Affeinvasion
Member
Skunking happens through light exposure and is basically impossible through brown glass, much less cardboard.
Skunking refers to the cleaving of hop compounds that then bind to sulfur already present in the beer to form a mercaptan that is effectively identical to the active ingredient in a skunk's spray. So skunked beer literally smells like skunk spray. While brown glass is very effective at filtering out the spectrum of light that causes skunking to happen, green and clear glass are useless at it. The skunking can happen really rapidly too. I can usually notice a difference after just a few minutes in direct sunlight when I'm drinking a hoppy beer in a glass out in the sun.
Heat accelerates oxidative reactions though and can lead to much quicker staling.
Sometimes I read your posts and wonder when I had an out of body experience and posted something I don't remember posting. I'm gonna do a small 1 gallon homebrew batch this weekend. First time doing it. Have to think of some stupid CFB related name.