Citric Acid, what does it do?

fromking said:

Hi Everyone,

Ive come across a lot of soda recipes calling for citric acid. I experimented by adding 1/8 tsp citric acid to my last 1gallon brew of giner ale and noticed it produced a subtle bitter flavour.

Does anyone know what purpose using citric acid has?

Regards,

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MrFoodScientist said:

Citric acid is in just about all fruits to some degree or another. Adding citric acid to any basic fruit flavor will give a tartness characteristic of fresh fruit.

Citric acid does burn, though and will be bitter if you added it to very hot syrup.

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