Light damage to beer - sun vs fluorescent

So it's pretty obvious from what I've read that sunlight is the enemy of beer, with exposure leading to all kinds of undesirable flavors.

My question is, would the little 40W lightbulb in my fridge have the same damaging effects on my beer? My SWMBO has been gracious enough to allow me to put my 3gallon carboy in the fridge to crash cool which I am thrilled about. I'd just like to know do I need to worry about the effects of the fridge light on my beer? We are 3 people to the household, so the fridge is opened a lot and the beer will get exposed to the fridge light a fair amount.

Do I need to worry about this exposure and cover my beer up, or is the light in the fridge to weak to actually cause any damage?

No. Incandescent has very little UV, off 99% of the time. Low power. No.

So, do you need to worry? NEVER!

just put a t-shirt on it if you are nervous. I'm not a scientist or anything but my fishtank gets algae like crazy from sunlight but not much at all from the light that is on all the time. Not to say it won't happen but straight sunlight and heat are a beer's enemy

If it's a fluorescent bulb, it can skunk your beer just like sunlight but if it's a regular light bulb then you're safe as passedpawn said. I also agree with krelja... if you're worred, then cover it. If for no other reason than to put your mind at ease.

Wavelengths as high as 500nm (in the visible range) technically do have enough energy to initiate the reactions that cause skunking, though I suspect the chance is negligible especially if it's just in a 'fridge where the light is usually off. UV emissions are something like 1/5th of 1% of sunlight, so again not really a worry.

To ease my mind...it's now sitting in the fridge with a red-shirt on.

"Nobody puts Santa in the corner..."

Krelja said:

just put a t-shirt on it if you are nervous. I'm not a scientist or anything but my fishtank gets algae like crazy from sunlight but not much at all from the light that is on all the time. Not to say it won't happen but straight sunlight and heat are a beer's enemy

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Aquarium geek here. The reason you are getting the algae from the sunlight is mainly because of the light spectrum. Your aquarium lights lights are producing a different spectrum of light that the algae doesn't thrive in.
Sorry had to chime in on that one. LOL

BGJ223 said:

Aquarium geek here. The reason you are getting the algae from the sunlight is mainly because of the light spectrum. Your aquarium lights lights are producing a different spectrum of light that the algae doesn't thrive in.
Sorry had to chime in on that one. LOL

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Sweet when the blinds were open my fishtank would look like crap in a day or so. Got some blinds that let no light through except for the light thats in it and I don't have to clean it nearly as often. I'm definately no fish tank nerd so I'll take all the help I can get

Is there any way to know how much UV light a fluorescent bulb puts out? I have one above my workbench in the room where I make and store my beer and wine. It has a white plastic dome cover over it but I'm afraid to use it since I'm worried it will skunk the beer in glass carboys just a few feet away.

xoltri said:

Is there any way to know how much UV light a fluorescent bulb puts out? I have one above my workbench in the room where I make and store my beer and wine. It has a white plastic dome cover over it but I'm afraid to use it since I'm worried it will skunk the beer in glass carboys just a few feet away.

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photospectrometer. And yes light is not good, especially if it is on a lot. Put a tshirt over your carboy.

passedpawn said:

photospectrometer. And yes light is not good, especially if it is on a lot. Put a tshirt over your carboy.

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Well I guess my question should be rephrased. I think that the plastic dome over my fluorescent lights would block the UV. So is there any way for a normal person who does not have access to expensive lab equipment to test if the light is putting out a lot of UV?

I guess I could just put a beer in a clear bottle under the light for a couple days. I can taste a skunky beer after it's been in the sun for only a few minutes, and the light is on so rarely that two solid days of exposure would probably be worth several months of real world exposure. And my beers are only in the carboys for 2 weeks before they are bottled.

I could go crazy testing this...I have various CFL bulbs, even a black light one, tube fluorescent lights etc. I could bottle a dozen beers in clear glass in my next batch and use them for testing. I may do this actually. Drinking beer in the name of science!

It would be hard to quantify the amount of UV light. If you had a light meter (the kind for photographers) and you put a blue filter over it (from a camera store) you could gauge the blue intensity. My suggestion is to just cover the carboy.

Anything that is glow-in-the-dark is a UV indicator. I.e., if you put a glow-in-the-dark frisbee under a incandescent lamp, it will not glow nearly as much as if you put in anywhere near that black lamp (which is all UV!).

BTW, I am a normal person with a photospectrometer! OK, maybe not so normal.

It basically boils down to cover your carboy with a t-shirt towel anything you have on hand and you should be fine. When I was watching Beerwars Sam Calgione had a carboy full of beer on his counter that he was going to bottle in a few days. It was in direct sunlight and he didn't seem to care. It will all make beer and most likely better than any BMC crap

im a fan of putting the carboy back in its cardboard box and closing the flaps when its full of beer. i've also seen clear plastic stick-on window covers that say they block 100% of UV. the idea is to prevent the sun from causing your upholstery to fade. it would probably be a pain in the but but i think those would work on clear anything.

TipsyDragon said:

im a fan of putting the carboy back in its cardboard box and closing the flaps when its full of beer. i've also seen clear plastic stick-on window covers that say they block 100% of UV. the idea is to prevent the sun from causing your upholstery to fade. it would probably be a pain in the but but i think those would work on clear anything.

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You can use spray-on spar urethane. It has significant UV protection. I have used it on circuit boards that are in the presence of UV radiation. Lowes / Home Depot.

If you dare, google "growing marijuana indoors" and you will get the most scientific, reliable information on the full light spectrum on any type of bulb. I only know this because I've started some seeds for a fall garden.... legal vegetables..... and the best information I'v found is on the marijuana sites.

Florescent lights are bad in a grocery store because they are on 24/7 and the beer in glass gets bombarded day in and day out.

There is a forumula for growing under florescent lights vs sunlight. For every inch away from the artificial light, you lose 50% of the potency of real sunlight. If you are 10 inches away from the light source, you are getting a tiny fraction of what real sunlight is.

That's why tanning beds have you almost right up against the lights in the beds. If you are more than a couple of inches away, you might as well be in the shade.



Hope that helps.