Not experienced enough

This is officially my first new thread (sorry for any mistakes). Note: I put this in the beginner section because these questions make me feel like a beginner haha! First off I’ve been brewing for several years and made the switch to all grain a year ago. I now use a 10gallon igloo cooler as a mash/lauter tun, a 13 gallon stainless steel turkey fryer as a boil kettle, have a copper manifold in the tun and use super 5 ph buffer in the mash. I cleaned everything real well with vinegar/water to remove corrosion first. Today I gave BM’s cream of three crops recipe a shot. Everything went well, I hit all my numbers and volumes and drained into the boil kettle. This is where things went strange. During the heat up to boil I swear the wort looked purple or blackish (and no I haven’t had a brew today!). I was boiling in the sun and it could have been an illusion, but everything looks normal again now during the boil. Anyone know what this is about? Lastly, can I skunk the batch by boiling and adding hops in direct sunlight? I’ve never had a problem before but always wondered if it happens or if it’s impossible. Thanks for the help!
-RC

why would that skunk the batch?

Do you use iodine?if you had any resedue that would turn it purpleish,would have to be a lot though.As for the skunking.Haven't moved off the stove yet so I couldn't tell ya.Oh and defenestrate.Sunlight=skunked beer.Thats why anything in a clear bottle or green for that matter tastes like ass.

A couple hours of sunlight wont be skunking anything. Even if it could, it wouldn't cause it to turn purple/black. It was probably just an optical illusion, or your imagination, or a shadow or something.

RCannin, I see you're in GA too. Not to hi-jack your thread (I know nothing about AG, but want to get into it), but where do you get your grain from? We in GA can't buy from BMW, so I'm looking for a local, cheap source. What part of the state are you in?

FWIW, I don't think the hops can skunk up while boiling. I may be wrong though.

Skunking is only an issue once the beer has begun fermentation. I'd attribute the colour problem to a trick of the lighting. I'm sure it will be fine.

Joos said:

sunlight=skunked beer.Thats why anything in a clear bottle or green for that matter tastes like ass.

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Good thing the wort isn't quite beer at the boil/chilling stage....
No chance of skunking anything brewing outside. I find it odd that this question has been asked a few times over the past week.

Wow thanks for all the responses. No iodine in this house. I'm sure it was an illusion shadow trick as well, but freaky non the less! Is there a thread around here about the science behind skunking (I'm a bit of a brewnerd)? I found one, but it didn't mention the actual need for fermentation before skunking can occur. I'm in Senoia, GA just outside of Peachtree City and go to "Just Brew It" in fayetteville (pm me if you want more info). Thanks again!

RCannin said:

Wow thanks for all the responses. No iodine in this house. I'm sure it was an illusion shadow trick as well, but freaky non the less! Is there a thread around here about the science behind skunking (I'm a bit of a brewnerd)? I found one, but it didn't mention the actual need for fermentation before skunking can occur. I'm in Senoia, GA just outside of Peachtree City and go to "Just Brew It" in fayetteville (pm me if you want more info). Thanks again!

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Yeah, I've been there years ago. Unfortunately, that's the closest shop to me and it takes me over an hour to get there. I'm east of McDonough. I'd like to source some fairly local base malt for around or just north of a buck a pound. The retail brick-and-mortar stores usually don't get close to that price.

I too say the color was an illusion. After all the sky isn't really blue, the way light comes through, makes it blue to our eyes.

I brewed BM's Cream of 3 Crops recently... and my hot break had a crazy funky look to it... it was creepy and grey. I attributed that to the use of rice and/or flaked maize... It turned out just fine.