1st mead batch question

Hey all, this is my first batch of home-brewed mead and i was wondering what the effect of sunlight/ambient light is on the mead during fermentation. Right now i have it in the corner of a room. The room does have windows and i open the curtains during the day to let in light. would that light hurt the mead? should i cover the fermenter (below the air lock obviously) with some dark fabric to keep out light? Is sunlight bad? It won't be hit by direct light, but there will be plenty of ambient light in the room. Help? Thanks all!

As long as you didn't put hops in it for some reason, light, in and of itself, will not hurt mead. However, any place that gets intermittent light will probably fluctuate in temperature. Try to find the part of your house that will remain the most constant temperature.

I've always heard to keep wines and meads in a dark place, as well as beer. Not because of skunking (no hops as Moonpile said) but to protect it from a chemical reaction that occurs in bright light. My carboys are all covered by towels or blankets even in a dim room. I bottle mead and wine in dark bottles if I can, but store them in a dark place anyway.

I'm going to defer to Yoop on this one since I know she's done more wine and mead (and probably beer too!) than I have. But I still stand by what I said about light fluctuating the temps. So that's at least two reasons to keep fermenters out of the light.

awesome thanks. my girlfriend and i are decent at sewing too so i'll make skirts for the carboys that keep the light off! thanks!

medium size men's t-shirts work well too.

sunlight produces a lot of UV light, which I believe can be detrimental to yeast health. stressed yeast tend to produce off flavors, which are usually not desirable.