Skunking while transferring to secondary

[ewibolo]

Hey All, I was wondering. I have read that skunking happens really fast. If I am in the shade and I want to transfer to the secondary, is that a bad idea? Will the beer get skunked in the indirect light outside in the 15 or so minutes it takes to transfer?. How about indoors?

How do you guys(and gals) transfer from a primary carboy to another glass secondary carboy?

Thanks!

 

[unionrdr]

I use pales,they don't let as much light through. I also put a dark tee shirt over them.

 

[malkore]

I have privacy film and curtains over the basement windows, so its a non-issue.

It takes 15 minutes to rack 5 gallons? Methinks you need to slightly increase the height difference between primary and secondary, or up your tubing diameter.

I rack a gallon a minute and that feels too damn slow

 

[JakeFegely]

I've only brewed 10 batches so you can take my opinion for what it may be worth. I've never worried about the time to rack or the time to bottle, whether it's 5 minutes, 15 minutes or 2 hours. I've never had a problem with my beers or read anything that indicated skunking due to light exposure could happen that fast.

Yes, you want to cover clear fermenters and use brown bottles if you bottle. But beer is in the fermenter for weeks and in the bottle for months. If a few hours exposure is really a potential issue, then I suspect a lot of homebrewers need to change their processes. If I'm wrong somebody please correct me now.

More likely this is one of those myriad of things that we all worry about as we learn this wonderfully addicting "hobby".

 

[eastoak]

skunking does not happen in an instant otherwise we'd all be in trouble.

 

[agodfrey11]

I've only brewed 10 batches so you can take my opinion for what it may be worth. I've never worried about the time to rack or the time to bottle, whether it's 5 minutes, 15 minutes or 2 hours. I've never had a problem with my beers or read anything that indicated skunking due to light exposure could happen that fast.

Yes, you want to cover clear fermenters and use brown bottles if you bottle. But beer is in the fermenter for weeks and in the bottle for months. If a few hours exposure is really a potential issue, then I suspect a lot of homebrewers need to change their processes. If I'm wrong somebody please correct me now.

More likely this is one of those myriad of things that we all worry about as we learn this wonderfully addicting "hobby".

Agreed. Dont worry about it happening that fast. I do it outside or inside and have never had a problem.

I hope this thread doesn't spark another debate about using secondaries.....

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Secondaries? Humbug!!! Joking, joking. Really though, the time it takes to rack shouldn't skunk your beer. Just don't put it in direct sunlight to be safe and rack away. I've never skinned a beer racking it to secondary, there's indirect light in my kitchen and it takes me about ten mins to rack five gallons. No worries about skunking.