I know that exposure to direct sunlight will skunk a beer in as little as 1 minute, but what about unfermented beer, i.e. wort? I brew outdoors, and when using my IC, my wort is subjected to brief exposure to sunlight. I was wondering if this could skunk the beer before it fermented? I keep it covered as much as possible, but the lid on my kettle with the IC doesn’t completely cover the wort. Am I being paranoid? Thanks…
Ben W
Yes, you are being paranoid. Ray Daniels wrote up an article in Zymurgy a while back that mentioned that light struck beers require riboflavin, which is a product of fermentation. So unfermented wort is safe.
Awesome, thanks!
Phew… I was worried about this: