Do yeast like the dark?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
It's just that light is a source of energy that causes chemical changes, the sort you don't want. Heat is the same, you should always store your wine in cool conditions if possible.
 
UV light does nasty things to isomerized alpha acids (aka skunked beer), and I'm sure it does bad things to wine too.... I'm not sure what ...

Plus, dark places are usually more temperature stable.
 
"Light struck" wine changes color and flavor. It's not usually a big deal for whites, that's why they are in clear bottles while reds are in green bottles. But you'll notice that even with whites, light can cause a "sherry" flavor and a few color changes.
 
I didn't know this before I started my first batch of wine. I left 6 gallons age for 2 months in my glass carboy under uv lights 24/7. After reading about light being bad I covered the carboy with a towel for my second batch of the same wine, they both taste the same. I'm not advising you to leave it in the light but I'm just saying from what I've experienced light does not destroy the wine
 
UV light does nasty things to isomerized alpha acids (aka skunked beer), and I'm sure it does bad things to wine too.... I'm not sure what ...

Plus, dark places are usually more temperature stable.

UV light doesn't penetrate glass, its the visible spectrum that's the problem. Visible light doesn't have as much energy as UV but still enough to be detrimental to wine quality.
 
UV light doesn't penetrate glass, its the visible spectrum that's the problem. Visible light doesn't have as much energy as UV but still enough to be detrimental to wine quality.

I beg to differ. UV light doesn't penetrate all glass, but it does penetrate some. I did an experiment with coffee once while I was a roaster. I put two bags of coffee in the sunlight inside of the window. One was in a UV resistant clear plastic bag, the other was in a similar bag that was not UV resistant. There was a big difference after 24 hours.
 
On reading further it seems that most but not all uv light is blocked by glass. The degree of blocking depends on thickness so thick wine bottles will do a fairly good job of blocking UV light. The spectrum that does penetrate is the longer wavelengths, closer to visible light. Whichever way you look at it it's better to keep your wine out of the light.
 
Back
Top