My brewing area outside is partially shaded until maybe 9:30 am. Do I need to make sure I’m finished brewing before the sun gets closer to overhead?
Will direct sun during a 60 or 90 minute boil skunk the wort and carry over into the fermented beer? Also because my immersion chiller sticks up higher than the rim of the boil pot, I can’t completely cover it.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Good questions. Sunlight does skunk wort (especially heavily hopped wort, as it’s iso-α acids that are largely responsible for that). You don’t want to completely cover your boil, as you want to ensure that you have evaporation to boil off some undesirables (s-methylmethionine, for instance). Generally speaking, don’t sweat it too much, the sun is still low in the morning, you can put your lid on partially to cover it some, which should really avoid most problems.
Many people here will tell you that they have not noticed a whit of difference, which is likely true.
Skunking will not happen pre fermentation becasue it requires riboflavin, which is produced during fermentation. You have no worries about wort in the sun.
+1. Most people think its solely based on hops/alpha acids. It also takes the riboflavin.
