"Store in dark area..."

The spot where my fermentor sits gets a good bit of light. To make up for the lack of 'darkness' i wrapped a beach towel around it.

Will that suffice?

Perfect...

I have 3 carboys cuddling under a blanket in my living room and 1 hiding under a paper bag in the entryway. ;-)

not to hijack here... but curious, is it just sunlight (e.g. UV), or does incandescent and florescent light affect the fermenting wort as well?

I believe it is the hops that are effected by light. I think they are effected by all light but much quicker by UV light.

If a build a cabinet to store the fermentor will a passive vent for the CO2 be enough?

By that a mean a hole near the base of the cabinet.

You don't need any vents for the cabinet. Unless you somehow made it totally AIRTIGHT...

I have read a lot of places that it is specifically UV light that skunks hops quickly. One way or the other, you're more likely to have skunky beer if its been in the sun or under a fluorescent bulb.

I have had a fantastic Dogfish Head limited release (it was Raison D'Extra) that was sitting in a grocery store under fluorescents for 2 years. It tasted like drinking from a skunk's ***.

My beer is in a sunny room and I have been covering my carboys with T-shirts... no skunk.

BRUbaker: what's your concern? That the cabinet is going to explode from pressurized CO2 buildup?

Sounds like it's time to RDWHAHB unless its "airtight" I see no way at all that could be a problem.

vitrael said:

BRUbaker: what's your concern? That the cabinet is going to explode from pressurized CO2 buildup?

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Haha. As a newbie shooting from the hip i don't know if CO2 saturation around the fermentor is a problem; requiring positive ventilation. Certainly the cabinet wont be airtight. I'm not that good of a carpenter.

tee shirt

If you're fermenting in plastic buckets, don't even bother with a towel or shirt. The plastic itself suffices to block out the light. If you are using carboys, then a shirt or towel wrapped around them (or the box that the carboys came in, turned upside down over the carboy) works fine.

It's just UV. As for the Dogfish Head limited release - probably not the fluorescent but other problems - such as 2 years old? And if so the constant warming cooling and perhaps mistreated. Any store that has 2 year old Dogfish head probably does not get a lot of traffic for craft beer.

Ace_Club said:

If you're fermenting in plastic buckets, don't even bother with a towel or shirt. The plastic itself suffices to block out the light. If you are using carboys, then a shirt or towel wrapped around them (or the box that the carboys came in, turned upside down over the carboy) works fine.

Click to expand...

The box that my better bottle came in fits perfectly inside the milk crate the better bottle sits in

Of course if you are using plastic buckets this is not an issue