Should I start the lagering phase? worried I messed up

[jturkish]

Brewed a märzen on 9/12 -@ 1.059/1.060

That night when it cooled to 54 I pitched two hydrated packets of w34/70

The following Thursday it was at 1.018/1.020 which is about 70% attenuation. Online guide in using said to start ramping up the temp when it hits 50%. Worried I was so far past that I ramped up the temp immediately to 64.

Checked it last Tuesday, it was at 1.013/1.014. Tastes and smells slightly hot and sulfur.

Checked it again today, 1.012/1.013 so it seems to be dropping. Those flavors have mellowed out some but are still present.

Friend who brews lagers often says to wait.

To me it seems the hot smell and flavor is from warm fermentation, I'm thinking about maybe starting to slowly drop the temp down until I hit 35

Thoughts? Did I mess up?

 

[DurtyChemist]

Yeast will clean up the diacetyl with time. The only reason people ramp up temps is to speed the process up. You could start the lagering now if you wanted but dropping it to 35 will put the yeast to sleep and they won't clean anything up. I'd out it at 55 and let it sit personally. The hot flavor will go away with time.

 

[passedpawn]

Don't drop. You're doing fine. Stop opening the fermentors.

My lager process is 2 weeks at 50-55, 1 week at +10 (I just raise it 10F from where it was), then cold crash for 2 or 3 days. Then lager. I don't lager long, just enough to clear the beer. 2 or 3 weeks at 32F.

 

[jturkish]

Thanks. I ferment in a bottling bucket, makes it easy to transfer and pull samples