferment chamber.

Keep your ear to ground on craigslist. People post them free from time to time because they don't want to pay the trash collection company to dispose of it. Keep in mine that most fridges/freezer that suddenly stop cooling, are victims of a failed compressor start relay that can be replaced in about 10 minutes and cost between $4-$20.