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Why not use clear bottles?

Northern Brewer General
#1

…If you carbonate/condition/store in a DARK PLACE like a closet or in a box, why does it matter if your beer is in a very dark bottle. I like to see the color and clarity of my beer as it progresses. Will it really “skunk” in the mere minutes that you transfer it from the dark place to the fridge to chill? Will the light in the fridge “skunk” it? (Has anyone REALLY checked to see if it goes off when the door shuts!!!)

I have a keg setup and hate bottling, but when I do, my favorites are the ones I put in clear bottles. Plus, if I am gonna serve a homebrew to a newb to the hobby, It is cool to let them see the beer and the settled yeast and explain the process.

Opinions?

#2

Before I started kegging I used Newcastle bottles all the time. Never had a problem.

#3

When I used to bottle I used corona and newcastle bottles all the time, I liked seeing the color of the beer. Never noticed a problem using them.

#4

Herr Heisenberg,

Yes, just by observing the beer, you skunk it.

p.s. Have you seen Herr Schrödinger’s Cat?

#5

do a comparison, bottle one in a brown bottle and one in a green or clear bottle. put both in the sun for 5 minutes and drink. you’ll see :wink:

#6

Someone else posted about using a couple of clear bottles per batch to track the progress of their brews. Bottle the rest in dark bottles.

#7

why would you keep beer in the sun?

#8

clear bottle are fine, I always bottle a few clear ones just to see how they clear.
If you keep them out of light your fine.

Your pouring your beer into a glass anyways and sitting in the sun, beer gets skunked while drinking it outside very quickly anyways

#9

My first 15 batches were in Newcastle bottles. Never had an issue once. And I agree, it is cool to see the beer. It also makes it easier when pouring to decide when to stop, and contain as much of the yeast as possible in the bottle, and not in your glass.

#10

As long as you don’t leave them in direct sunlight you won’t have any issues.

But if you want to try an interesting experiment. Get yourself a real hoppy IPA pour it in a glass and taste it, note the flavor. Now put that glass in direct sunlight for 5 minutes and taste again. You will be able to taste the beer starting to skunk already after 5 minutes of sunlight. It is kind of fun to see how quickly UV rays cause riboflavin to react with and break down isohumulones into undesirable compounds.

#11

Fluorescent light also emits UV rays that can skunk beer. With the push for CFLs in our homes and the eventual elimination of incandescent lamps we homebrewers need to be cautious where we decide to conserve energy.

#12

What about when you pour a beer and go sit on the deck to enjoy the warmth of summer? Should you put one of those little drink umbrellas over your beer to protect it?

I’ve used clear bottles before, and I’ve tasted a little skunk in a really light beer once or twice. I’ve also had a beer get skunked in a carboy that was in the light while sitting in my kitchen, that pils tasted like Heineken in a bottle. Now I use the clear only for dark beers, they tend to be low-hopped anyway so theres little chance of skunking them. And I watch where I leave my carboys.

#13

[quote=“fightdman”]Herr Heisenberg,

Yes, just by observing the beer, you skunk it.

p.s. Have you seen Herr Schrödinger’s Cat?[/quote]

However, Herr Schrödinger’s beer is both skunked and unskunked until the bottle is opened.

And to those who have never had a problem using clear bottles, there are plenty of other analogous arguments made all over this forum about people doing things that fly in the face of current knowledge and never having a problem, and the first thing that comes to my mind is not sanitizing bottle caps.

Just because you’ve never had a problem doing it, doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to do.

That said, proper handling of a filled clear bottle (any bottle, really) is probably the most important factor. I’m guessing that those of you using clear bottles and not having problems are probably keeping them sheltered in the back of a dark closet or in the basement tucked away from windows.

#14

why would you keep beer in the sun?[/quote]

for comparison sake. to see what the worse case scenario is. experimentation… by no means he meant keep the entire batch in the sun

as long as you keep them out of sunlight you will be fine. IMO if you have a good dark place to store the bottles; i doubt you will encounter a problem.

although darker bottles would eliminate the worry, which is enough reason for me :cheers:

heres an article that might be worth reading http://www.byo.com/stories/wizard/artic … t-uv-light

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