Can sunlight effect krausen?

[JustinHorton]

So Saturday, (Feb 26) I brewed my first batch. The fermentation process has been pretty text book so far, which I was ecstatic about. I have been fighting a temperature war these past few days. Im trying to keep it at 72, which is where I am the majority of the time. There was a night where I had to move the carboy out of the closet and near the radiator, I went to work without putting it back in the closet and it was exposed to sunlight for atleast 8hrs. Since then my krausen has dissapeared and has been replaced by a thin white foamy halo. Unfortunately I am at work and unable to provide pics. Thanks in advance.

 

[unionrdr]

Seems like the main part of primary ferment is done. It'll take maybe another week or so to clean up after itself & settle out to a slightly hazy clarity. Unless you used a low -medium flocculation yeast.

 

[str8wire]

Most likely the sunlight and warm temps sped up the fermentation and the krausen just fell. The sunlight will skunk your beer unless you didnt use any actual hops (i.e. hopped extract)

 

[JustinHorton]

I used US-05 Ale Yeast, and 3oz of Cascade pellets. I'll take my first OG, reading since fermentation, when I get home. If I get a skunky taste, Ill chalk it up as a learning process and sip away.

 

[JustinHorton]

So just to clarify (no pun intended), light during fermentations effects the hoppy taste and not the work of the yeasties?

 

[steakandale]

Sunlight - or just higher temps speed up the fermentaion cycle.
Exposing the carboy or bucket to direct sunlight long enough will affect taste.

Str8wire's comment: "The sunlight will skunk your beer unless you didnt use any actual hops (i.e. hopped extract) "
I took to mean that added hops will help protect against the perceived skunkyness. and that some extracts in a can DO inlude hops for you.
Thats how India Pale Ales came to be, the higher hops concentration helped to preserve the beer on longer boat tips.

 

[Elshupacabra]

So just to clarify (no pun intended), light during fermentations effects the hoppy taste and not the work of the yeasties?

Uv rays react with compounds in hops that produce a chemical that smells and tastes like skunk musk. "Hop extracts" aren't really hops and don't have those compounds, or have much less of them.

The light itself, provided that it's with in "reasonable" standards shouldn't have a profound effect on the yeast themselves. Other than theoretically raising the temperature of the beer, therefore making the yeast more active.

To get back to your original question. It sounds like the normal stages of fermentation i.e. krausen falling .

For future reference, if you are using a glass carboy fermentation vessel, a brown paper grocery bag will fit over the top of it like a glove and keep a good portion of the light out while not affecting the temperature noticeably. Just cut an X in the top of it so you can slide your airlock through.

Like this

 

[jollytim]

Uv rays react with compounds in hops that produce a chemical that smells and tastes like skunk musk. "Hop extracts" aren't really hops and don't have those compounds, or have much less of them.

So just to clarify you are referring 'hop extracts' and not 'hopped extracts'?

The former being extract added as a hop substitute or enhancer to regular wort, the latter being barley extract that is pre hopped.

Pre-hopped extract should be treated as regular hops in that UV will skunk them. Not only during fermentation, but for the entire life cycle of beer.

I'm assuming what you say is correct when referring to the extract of hops. I've never used them, and have no practical knowledge of them.

 

[JustinHorton]

Thank you all! Just got home and took my first SG reading, since fermenting. OG was 1.040 and my current SG is 1.008. The aroma of this Extra Pale Ale reminds me of something I would order at a brew pub. The taste was amazing, definitely the confidence boost I was looking for.

I like the idea of the paper bag.