Diacetyl Removal with Enzymes Craft Beer

The most obvious reason for this is to reduce the diacetyl content of the beer to below detectable levels by the beer drinker. Diacetyl is a compound that is produced as a by-product of yeast fermentation, and is typically associated with a buttery popcorn kind of taste. A great taste in the right movie theater, but not one that is desirable in beer and therefore a long laagering is utilized to allow for natural yeast metabolism to breakdown the diacetyl. An alternative to this lengthy process is to add an enzyme, like SEBmature L, which will shortcut the whole process. SEBmature will prevent the formation of diacetyl, by removing the pre-cursors, and converting them into an inactive by-product. Not only can this reduce the laagering time from 2 weeks, to 2 days, it can serve as a failsafe device. The enzyme is added in such small amounts and works only on the designed substrate, which serves the dual purpose of not adding any flavors to the beer, and removing the diacetyl. Sometimes the yeast can be slightly unhealthy or re-pitched too many times to save money, or the yeast could not arrive in time for the next brew. This can lead to stuck fermentations which are fun for no one, or the yeast could have problems reabsorbing the diacetyl at the end of the fermentation.  If the yeast will not reabsorb the diacetyl, there is almost nothing that can be done, except release the beer as is, which results in an inferior product hitting the market.  Don’t release something that you are not proud of, check out some SEBmature, and guarantee no detectable diacetyl in your beers.