Schwarzbier fermentation going nuts

[sakariss]

Hello

And Merry Christmas.

I brewed my first lager on the 23. . A Schwarzbier (the Medieval Cloister Recipe from BYO)
It's been less than four days, and I just took a gravity sample. The gravity reading says 1.011. And that should be the final gravity. (it's cold, 12degrees celsius, so I guess it's at 1.012 room temperature)
I did a small 2.5 gal. Batch. and did it BIAB. I nailed the OG at 1.048 and used Saflager W34/70 dry in a yeast starter. Started the fermentation at 18 celsius and reduced it to 12 celsius over three days.
However. The BYO recipe says that it should take 12 days for fermentation to reach FG and stop.

Did something weird happen to the fermentation ?

I guess some of the factors are :
- It's a small batch
- I might have fermented it too warm for the first day
- I used a whole pack of yeast in a 1/3 liter starter
- The sample i took came from the top of the fermentor bucket

It's my first lager and my fourth attempt at an All Grain. So i'm very excited about this one

p.s
Gravity sample tastes great

 

[wobdee]

Probably pitched a little warm but I think you'll be OK. All I brew is 2.5 gal batches of Lagers in the 1.050 range and they are usually done fermenting in 7-10 days. I pitch at 50f for 5-7 days, raise to 60f for a d rest for a few more then cold crash down to about 35f for a few more days then keg by day 13 or 14.

 

[pdxal]

Starting the fermentation at 18°C/64.4°F and taking 3 days to lower to 12°C/53.6°F will cause a super fast fermentation. You'll have to see if that causes bad beer or not.
Also, most people don't make starters with dry yeast because the yeast has reserves built up that are expended with making a starter, and it is cheaper/easier to just pitch another packet instead of making the starter. 1 pack was fine for a 2.5gal lager anyway.