Do green bottles really make beer skunky?

Question

Alot of friends have told me that but I don't know if it's true.

Answer 1

Not true

Answer 2

Exposure to heat or excessive sunlight (which causes heat) is what makes beer skunky. I have noticed a number of beers in green bottles get skunky faster than brown ones, perhaps it is because the green glass lets in more light.  

Answer 3

No what makes beer skunky is putting beer in the fridge then taking it out and let it fet warm and then put it back in the fridge.  

Answer 4

Not the green bolttes but UV light.

Brown bottles do the best at filtering out the uv light. Heineken beer was once known for this defect and built its world reputation on peoples' ignorance of it. Many people thought the "skunkiness" as normal and a quality beer aroma and flavor. This actually is not too far from the truth as some hops do have a special aroma that is similar to this skunk aroma.

The longer time a bottled beer is exposed to uv light the greater the sunstruck charater of the beer. This is true for brown, green, or clear bottles.

Heat does not cause this skunk defect in beer.

SunStruck

Light Struck MBAA

http://www.mbaa.com/ibs/abstractDeKeukel...

http://www.mbaa.com/ibs/program.htm

isopentenyl mercaptan

When beer, particularly lager beer, is exposed to sunlight in clear bottles it developes an unpleasant 'sun-struck' flavor due to the formation of isopentenyl mercaptan. It is envisaged that photolysis of isohumulone cleaves the isohexenoyl side-chain to form a 3-methylbut-2-enyl radical which reacts with hydrogen sulphide, or any available thiol, in the beer to produce the mercaptan stated above.

pg494

Malting and Brewing Science, Volume 2

J.S. Hough, D. E. Briggs, R. Stevens and T.

So, a cyclic isohumulone (the alpha acid of hops) compound is broken with uv light and a sulfur (likely Dimethyl sulphide derived from barley malt or corn grits) attches to it. The result is the

3-methylbut-2-enyl thiol (prenyl mercaptan) which produces the sun-struck "skunkiness" noticed in poorly handled beer. Heineken has this problem.



http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art3...

Skunking

(source?)

NOTE: I wrote Miller to ask them how they achieved these great results. Here is their response:

We currently only use hops grown in the United States. The major growing areas are in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Some of the types of hops we use include: Cascade, Cluster, Fuggles, Galena and Mt.Hood. Unfortunately, because it is proprietary information, we cannot disclose which hops are used in which brands.

In addition bottled beer exposed to sun or other light sources can undergo a slight photochemical change that sometimes can give the beer a skunky aroma, however, the beer would not get skunky. It would take approximately one minute for this change to take place. Cans provide the most protection from light, and generally product in amber bottles is LESS likely to suffer the effects of light than beer packaged in clear or green bottles. The exceptions are all Miller products that are sold in clear bottles. Miller's understanding and use of special hops enables us to produce a beer that is much more light stable. However, other subtle flavor changes can occur with exposure to too much light. So, keeping any bottled beer (clear or amber) out of direct sunlight helps preserve that just brewed flavor of our products.

Beer is most susceptible to light exposure in the 290 - 425 nanometer range. Amber glass does an excellent job of preventing light from reacting with product in this range.

Answer 5

Not really, light and heat are what make beer skunky. Light does penetrate though green bottles easier than through dark brown so it does go bad faster but the color doesn't actually make it skunky.

Answer 6

Skunkiness comes from exposure to light or heat. Clear glass offers almost no protection. Green offers some. Brown offers the most. If the beer is kept in an opaque case and not overheated, it should be OK with any color bottle. Corona may be the exception; I think it must leave the plant skunky.

Answer 7

No, light exposure makes beer taste skunky. Colored glass (brown/green) usually do a better job then clear glass in keeping beer fresh. For instance Heineken and Becks both use green bottles and neither tastes skunky unless left out in the light and heat.

Answer 8

Not at all.  Beck's is one of my favorites and it never tastes skunky.  Improper storage makes beer turn skunky.

Answer 9

Wow I never thought about that!  It sure seems like they all.  I dont know if it is true or not but I'll give you a star....Good Question.  Cheers!

I would have to disagree with John.  I love Bud Light and prefer it in a can because I like the slightly metallic taste and I think they are colder.  Overall between bottle and can taste is the same.  Bottle BL is not skunky at all.

I would say that it is more common that your imports (they are usually bottled) are skunky tasting.

Answer 10

Brown is better than green.  Green is better than clear.  Bottom line is that beer needs to be protected from sunlight.

Answer 11

no more than any other bottle does all that makes the beer skunky is it being exposed to light canned beers taste better due to their opaque cans