Fermentation and sunlight

[permo]

I do fermentations in my basement, however my basement is not finished and there are no curtains or anything block sunlight. So the room has natural ambient sungligh. I ferment in clear glass. I wonder if I may be susseptable to a little skunking on my beers as a result of the ambient sunglight available during fermentation? I can sure throw a few t-shirts on the fermenters.

 

[LoveTrain]

The sunlight can certainly lead to skunking, though only a little exposure isn't going to have much of an effect. If the sun exposure is enough to make you worried you might as well throw a towel or a cardboard box over it, its a pretty easy fix and will leave your mind at rest

 

[HokieBrewer]

Piggybacking on your question, what about brewing in the sun? My saison smelled skunky going IN to the fermenter after boiling for an hour in the sun.

 

[LoveTrain]

I can't see how boiling in the sun would cause any problems whatsoever. People brew outside all the time.

 

[samc]

Paper grocery shopping bag with a hole in the bottom is a simple fix for carboy light shield, just snip and flip.

 

[HokieBrewer]

I can't see how boiling in the sun would cause any problems whatsoever. People brew outside all the time.

It's still sunlight reacting with hops.

Edit: Decided to look it up. This thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/hops-sunlight-questions-skunking-55444/ says it's only an issue once fermentation has started, but it can happen within 15 minutes of exposure to sun. I'm not 100% convinced that boiling in direct sunlight with a large 60 minute hop charge wouldn't cause skunking...

 

[permo]

i went home over my lunch break and put t-shirts over my fermenters....worked like a champ.

There really isn't much direct sunlight in a basement, but I wanted to make sure these beers are as tasty possible.

 

[JonM]

Wrapping it in tinfoil is especially good too, even if it does waste a lot of foil.