So I was forced to move some beer out of the fermenting room to make room for a house guest and I forgot to cover 8 gallons of porter in glass carboys. They sat in the sun for about 4 hours. Not direct sun but enough to make my stomach turn when I remembered later in the day. A few laps around google leads me to believe that beer can skunk in minutes with enough light. I plan on kegging and bottling and just hoping for the best come tasting time, but I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation or knows what the likely outcome is.
A real hoppy beer like an IPA can skunk in 30 min or less (personal experience) if in direct sun light.
No experience with a porter in less than direct sun light for 4 hours.
But if it is skunked, you should be able to taste it before packaging.
I’ve had IPAs skunk in the glass in a matter of minutes in outdoor direct sunlight. I think with a porter and indoor light you might be ok. If there’s a problem you shuold be able to smell it right away.
Skunking depends on hop content and light penetration. Porter is not a hop-centric style and does not allow much light to penetrate.
You’re probably safe, but your nose is the best test.
+1 pop the top and see what you smell
Even if skunked, you should bottle some and take it to your local homebrew club and tell your tale of woe. Learning from other people’s mistakes (and learning what certain faults taste like) is a valuable part of the homebrew club experience.
I think you picked the right style to put in the sun.
Taste and see.
+1 to this. It’s a bit bruising to the ego but it’s really helpful to other brewers. I had a bad phenol problem in a brew recently and it was well received as an opportunity to taste a fault in it’s natural state so to speak.
I will smell/taste later today and report back. Hopefully I wont be bottling beer for that is “for training purposes only”.
Well I decided check shortly after posting. Smell in the vessels was sharp. almost metallic and slightly burning but nothing conclusive so I sanitized a thief and took a sample. The nose in glass was almost not there at all, I was not overwhelmed with anything in my first few ounces but not sure so I got some more and still nothing conclusive. there is a slight Sherry or wine/alcohol flavor on the back end but then again this batch came in a bit high at 1.70 so maybe in the green beer the alcohol is more prominent? At this point I am gonna keg 5 and bottle the rest. I think I may have lucked out.
sounds like you’re in the clear then. think molson in the green bottle and you get an idea of the skunked flavor.
yeah I hope so. I am pretty familiar with porter in general and have brewed this recipe before so I will know for sure once its done despite my lack of familiarity with Skunk flavor and smell. I grew up in a skunkless area, and I havent messed with green bottle beers in many years. I think some intentional Light striking may be in order. Ive got some IPA’s to bottle soon and a clear bottle or two…