Shortest time to ferment before kegging?

In case the regulars haven't noticed, I have a problem with the use of the term autolysis. Unfortunately I blame Palmer for this. Much of what he says is accurate, but he ascribes, incorrectly, a horrible stench to autolysis, with no actual evidence that this is indeed what happened. I think his book is great, but he really missed the mark on this one.

for the whole section

The section I bolded is a very BIG assumption to make. Lots of very common microbes will very happily grow and ferment such a nice tasty rice pudding, and lots of them will bubble away just like yeast. I work with a number of different microbes (common ones) and can tell you, that some of them smell downright awful while they are actively growing (and worse when you autoclave them for disposal). Usually the worst smelling microbes are the ones that can handle a lack of oxygen (as in un-aerated rice glue)

Think about it, he had this stuff in a pot in his kitchen. It was boiled, then cooled and sat covered in his kitchen for 2-3 weeks top. Is this really any different than what we do with our beers? It may have been a bit on the warm side, but plenty of folks ferment a bit warm with no problems. So why did he get "autolysis" in such a short time yet most people never experience it? Because what he smelled was not the primary result of yeast autolysis. Granted it could be from other microbes that are feasting on any dead yeast that might have been in there. Ever forgot to clean out your mash tun for a week? Left something on your stove? Would you assume that nasty smell is from yeast autolysis?

In the lab, we work with yeast extract as component of the media we use for growing microbes. This is basically what spills out of a yeast as it is lysed, in this case artificially lysed, not autolysed (could be some minor differences). It pretty much smells yeasty/bready. The media made with it smells just fine. Now if someone forgets to autoclave it, and forgets about it, some of the bugs that grow smell downright nasty (we make the students clean it up)

 

I'm late to the party but Palmer's discussion of autolysis has some problems as noted above. I don't know pjj2ba but he seems to have more of a microbiology background than Palmer.

Anyone who has had sparkling white wine aged sur lies or marmite knows that Palmer's discussion is inaccurate as those don't taste fecal or rubbery.

I get the whole "we have to dumb everything down for the n00bs" thing but this thread wasn't started by a n00b and isn't in the n00b forum. There is a time and a place for a full and detailed discussion of what actually happens in beer. I'll allow you to shoot me down for getting into details and freaking out beginners in the beginners forum but please allow non dumbed down discussions in the subject specific forums.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I AM NOT a microbiologist by training. I am a Plant Scientist, specifically looking at plant/microbe interactions, mostly on the plant side. Anyone these days who does any kind of molecular biology is going to spend a lot of time using bacteria and yeast while studying their subject of choice, be it plant, animal or other. I actually end up spending more time "playing" with microbes, than I do plants - usually a bacteria that has been engineered to contain a plant gene so it can be more easily studied. So while microbiology is not something I've studied in depth, there is quite a bit of info. one picks up over the years working with them.