Expert: Ed Westemeier - 5/11/2007

Question
Hi there,
Im brewing some Coopers Lager and the reccomended tempreture for the wort is suppose to be between 21º and 27ºC, but because the weathers cold down here and the heatings broken(out of all times!) I decided to put a small heat lamp(same type of heat globe to whats at the bottom on a lava lamp) next to the wort to warm it up & now its in the reccomended temprature.
My question is, because the instructions tell me to put the wort in a dark place, I am wondering if the light will affect my brew? Also.. can I use normal sugar insted of brewing sugar in my next batch?  

Answer
Not enough detail to give a perfect answer, but you should be fine. It's the higher frequency light (up near the blue-to-ultraviolet part of the spectrum) that does the damage to flavor. A heat lamp should produce little to no light at that frequency.

And yes, sugar is sugar in this case. As long as it's not the majority of your ingredients list, ordinary sugar is fine.