How long til skunking? (aka OMG I ruined my beer!!)

[ratnerstar]

I've been doing this homebrew thing for several months and I was just starting to feel confident in my mad skills, when I made a stupid mistake last night. Until now, I've been doing standard five gallon brews in an opaque plastic bucket. But I thought I'd switch things up a bit and do three gallons in my Better Bottle carboy. Which was fine until I woke up this morning (it was still technically morning) and realized my beer was sitting stark naked, alone and unprotected in the corner. I totally forgot to put a cover over it.

I pitched around ten pm last night, so the beer had slightly over 13 hours to get skunked. It wasn't in any direct sunlight, but there were some weak CFLs shining on it for a few hours last night and some ambient sunlight this morning. What do you guys give my chances? And what's the best way to tell if it's skunked; when I take a hydrometer reading, will the taste be really off?

Thanks!

 

[david_42]

It is extremely unlikely that it is skunked. However, if it is, it has happened already. The taste threshold is low. So, if you don't smell or taste anything, it's good.

 

[ratnerstar]

Hah, well, I guess nothing to be done about it now. If it's bad, I'll just call it my Ol' Skunky brew and tell my friends that it's a little known style they aren't familiar with....

Thanks!

 

[Balrog30]

I'm pretty new to Home Brewing myself, but my research so far suggests that you may be fine. You could actually do your whole fermentation without an airlock. They call it Open Fermentation. Its risky, but its possible.

I actually read that some Belgian brewers actually have their fermentation tanks open to the outdoors, and each area has its own distinct flavours based on what kind of outside contamination they get. Stuff like bugs, or pollen from a neighbouring orchard. This is definitely not conventional for home brew, though. Just saying, it can be done.

 

[Malticulous]

I know that with green bottles 20 minutes in direct sunlight will give a good amount of skunk. Not being in direct sunlight it's probably fine.

 

[ChshreCat]

It's light that skunks the beer. So, unless you left a fluorescent light on over your better bottle last night, it should be fine. If you turned out the lights when you went to bed, don't sweat it a bit and throw something over it and/or get it into a dark room.

 

[Revvy]

It's light that skunks the beer. So, unless you left a fluorescent light on over your better bottle last night, it should be fine. If you turned out the lights when you went to bed, don't sweat it a bit and throw something over it and/or get it into a dark room.

A T-shirt is perfect for what 'cat suggested. I tend to keep all my carboys covered with one when I have the beers out of the brewcloset.

 

[ChshreCat]

A T-shirt is perfect for what 'cat suggested. I tend to keep all my carboys covered with one when I have the beers out of the brewcloset.

I have a big enough problem with SWMBO stealing my shirts to sleep in... now my beer's going to do it too?!? :cross:

 

[bsdx]

In the name of science I left a little bit of the NB kolsch from the bottom of my glass in the bright direct outdoor sun today and it was only very mildly skunky. I'm sure conditions could differ but I think the OP would be fine.

 

[SumnerH]

It's light that skunks the beer. So, unless you left a fluorescent light on over your better bottle last night, it should be fine. If you turned out the lights when you went to bed, don't sweat it a bit and throw something over it and/or get it into a dark room.

He said he left some fluorescents shining on it for a few hours.

It's probably fine, and there's nothing you can do about it anyway. RDWHAHB. Note that a big carboy skunks much more slowly than a 12 oz bottle.

 

[ChshreCat]

He said he left some fluorescents shining on it for a few hours.

I swear I read the whole post...