Vitamin C in Beer

Here’s a nice little thing to know . . .

Subject: Vitamin C in Beer    HBD #2388 4/1997

Just a quick empirical observation on vitamin C in beer.  

I wanted to see if my beer was oxidized relative to commercial beer and so measured the ORP* of two samples.  I did OK.  I then stuck an aeration stone into the sample and gave it a shot of O₂.  Unsurprisingly the ORP went through the roof.  Amused by this I dropped in a vitamin C tablet and the ORP went through the floor – well below where it was originally.  I never sat down and did anything even quasi scientific about this (it’s on a long list) but the initial observation was that ascorbic acid is a pretty good reducing agent.                

*ORP – Oxygen Reducing Potential

A. J. deLange

 – Numquam in dubio, saepe in errore.