Ascorbic acid / Vit. C

[stormdrain]

I am about to bottle a coffee vanilla porter from a kit put together by my LHBS. The kit came with a small packet of ascorbic acid. I realize it's an antioxidant and will be used to help prevent oxidation. However, does anyone actually use it? I can't find any threads related to it, I don't see any significant amount of information online, and I can't find info on it in How to Brew or Designing Great Beers.

Is it worth messing with? Does it really help that much if a person is careful and uses good brewing techniques in the first place? (I haven't had problems with oxidation so far)

Kind of curious if I should include it in future batches or not.

Thanks in advance

*edit -- I know there is info for AA in ciders, but I am wondering about beer.

 

[MalFet]

I think the fact that you can't find anything about it is telling you what you need to know. I've never used ascorbic acid in my brews, and have never had a problem with oxidation. Perhaps there's a place for it in mega-beers being aged for a year or more, but for more standard fare I suspect it's at best unnecessary.
-malfet

 

[cklages]

Huh, that is really interesting, I never would have really thought about using that. I wonder if it is kind of like using K-meta in wine to prevent oxidation when racking. I might be tempted to try it, I can't imagine it would affect the flavour of your beer and hey, who doesn't need more vitamin c?

 

[MalFet]

What kinds of quantity did they give you? I use AA in some yeast lab stuff, but there I use like 1g per L. At that level I bet you would actually taste it (though probably not in a porter).

 

[stormdrain]

1 tsp (~2 grams). I am making a 5 gallon batch. I am not concerned about off flavors from it. I am just not sure it is worth screwing with (just one more thing to do). I am kind of in your camp...little to no information, no problems with oxidation...why bother.

I wanted a second opinion on it since this was the first time I have encountered it.

 

[flabyboy]

I know people who are allergic to sulphites use ascorbic acid as a alternative when making wine. Never heard of it used with beer though