Very short lag time, bad?

[Hopmonkey]

I have been creating starters, according to Mr Malty specifications, for my last five brews. The lag times for theses starters have been around an hour. From what I have read, this is too short. Palmer and JZ have, on a few occasions, stated that 12 hours is ideal and short lag times are not optimal. Is my fermentation suffering from no lag time? There are important aspects of fermentation that occur during lag phase. The results seem fine. One of them scored 40 at a comp.

I make 1-2L of starter in a flask with a stir plate. After 2-3 days I decant off most of the liquid, then pitch directly after decanting. The temps are within 5 degrees or less.


Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Hopmonkey

[brewinhard]

In your post you are stating that the lag time for your starter is short which is good. But did you mean that the lag time for your big batch brews are short instead?

[Hopmonkey]

Sorry about that, a bit confusing the way I wrote that.
I was referring to the lag time of the fermentation, not the starter.


Thanks
Hopmonkey

[brewinhard]

In beers where you want an increased ester profile a bit longer lag time can help to allow the yeast more time to grow and reproduce. As they do this they can also produce some desirable characteristics for some Belgian and British styles for example. With that being said if you enjoy the profile of your brews and obviously if they score well in repeated comps then I would not be concerned with lag time which is hard to predict and control.
Short lag times are signs of pitching enough healthy viable yeast and of course proper aeration. I don't see how that is a bad thing. If you really want to adjust your lag time then some experimentation involving pitching rates and wort oxygenation should be considered.

[hoodie]

If you want to slow it down, pitch at a cooler temp and let it rise OR ferment cooler

[creative_free]

If the beer tastes good! RDWHAHB! Do what works for you!