Keeping primary fermenter in the dark

[badneighbor1]

Hi all, I'm fermenting my first batch ever and I have a quick question...

I have a small house with no basement. The only place I can store my primary fermenter (I'm using a white bucket) is in my kitchen under a table. It gets a good amount of sunlight, so I covered the bucket with a black plastic garbage bag (with some poked holes in it).

Will this do the trick? How important is it to keep the beer away from light at this stage anyway?

Thanks!

 

[Matt3989]

The bucket will stop UV rays, that's all that matters, people using glass carboys have to be slightly more concerned with that.

The biggest thing is make sure the sun isn't heating the bucket up too much. If you have room, a cheap rubbermaid outdoor trashcan makes a nice swamp cooler (filled with water/ice to the fermenter cool), keeps the fermenter in the dark, and will contain any accidental blow offs.

 

[peterj]

Yeah that will probably be fine. I think the white buckets keep out most of the light anyways. You mainly have to worry if you are fermenting in transparent carboys. But the trash bag is a good idea just to be sure. You could also just wrap a towel around it. The light will react with some molecule from the hops (maybe isomerized alpha acids?) and give it a skunky taste.

 

[badneighbor1]

Great, thanks a lot! And thank you for the swamp cooler idea Matt3989!

 

[unionrdr]

I've covered mine with dark tee shirts,fleece lined CPO's,& a black velvet smoking jacket the dog chewed up. Out of all of them,the black velvet worked the best,keeping ambient air temps from effecting fermenter temps.
I'd move that fermenter away from direct sunlight if you can. It may heat it up a little from constant exposer,to say the least.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

The only reason I havent taken a picture of my beers is that they are wearing the t-shirts I am least likely to wear myself... my political ones .

 

[unionrdr]

I guess I can understand that,living in a PC world.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

*Resist the urge to initiate a back and forth banter.*

 

[unionrdr]

One of mine's wering a "Hollywood" tee I got in LA the last time we were there. Purple haze,of course. The other,a black velvet smoking jacket I got on the strip in Hollywood. California dreamin...on such a winter's day...

 

[PastorofMuppets]

I cut the flaps off of the box my carboys came in and put the box over them. works great i think.

 

[unionrdr]

Whatever floats your boat as long as it keeps the light out & helps stabilize ferment temps.