Hoppinghog

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Hi all I'm new to the forum but have been brewing for about a year mainly extract with specialty grains. Anyway I think I violated a cardinal rule this morning on accident.

I'm brewing a black IPA and its currently in its 26th hour of fermenting. Anyway this morning round 6 a.m. I removed the t-shirt that was covering my better bottle carboy exposing it to flourescent light from about 4 feet away for approx. 3 hours. I know I know. Once I realized what I had done I fixed the error but now I'm concerned the damage has already been done. It's still fermenting pretty vigorously but I'm still concerned.

Did I skunk my brew?

unionrdr

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Everything works if ya let it-Roady(meatloaf)

somedudefromguam

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Smell it

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Hoppinghog

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Well I smelled the airlock and it didn't smell that skunky if at all. It smelled more like hops than anything kinda like a ranger IPA.

I am still planning to dry hop with an ounce of cascade hops so hopefully that'll mask any skunk smell I might have gotten but not sure about the taste. I used Safale US-05 yeast which I've heard is more forgiving of mistakes but not sure if that matters or not.

Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

jheld00

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I ferment and condition in my basement which is nothing but fluorescent lighting. I've had plenty of beers in carboys down there. I/my brothers left the lights on for 12+ hours. In 3+ years of brewing I have yet to have a skunked batch. You're fine I wouldn't worry about it at all. Just as long as they aren't full spectrum lights and even then I'm sure it's not skunked.

Cbaddad

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Yeah. I would say you have nothing to worry about.

homebrewdad

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You should be fine. I would keep it covered, but I doubt you hurt anyting.

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Homebrew Dad - blogging about making my own beer and raising a lot of kids.
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Fermenting: Yorkshire square brown ale
Bottled: Belgian golden strong ale, Yorkshire square brown ale, Leffe Blonde clone, imperial nut brown ale

zeg

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You'll be fine. Fluorescent lights have UV but it's not that intense. Weeks in it might be a problem, hours won't be.

I routinely brew and siphon under fluorescent lamps, next to a window, because I have no alternative. This means I'm passing very thin streams of beer, exposing it to a lot of ambient light. A few minutes of that is probably equivalent to hours of exposure in a bulk container.

Don't worry about it. Do your best to prevent exposure, but you don't have to be paranoid.

Hoppinghog

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Thanks everybody for the responses that makes me feel a lot better I've been using the old shirt trick since then just in case though.

So far it's looking and smelling good and I'm going to pick up a 30 bottle wine cooler on Saturday to use as a fermenter to help dial in my temps.

D-Keb

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This link will tell u all u need to know and more about skunkjng

http://m.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/beersci-why-you-should-never-drink-beer-clear-glass-bottle