Sensitivity of Beer to Skunking

This "test" is in response to the thread on Beer Advocate in which the argument was that beer can become "skunked" after only a minute or two in the sunlight. Some people even stated that after 30seconds they could taste the light struck effect. The thread can be found here.

A little information on what "skunked beer" is can be found here on:

Beer Advocate

franklinbrew.org

findarticles.com

Light struck beer on Wkikipedia: Lightstruck, or skunked, beer has been exposed to ultraviolet and visible light. The light causes riboflavin to react with and breakdown isohumulones, a molecule that contributes to the bitterness of the beer and is derived from the hops. The resulting molecule, 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol, is very similar to a skunk's natural defenses.^[3]

In some cases, such as Miller High Life, a hop extract that does not have isohumulones is used to bitter the beer so it cannot be "lightstruck". Bottles with dark brown glass give some protection to the beer, but green and clear glass offer virtually no protection at all.^[4]

This experiment in no way is very scientific but it was as scientific as I could possibly make it. I don't have hundreds of people to study on and control groups, different glassware and an infinite amount of beer each with a different kind of hop, malt, and mashing method with different hop schedules... I guess you are catching my drift. I did however have a lot of training and schooling on research and have conducted several projects during the course of my Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree.

The experiment:

I filled 7 small plastic cups with 4oz pours of my super hoppy IPA that is only about 1 month old. I also filled 5 standard pint glasses with the same beer and set one aside in the shade. I did not have glass taster cups but I think the plastic ones are similar to what you might find at a beer tasting any way. Here is the hop schedule for this beer

All beers were brought into the sunlight at the same time and the timer was immediately started once the beers were brought into the light. I took 1 sip from a plastic cup, a pint glass and the pint glass in the shade every time.

I took the first sip at 30seconds. No taste difference to me.

I continued at 1 min increments until I hit 6 min then went to 2 min increments since I was not tasting any difference besides added warmth from the sun (and my stomach was getting full and I did not want to be wasted).

After 10 min there was still no sign of skunking so I switched to 5min increments because my stomach was very full. I finally stopped at 25 min with no detection of skunking because I really did not want to vomit.

Conclusion:

As far as my taste buds go they are either not extremely sensitive to 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol (skunking) or the hops used don't give off as much of the compound or there could be a million other factors. I encourage others to try this out as well because it was pretty fun and is an excuse to drink some beer.