Glass Carboy and light??

[Ernie3]

I am going to secondary an IPA that I brewed and I am just curious.......does the carboy need to be covered from light after it is racked??

I have never transfered to secondary before? I have a feeling it does but I just wanted to double check.

Thanks...

 

[ajwillys]

Yes, it does. A t-shirt does an excellent job... or a black trash bag with a hole in it.. or a towel... or whatever.

 

[zman]

I have never covered it when racking to a secondary and have never had an issue. As long as you are not exposing it to light for a significant period of time I am confident that it will be ok.

 

[ajwillys]

OK, that is a good point. I suppose it depends on where it is in your secondary. If its in the closet, you're fine. If its next to the window, I'd cover it.

 

[noblesquirrel]

I don't cover mine as I would rather it be able to effectively dissipate fermentation heat. Plus, I keep it in a dark room.

 

[Ernie3]

Yes, I will be having it exposed to light. So a black t-shirt should do then???

 

[Ernie3]

Oh yeah.....thanks guys!!!

 

[MonkeyWrench]

Is this any light? I thought only UV rays. I have my brew in my ferm box that is heated with a light bulb and thermostat. Do I need to cover these?

 

[TJ-Bill]

I used to cover mine with a black garbage bag. cut a small hole in the top for the air lock.. better safe the sorry.

 

[sparkyaber]

I have searched around, and really have not found out how much light we are talking here?
I mean, how long of an exposure is needed to skunk a brew in a carboy? Are we talking about 5 minutes, 1/2 hour, 1 day? And what about short bursts of light? Say I go into the room and turn on the fluorescent lights for a few minutes? Once? A few times? Everyday for the length of the fermentation? Anyone have a real world experience with this?

 

[Scimmia]

Depends on the beer. A highly hopped beer will skunk easier than a lighter hopped one, and a lighter colored beer will skunk easier than a dark colored one. With that in mind, the way I've heard is that in the bottle, a beer can potentially skunk in under a minute in strong direct sunlight, or within a couple of hours under florescent light.

This is one of many reasons I just use buckets most of the time.

 

[mrtrav]

I have had an IPA exposed to light in a carboy for 1-2 days in secondary with no noticable effects. The hop flavor from the dry hopping and late hop additions will mask most oxidation that would occur in that time. However if you're leaving it on the backyard patio for 2 weeks, it's best to cover it up.

 

[MultumInParvo]

Plus, I keep it in a dark room.

+1. Closets are a nice place for carboys.

 

[JVD_X]

Keep the box your carboy came in... tape the open flaps edges together to extend out the box then place the box over the fermenter. This is a perfect fit even if you use an airlock.

 

[TexLaw]

I do (or did, back when I didn't have a fermentation fridge) what JVD describes, except that I don't even bother taping the flaps. I found they just sorta stand into the right position. There certainly isn't anything wrong with taping them, though, if you would rather.


TL

 

[Ernie3]

Keep the box your carboy came in... tape the open flaps edges together to extend out the box then place the box over the fermenter. This is a perfect fit even if you use an airlock.

Great idea, I do have the box and this is what I will do.

 

[ReeseAllen]

I think generally you only need to worry about very bright light or sunlight. I keep my carboys in a common area of my house, away from where light from the windows can beam directly onto them. They are exposed to some light throughout the day but nothing intense. I've never covered a carboy and it hasn't caused a problem yet.

 

[ajwillys]

This is one of those points that can probably be argued forever. For me, its worth the time it takes to protect it from the light to avoid the skunk. Unless of course, you're making Corona.

 

[conpewter]

Fluorescent lights will skunk beer eventually. Any light under 500nm will skunk beer. Generally though as long as you don't expose the beer to fluorescent lights for long periods of time you'll be fine. I have them over my fermentation freezer and have no issues turning them on when checking gravity etc, but I wouldn't leave them on and the carboy exposed for days at a time.

Also you can get yellow "bug light" covers for them that'll knock out any light below 500nm which would make them beer safe.

 

[vespa2t]

I dont know how much exposure is going to cause a problem, but remember that it is a cumulative effect. Every second that the beer is exposed to UV light sources (sun, fluorescent, halogen, etc...) the isomerized alpha acids are skunking. over time the skunking adds up and crosses the threshold.

 

[JLem]

FWIW I once had a glass of DFH 90 minute IPA skunk on me in the midst of drinking it (roof-top patio, full sun, August). I could literally taste the skunk flavor increase with each sip. Pretty much proved to me the importance of keeping hopped beer out of the light as much as possible.

 

[jorrydude]

These days I always cover my carboys with a tshirt just because I have a t-shirt, so why wouldnt i right? but i have left them out before without a t-shirt on them or anything in the past, and while they were never in direct sunlight, i have never had what i could concieve to be a skunking problem

 

[Effington]

What about incandescent light? I keep my carboys in the unfinished basement which is lit by a few overhead lights; I decided not to go CFL down there because I have read that sunlight and fluorescent light is particularly bad for beer.

I know that incandescent bulbs give out relatively little (if not negligible) UV light; so are they pretty much acceptable for keeping hops from skunkifying? I almost always keep the lights off but occasionally they could be left on... by SWMBO of course.

 

[conpewter]

I have incandescent lights in my beer room, I try not to leave them on for long periods of time, but I have had carboys sit in there uncovered (basement room, no windows) with the lights on for a couple days and no issues. I imagine it can happen over a long enough period of time, but I don't generally worry about it.

 

[rico567]

The light is on very little in my basement, except when I'm down there bottling. And with no windows, it's pitch dark normally. Nevertheless, not wanting to take chances, I belong to the "black trash bag" crowd. They're reusable indefinitely, and don't take much space to store when they're not in use.