Brewing Master

Question:

    My question is this: how important is exposure to light during fermentation? My first 2 batches I used a plastic bucket, so it wasn’t an issue. The Belgian wheat is fermenting in a 6.5 gal. carboy. I keep it in a corner of my kitchen, which never gets direct sunlight. Should I be covering the carboy? I know direct exposure can cause skunkiness, but how will the taste be effected from the minimal light it gets during the day and from lights in the house at night? Should I just relax and have a homebrew?

Better safe than sorry!  All I do is tear a small hole in the bottom of a brown paper bag and put the bag (upside down, of course) over the carboy with the airlock poking through the hole.  Really, quite easy and inexpensive. — Cheers! Gabrielle Palmer Fermental Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen http://hbd.org/ford/

Response:

: Should I be covering the carboy? Take a paper market bag.  Cut a 2" hole in the center of the bottom.  Slip it over the carboy so the neck sticks through the hole in the bag. It’s simple, cheap and reusable. Jack Costa Mesa, CA

Response:

I use old dark t-shirts. wet them down in the summer time. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – : Should I be covering the carboy? Take a paper market bag.  Cut a 2" hole in the center of the bottom.  Slip it over the carboy so the neck sticks through the hole in the bag. It’s simple, cheap and reusable. Jack Costa Mesa, CA

Response:

I use the original shipping boxes. They’re getting a bit ratty but still work. Just let the airlock come through the flaps. I use the boxes when I store empty carboys in the garage. The bottoms don’t get scratched and if I bump into them they don’t brake : Should I be covering the carboy? Take a paper market bag.  Cut a 2" hole in the center of the bottom.  Slip it over the carboy so the neck sticks through the hole in the bag. It’s simple, cheap and reusable. Jack Costa Mesa, CA

Medford, NY swap net.banet to reply via e-mail

Response:

    My question is this: how important is exposure to light during fermentation? My first 2 batches I used a plastic bucket, so it wasn’t an issue. The Belgian wheat is fermenting in a 6.5 gal. carboy. I keep it in a corner of my kitchen, which never gets direct sunlight. Should I be covering the carboy? I know direct exposure can cause skunkiness, but how will the taste be effected from the minimal light it gets during the day and from lights in the house at night? Should I just relax and have a homebrew?

While you can relax and not worry, I’d put a T-shirt over it, and the relax and not worry.  Your wheat, not having a high hop content, should be fine, but I wouldn’t try this with an IPA or Pilsener [German or Bohemian, not that "fine" example from Miller ;o)] — heubs Spammers forced me into this. Replace "spamless" with " wf " to respond.

Response:

    My wife had some old black cloth she wasn’t using, so it’s now draped over the carboy. It’s very stylin’ and chic, I might add. I inherited 2 carboys from a friend who was moving, so I don’t have the shipping boxes, and I can’t seem to find any brown paper bag larger than the kind that a sixpack comes in. Thanks for the ideas, folks, but the image of a carboy dressed up in black was too good to pass up.     What about the question of how light effects taste? Sure, light colored beers in green glass can taste skunky when exposed to light, but what about other styles and circumstances? Anyone have any input here? Mike

Response:

I usually dress up my carboys with old T-shirts.  They seem to like it. Hops apparently react badly to light, I don’t know how true this is but it can’t hurt and its a small price to pay for better beer… Cheers, Jeff d:-] – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –     My wife had some old black cloth she wasn’t using, so it’s now draped over the carboy. It’s very stylin’ and chic, I might add. I inherited 2 carboys from a friend who was moving, so I don’t have the shipping boxes, and I can’t seem to find any brown paper bag larger than the kind that a sixpack comes in. Thanks for the ideas, folks, but the image of a carboy dressed up in black was too good to pass up.     What about the question of how light effects taste? Sure, light colored beers in green glass can taste skunky when exposed to light, but what about other styles and circumstances? Anyone have any input here? Mike

Response:

:     My wife had some old black cloth she wasn’t using, so it’s now draped : over the carboy. It’s very stylin’ and chic, I might add. Sounds like you’ve got it covered.  :) Basic black is good.  I’ve heard that plaid may ruin your beer. :     What about the question of how light effects taste? Sure, light colored : beers in green glass can taste skunky when exposed to light, but what about : other styles and circumstances? Anyone have any input here? I’ve always covered the carboys with a paper sack. Never had a skunky batch of beer. I guess the deal is that light, in the blue-green part of the spectrum, puts the whammy on the hop oils in the beer.  Obviously, I’m no chemist.  If your carboy full of beer is out of direct sunlight, that’ll probably do. Jack Costa Mesa, CA

Response:

[snip]     My question is this: how important is exposure to light during fermentation? My first 2 batches I used a plastic bucket, so it wasn’t an issue. The Belgian wheat is fermenting in a 6.5 gal. carboy. I keep it in a corner of my kitchen, which never gets direct sunlight. Should I be covering the carboy? I know direct exposure can cause skunkiness, but how will the taste be effected from the minimal light it gets during the day and from lights in the house at night? Should I just relax and have a homebrew?

After the first 2-3 days (when the really active part of fermentation is over) just put an old t-shirt or sweatshirt over the fermenter.  The added insulation may also help smooth out temperature flucturations, which is a good thing. (The reason I don’t recommend covering the fermenter for the first few days is that very active fermentation can generate a lot of heat.  You don’t want to trap all of that heat in the fermenter by insulating it.) —

Response:

    Hi everyone! I’m new to brewing – my first batch was a simple porter. We drank most of it last weekend, and was great! My second batch is an IPA and was just bottled. The third is a Belgian-style wheat, which is currently 36 or so hours into fermentation.     This is my first post to this group. I must say, with few exceptions, this has got to be one of the best newsgroups on the ‘net – very little spam, 99% on topic, lots of good people sharing knowledge. They way the ‘net used to be in the early ’90s.     My question is this: how important is exposure to light during fermentation? My first 2 batches I used a plastic bucket, so it wasn’t an issue. The Belgian wheat is fermenting in a 6.5 gal. carboy. I keep it in a corner of my kitchen, which never gets direct sunlight. Should I be covering the carboy? I know direct exposure can cause skunkiness, but how will the taste be effected from the minimal light it gets during the day and from lights in the house at night? Should I just relax and have a homebrew? Mike in Nashua Sorry, no cutesy .sig file

Response:

I cover my fermenter as much as possible (an old towel around the side, a dark plastic trash bag over the top with a small hole for the airlock). Since the issue is one of light and its reaction with hops, anything with hops (ie, beer) should be shielded for best results. Good Brewing Steve in Lowell – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –    Hi everyone! I’m new to brewing – my first batch was a simple porter. We drank most of it last weekend, and was great! My second batch is an IPA and was just bottled. The third is a Belgian-style wheat, which is currently 36 or so hours into fermentation.    This is my first post to this group. I must say, with few exceptions, this has got to be one of the best newsgroups on the ‘net – very little spam, 99% on topic, lots of good people sharing knowledge. They way the ‘net used to be in the early ’90s.    My question is this: how important is exposure to light during fermentation? My first 2 batches I used a plastic bucket, so it wasn’t an issue. The Belgian wheat is fermenting in a 6.5 gal. carboy. I keep it in a corner of my kitchen, which never gets direct sunlight. Should I be covering the carboy? I know direct exposure can cause skunkiness, but how will the taste be effected from the minimal light it gets during the day and from lights in the house at night? Should I just relax and have a homebrew? Mike in Nashua Sorry, no cutesy .sig file

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