Thanks Oginme - I have practiced your recommendation since the dawn of my all-grain Brewing, including this brew. However, I have an unusual condition that has occurred with a Great Lakes Brewing Christmas Ale clone I recently made. Going into the bottle, the beer tasted fantastic and I would easily say I nailed the clone. But, after week 1, I tasted it and it had a flavor I tasted only once before in my Oktoberfest I brewed last March. That?s why I was wondering if diacetyl can still be absorbed even after the beer is bottled thinking maybe I didn?t let it set long enough after active fermentation.
Maybe I?m being a bit premature with my curiosity, but I don?t understand what could have happened after it was bottled. I checked to see if there was a commonality in Ingredients between my Oktoberfest and the Christmas Ale and maybe this taste was produced by the same ingredient. But no luck. Neither recipe shared the same ingredient.
Puzzling. My bottle sanitizing process has never let me down. So, I guess I?ll wait a couple more weeks and see how it develops. It?s not an offensive flavor by any means. I just don?t think it belongs in my beer.
Thanks for your input!
PS - BTW, your assessments on brewing chemistry are spot on. Dimethyl Sulfide is forced from the wort in the form of vapor during the boil. Diacetyl is produced by yeast during fermentation and later consumed by yeast after fermentation is complete. The book, Yeast, by Chris White (White Labs) was quite clear on the subject.