Citric Acid and Sanitation

[Lacasse93]

So I was thinking of brewing a beer with lemon/zest/juice at multiple points in brew day and fermentation. I think I have it mapped out to avoid a lot of the pitfalls but I just want to make sure Ill be fine sanitation wise. The main acid in lemon is citric acid and I know typically with different souring agents (usually the bugs) stay inside the microscopic rips in plastic fermentation vessels and tubing. This shouldnt be a problem with citric acid right? I just want to double check before I potentially ruin some equipment. Thanks in advance

 

[passedpawn]

A little bit of citric acid hiding in your equipment won't cause a flavor issue. In fact, I have used it to acidify my mash many times - couldn't detect it later. I also clean my coffee brewing equipment with it.

But it does have a pretty strong "lemonhead" flavor, so if you're adding intentionally, as I do, pay close attention to the amounts.

 

[Lacasse93]

I was thinking about slicing up 4-6 lemons for a 3 gallon batch and mashing that while maybe putting some sanitized rinds in secondary. At some point either primary or secondary it would be in plastic

 

[passedpawn]

I was thinking about slicing up 4-6 lemons for a 3 gallon batch and mashing that while maybe putting some sanitized rinds in secondary. At some point either primary or secondary it would be in plastic

that's nothing. Don't worry so much. I have added limes to a sour beer before, worked out awesome.