First Brew - Light Exposure - Did I Skunk My Beer?

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Phlee

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Hi all,

This is my first brew and I'll be bottling this weekend, but I'm afraid that I made a crucial error today.

I'm brewing the BB American Amber Lager, but it has been super dark and cloudy throughout the process so I wanted to give it a nice cold crash before bottling to clear things up a bit. It is a nice temperature to cold crash outside so I placed my plastic carboy on the back porch last night with the plan of covering it with a blanket this morning before I left for work. Of course I forgot to do so and I remembered my error around 2:00pm. Fortunately, I was able to give my buddy a call and he covered it around 2:15pm.

It is flush against my siding on the opposite side of the house of where the sun rises, so I'm thinking it got an hour or so of direct exposure. Is this going to skunk my beer?
 
It could. It doesn't take long to skunk a beer. The UV rays from the sun break down the hop oil's molecules into virtually the same thing as skunk spray.
 
A beer will fully skunk with direct UV sun exposure in less than 20 minutes. Who knows how much exposure yours got, but I'm sure it is at least partially skunked. No real going back at this point.

Finish it up and see how it tastes. I drank more than my fair share of skunked beer in college with a smile on my face, so it could still be very drinkable, even with the off-flavor.
 
TopherM said:
A beer will fully skunk with direct UV sun exposure in less than 20 minutes. Who knows how much exposure yours got, but I'm sure it is at least partially skunked. No real going back at this point.

Finish it up and see how it tastes. I drank more than my fair share of skunked beer in college with a smile on my face, so it could still be very drinkable, even with the off-flavor.

Some people pay more for skunked beer, especially those green bottle imports like Heineken. Just tell everyone it's a dutch amber lager if it ends up being skunked and you will look like a pro.
 
Some people pay more for skunked beer, especially those green bottle imports like Heineken. Just tell everyone it's a dutch amber lager if it ends up being skunked and you will look like a pro.


Haha, Thanks for the encouragement.
 
Phlee said:
Haha, Thanks for the encouragement.

Hang in there. You learn something new with each batch. My one on Tuesday was an absolute disaster!! Most of the time, the beers seems to survive. (tuesday's brew may be an exception)

When I dont think my beer turned out perfect, my friend and I try to name off 5 worse tasting commercial beers. It usually makes me feel better.
 
Florescent and full spectrum lights will skunk 'em too. Be very aware of it.
 
Slightly off topic, but will a beer skunk through a white plastic bucket? Or maybe the correct question is how long does it take if full UV exposure through a clear glass carboy takes an hour?
 
I'll bet buckets are ok. In fact a clear plastic better bottle MIGHT block uv. Clear plastic eyeglass lenses block uv.
 
Not really,no. Clear doesn't block UV. But polarised will. The plastic buckets are better in this respect than clear plastic or glass. The solid colored plastic would slow it down anyway. Beer bottles are brown to block the most UV.
 
I use grain sacks over my carboys to block light and moderate temps somewhat. I just cut a hole for the airlocks.
 
I use dark tee shirts,or a black velvet smoking jacket the darn dog chewed up. I've even used an old fleece lined CPO before.
 
Just to update this thread -

I bottled this weekend and popped one open to see how bad the skunk was in my beer. To my surprise it wasn't bad at all! It amounted to a very slight off taste, but nothing that would put you off. With a few weeks in the bottle and served chilled I think it will be a fine brew (at least for my first beer). Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I'll try and remember to update this thread again when I crack another open.
 
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