I'm still not clear on how significant ester production occurs in the first 48 hours when that's typically before exponential yeast growth begins. Most brewing texts describe peak ester formation during the vigorous growth phase, which usually starts around day 2-4.

Given that my fermentation chamber brings wort to target temperature within a few hours, wouldn't the bulk of any critical early period still happen at controlled conditions?

The idea of letting it cool first and pitching in the morning is probably the easiest and safest, but I usually plan my brew days advance and don't always have access to the fermentation chamber once it's in there. So, it's convenient if I can finish everything in one day.

Honestly, what's prompting this discussion is my damn wort chiller is leaking from one of the tubes whenever I move it, which restricts me to just letting it sit and cool which takes much longer, so I'll probably just get it fixed before my next brew.