Light Exposure To Beer

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KingKong

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I was thinking today about the concept of light affecting beer flavour, if that beer is exposed to light throughout fermenting and conditioning. I know my beer stays in the dark untill the day it goes in the fridge. (Thats generally what I have read is the best for the beer.)

But that got me thinking. A lot of brewing information is repeated over and over with the source having no evidence of its credibility. (I'm sure most of its correct, and Im guilty of this as would be most of us.)

Thinking outside the square, I am wondering if there is any positive qualities that exposing beer to different light conditions might achieve?

Has anyone ever found a credible source that has tested this or have an opinion?

Surely some PHD student would of looked into this?

Meh... Im getting to serious about this whole home brew thing.
 
Skunking of hops is a pretty documented phenomenon, you have a whole arm of the hop extract industry dedicated to (more expensive) tetra hops for allowing prodcers to bottle into clear glass.

UV degradation is a phenomenon which applies to most (maybe even all) organic things. There is a reason that most foods ask you to store in a cool dark place. Beer is just one of them.

If you can chance upon some positive attributes which outweighs these phenomenon, then you are doing well my friend.
 
Ignoring Bizier's good reply for a moment, try bottling a beer in clear glass and leaving it out in the sun for a bit then drink it. FOR SCIENCE!

If words can't convince you then perhaps your mouth will.
 
I was thinking today about the concept of light affecting beer flavour, if that beer is exposed to light throughout fermenting and conditioning. I know my beer stays in the dark untill the day it goes in the fridge. (Thats generally what I have read is the best for the beer.)

But that got me thinking. A lot of brewing information is repeated over and over with the source having no evidence of its credibility. (I'm sure most of its correct, and Im guilty of this as would be most of us.)

Thinking outside the square, I am wondering if there is any positive qualities that exposing beer to different light conditions might achieve?

Has anyone ever found a credible source that has tested this or have an opinion?

Surely some PHD student would of looked into this?

Meh... Im getting to serious about this whole home brew thing.
Just one comment, and not saying you are not a good brewer. Master the basics before you start a science project. If you do, (or have) mastered the basics and still want to expose your beer to sun light, great send in the tasting notes. The beer may go well with cheese left along side the beer in the sun for the same period of time.

Fear_n_loath
 
Just one comment, and not saying you are not a good brewer. Master the basics before you start a science project. If you do, (or have) mastered the basics and still want to expose your beer to sun light, great send in the tasting notes. The beer may go well with cheese left along side the beer in the sun for the same period of time.

Fear_n_loath

Where did I say that I want to expose my beer to sunlight ? Perhaps you should master the basics of reading a question ? :icon_cheers:

I know I am not up to the stage of worrying about experimenting with light and beer. I didn't suggest I was.

It was a discussion I was after. Purely trying to contribute to the forum. I dont doubt there would be few home brewers worried about experimenting with light. That doesn't mean they are not interested in reading about it or discussing it?

For example the tetra hops posting was a good start.
 
There was a simple test posted on here a while back,
I never tried it, but many said they could defiantly tell the skunked glass

Pour 2 glasses of a heavily hopped beer, identical glasses etc
Stick one in the direct sun, and the other out of the sun for 10mins
Do a side by side taste test comparison.


If you can pick it after 10mins, imagine long term storage.


QldKev
 
I remember reading something a while ago about yeast and light, but I can't remember much other than there is no significant useful effect compared to how other fungi behave with light.

By all means get your science on mate. You have got me thinking.

Beer is pretty fragile, and the expense of dark glass is worth it. I couldn't see any reason for playing with tetra hops at home. Yuck.
 
It was a discussion I was after. Purely trying to contribute to the forum. I dont doubt there would be few home brewers worried about experimenting with light. That doesn't mean they are not interested in reading about it or discussing it?
A discussion about what?
As others have said skunking of beer is a well known, well documented phenomenon that you can easily demonstrate and try yourself.
... given that, what kind of positive qualities are you thinking of?
 
Light has many advantages in the brewing process.

I often find myself in short supply of light when I brew late in the afternoon and into the night and I could provide statisctics which indicate a clear correlation between personal injury and available light. I could even go so far as to say it has potential ramifications for quality of the finished beer.
 
Light has many advantages in the brewing process.

I often find myself in short supply of light when I brew late in the afternoon and into the night and I could provide statisctics which indicate a clear correlation between personal injury and available light. I could even go so far as to say it has potential ramifications for quality of the finished beer.
Swapping over to light beer may have a positive effect on this observed phenomenon.
 
I think its an interesting question
The OP is clearly aware that UV is damaging to beer and is asking if frequencies other then UV could be in some way beneficial, the question wasnt about skunking!
Skunking is actually caused by blue and violet light as well as UV (350-500nm), I suppose its possible that some other frequency could (for instance) aid in isomerisation of Alpha Acids, or in some way stimulate yeast or aid some enzyme reactions, be a lot of work to find out.

Im going to hazard a guess that the changes are going to be minor, Im basing that on the fact that beer brewed in a commercial all stainless system (basically no light) and beer brewed at home where it is exposed to some light for most the production cycle (lots of people still use glass demijohns) isnt in any way fundamentally different.
But an interesting if a touch lateral question, points for thinking outside the box.
Mark
 
I suppose its possible that some other frequency could (for instance) aid in isomerisation of Alpha Acids, or in some way stimulate yeast or aid some enzyme reactions, be a lot of work to find out.

Stimulating yeast is what made me start thinking about this topic. Not that there is any need to change well versed techniques...

"A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window.
― Gilles Deleuze, Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia


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