First Lager Fermentation in many years

I'm In the process of fermenting an all-grain Schwarzbier with an OG of 1.052. I pitched Saflager W-34/70 (2 packs) @ 65degF on Sunday afternoon. By the time fermentation started,early Monday morning, I had wort down to 55degF where it stayed for about 12 hours. At which time I decided that was a bit warm and dropped temperature to 46degF. There was vigorous fermentation throughout and krausen overflowed the 3' of 1"id Blowoff Tube. It has fermented steadily at 46degF since Tuesday morning. I checked SG today and it measured 1.015 still bubbling pretty steadily. I decided because it was time to d-rest based on temp I pitched at and SG reading. My concern is, even though the majority of fermentation took place at 46degF, the beer is attenuated enough (shooting for ~1.012) for D-rest in just five days. Does this seem particularly quick? BTW, after a few days of D-rest, I plan to transfer to corny for 3-4 weeks of lagering in my keezer. Just want to make sure I'm on the right track here. I will definitely be more patient and pitch my next lager @ 46degF (maybe avoiding the need for D-rest) Thanks for any feedback.

Warm pitching temps probably had something to do with it, but it sounds like you pitched the proper amount of healthy yeast for your beer and are now reaping the benefits.

daksin said:

Warm pitching temps probably had something to do with it, but it sounds like you pitched the proper amount of healthy yeast for your beer and are now reaping the benefits.

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thanks. that's what I figured.

I had low attenuation on my last two ale fermentations and figured it was my mash temperature. I single step infusion mashed at 149degF for this one...looks like it's going to attenuate really well. Plus my newly built ferm chamber dropped the wort temp like a champ.

I've used a double dose of w34/70 for 3 lagers now, and they all took off within 24 hours. I can't recommend liquid yeast to anyone just looking to get a few basic lagers under their belt. Use a double dose of 34/70 until you've got the other parts down, then switch to liquid yeast if necessary, but I don't relish the idea of having to have 1gal starters for every batch.