Looking to try diacetyl in a beer, any beer

[p_p]

Hi all,

I am brewing pale and dark ales in the 5-7% abv range. I pay special attention to pitching rates, ferm temperature, sanitation, etc. etc.
I like to think that I am yet to produce a beer with a diacetyl, but it is equally likely that I may just be nose blind to it.

I know there are sensory kits I could buy, but these are out of my reach considering there is a long list of equipment I should probably purchase first.

So, is there any commercial example of beer, commonly available in Britain, with a definitive diacetyl character I can use to find out whether I am blind to it or not?

Is there any other way? Can I grab a sample of fermenting beer, cold crash it before the yeast have a chance to clean up and try that?

thanks

 

[Hanglow]

Pilsner Urquell has a fair amount

You could try some of the bottled Ringwood beers and some Sam Smiths ones have it too iirc, although I've not drunk them for a number of years given the better options out there.


Some people are super sensitive to it, some aren't at all so if you can't detect it I wouldn't worry, indeed you could see that as a bonus

 

[FVillatoro]

Get anything by Shipyard brewing (https://shipyard.com/verify?destination=node)

They are notorious for leaving a lot of diacetyl in their beers.
I personally have tried their old thumper ale and yup- diacetyl all the way.

Even the Fuller's London Pride/IPA has prominent diacetyl for what I remember.

 

[ColoHox]

Get some butter extract from the grocery store and make a tasting series for yourself.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Hi all,

I am brewing pale and dark ales in the 5-7% abv range. I pay special attention to pitching rates, ferm temperature, sanitation, etc. etc.
I like to think that I am yet to produce a beer with a diacetyl, but it is equally likely that I may just be nose blind to it.

I know there are sensory kits I could buy, but these are out of my reach considering there is a long list of equipment I should probably purchase first.

So, is there any commercial example of beer, commonly available in Britain, with a definitive diacetyl character I can use to find out whether I am blind to it or not?

Is there any other way? Can I grab a sample of fermenting beer, cold crash it before the yeast have a chance to clean up and try that?

thanks

Maybe I am wrong here....but the red flag here is "Ale". I have never heard of...or have thought to look out for diacetyl in any ales.

LAGERS...on the other hand..I absolutely do a diacetyl rest and are much more common to find diacetyl off flavors.

So if you are making Ales...your good.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=430627

Here is a post that basically describes that Ales don't really diacetyl rest per say...

 

[ajdelange]

Get some butter extract from the grocery store and make a tasting series for yourself.

Butter 'extract' isn't made of diacetyl any more. It is a carcinogen at the levels to which the factory workers were exposed.

PU does contain it but right around threshold where it is synergistic with the malt tending to enrichen the malt flavors rather than give the nasty characteristics of 'sarcina sickness'. I think you can buy a pediococcus culture from Wyeast. Try sniffing that. It throws a fair amount of diacetyl.

Ale brewers don't do diacetyl rests because diacetyl to a perceptible extent is permissible in many ales. See the BJCP guidelines.

If you are old enough to remember what a movie theater lobby used to smell like (before the ban) that's what diacetyl smells like.

Don't confuse it with acetaldehyde (fruity, apple, aldehidic). Many people do though there is no similarity.

 

[davidst]

I'd second Pilsner Urquell. I don't taste the diacetyl as much as feel the slick mouth feel it gives. I'm aware of it, but I guess I'm not sensitive enough for it to bother me. I actually think it makes PU better.

 

[p_p]

Thanks for all the replies, I most certainly try the beers you suggest.

PU does contain it but right around threshold where it is synergistic with the malt tending to enrichen the malt flavors

In relation to your comment, I've tried a few lagers that feel incredibly malty, almost artificially malty. I have never come across an ale with that kind of profile...

Is it possible that what I thought it was just extra-malty was instead a contribution from diacetyl?

thanks.

 

[ajdelange]

I'd say so.