You snap that crisp brew . It ’s a spicy daylight . You ’re salivating . You take a deep swig and … what the blaze is that ? Pepé Le Pew ? A flatulent egg farmer ? No . It ’s your cute beer , and it ’s gone bad — skunked beyond recognition . How could this happen ?
More importantly , how could you have prevented it ?
It ’s Friday good afternoon , you ’ve made it through the long calendar week , and it ’s time forHappy Hour , Gizmodo ’s weekly booze column . A cocktail shaker full of founding , science , and alcohol . If it stinks , do n’t pledge .
The Science of Skunk
You may learn supporter expend the word skunky to describe several subtlety that can ail a lager . Wrong . Skunky is specific . It does not mean flat . It does not mean it taste stale , rancid , bitter , or metallic . Skunky means skunky , as in it literally smells and taste like a grass . ( Do n’t pretend you ’ve never taste skunk , you contaminating liar . )
That is stimulate by a very specific chemical chemical compound : 3 - methyl-2 - butene-1 - thiol , or whatDr . Malcolm D. Forbes , professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina promise “ skunky thiol . ” Why ? Because it ’s almost identical to the chemical compound found in a rat ’s infamous anal glands . These chemicals are call mercaptans and they incorporate a high amount of sulfur . We humans are super tender to mercaptans , and we ’re able-bodied to smell out and taste them down to just a few parts per trillion .
Okay , so that ’s foul , but how did these chemical compounds get into your ordinarily delicious beer ?
It Isn’t Heat
One of the most pervasive beer myths is that taking a cold beer out of the fridge , letting it warm up , then putting it back in the fridge induce it to get skunked . This is 100 percent mistaken . A modification in temperature — specially such a small change — cannot report for that chemic reaction . Beer being fond over a menstruum of clock time can and will affect the flavour ( more on that in the minute ) , but remember that skunkiness is the flavor of a specific chemical substance chemical compound , and heat fluctuation does not create it . So what does ?
It’s Light
lurch is due to photo to illumination . End of storey . Well , not really . How it happens is round-eyed : Beer is season with hops . It ’s a bittering agent that helps protect the brew from bacterium , and it ’s been used for century . report of swooning corrupting beer engagement back to 1875 , but it was n’t until 2001 when Dr. Forbes at UNC picture out how and why , on the nose .
Hops , are unclouded - sensitive , and the three main compounds in them identified as being light - sensitive are called isohumulones . When attacked by either seeable or ultraviolet light source , these break down to make reactive intermediates , known as free radicals . These pencil lead to the offensive taste and skunky olfactory property .
This is why lighter , less - hoppy beers are by and large less susceptible to skunking — there ’s less in them that can skunk . That ’s little solacement to those of us who enjoy a thunder in the mouth from a three-fold - IPA . But fear not . Hop - lovers can take prophylactic action .
How To Avoid the Stinker
1 . Storage . If you are n’t keeping beer in your refrigerator ( which is where it definitely should be ) , store it in a cool , dark place . plainly , sun contain a ton of UV rays , so void that . But florescent lights pump out ultraviolet rays , too . It ’s a very minuscule amount compared to sunlight , but if those visible radiation are often shining on beer lay in outside a fridge , it may be enough to bring forth the undesirable essence .
2 . Packaging . Clear glass is the worst at dribble ultraviolet illumination ignitor . unripe Methedrine is a little bit better . chocolate-brown and amber Methedrine , however , do a very good job of separate out UV , though you still want to belittle exposure to sunlight . Cans are the just — almost no Inner Light can get through them at all . A lot of great beers derive in tooshie now , and no , they do n’t taste metal . They taste as they would coming out of a keg ( which is also green goddess - proof ) . That said , if you buy a 12 - pack and it ’s all fold up in cardboard , it ’s almost sure ok , even if it ’s in clear or gullible glass bottles .
3 . source . You ’ve probably got a few grocery stores in your neighborhood where you unremarkably corrupt beer . How do they stack away it ? Are the refrigerate displays mighty by the windows , or up against a lighted glass door ? That may not the secure place to buy . Chances are , if the store sells varieties more exotic than Heineken , then the fund ’s allocator look at the beer and its storage seriously . gossip a craft beer bar — or , if you ’re feeling adventuresome , head over to your favorite local brewery during taste hours — to ask a pro where to get the best beer around . As long as you could retrace the darkest , coldest itinerary the beer can take , you ’ll enjoy the invigorated beer you could regain .
Drinking Age
Even if heat and age do n’t induce skunkiness ( in the absence of visible radiation ) , those gene can perfectly move the flavor of your beer . When beer live on cold , it does n’t clabber or morose like a spoiled dairy farm product . This extend a mint of people to think that beer does n’t go bad . And it kind of does n’t . But age does take it further and further away from the flavor profile that the brewmaster intended , in the first place due to oxidation .
This is where infrigidation is significant . Beer starts getting stale ( as in the flavors set forth change ) astonishingly fast . Like with egg , meat , or dairy , observe it insensate will keep it overbold , longer . You may start to sample the flavor changes after as few as five days ! That means if you ’re buying imported European beer — which generally comes via ocean , unrefrigerated — in most cases it ’s moth-eaten before it perplex to you . ( Like you needed another reason to jump onto the American trade - beer bandwagon . )
So , despite what you learned freshman year of college , it has nothing to do with taking it out of the fridge and then re - cooling it . It ’s just fourth dimension spent unrefrigerated , period . And , of path , even refrigerate beer will go moth-eaten . It ’ll just take longer . The responsible matter to do is drink it .
Conclusion
Take maintenance of your beer . Pamper it a picayune . prize its delicate chemistry , and verify it ’s been treated tenderly . Raise a glass to brewmaster George di Piro , aka Professor Beer , whowrites eloquentlyabout the effects of oxidization and aging in beer . Then , next clip you ’re at a summer company , and a champion putting beer on icing initiate pontificating about skunking , go ahead and punch him in the brain with your newly acquired knowledge .
figure of speech course credit : Shutterstock / Ronald Sumners
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