Vitamin C / Ascorbic Acid?

[Ivan66]

I have noticed a lot of manufacturers put vit c in juices as an anti oxident, can this also be bought and added to wine as an anti oxident in addition to sulphite?

I know it will not act as a preservative like sulphite but would it act as an extra back up against oxidising?

Anyone know please.

[wurzel]

Yes mate.........definitely!

[cpfan]

Ascorbic acid in home made wine...specifically in kit wine...there seems to be a split in opinion

A few years ago, I attended a presentation from Vineco's wine chemist/winemaker. She recommeded adding ascorbic acid to white wine immediately prior to bottling, but not if it was oaked, or had residual sugar. BTW, this is in addition to sulphite, not instead of.

Winexpert's Tech Manager feels that you should NOT add ascorbic acid to any WE kits.

Steve

[wurzel]

Got to say that I don’t add it to kits but I do for white country wines that are meant for long term storage.

Also it is not recommended for reds for technical reasons that I do not fully understand.....no doubt someone will elaborate on this.

[NorthernWiner]

Also it is not recommended for reds for technical reasons that I do not fully understand.....no doubt someone will elaborate on this.

When ascorbic acid reacts with oxygen, hydrogen peroxide is formed. Hydrogen peroxide is very caustic and will oxidize wine even quicker than oxygen alone.

[wadewade]

I use when preparing a must of fruit wines like pear, apple, or any other fruit that can brown very easily along with the recommended amount of sulfite to prevent these wines from discoloring as ascorbic acid will not hinder a fermentation.

[fatbloke]

I use when preparing a must of fruit wines like pear, apple, or any other fruit that can brown very easily along with the recommended amount of sulfite to prevent these wines from discoloring as ascorbic acid will not hinder a fermentation.

Hum ?

When I was pressing apples last autumn, I just left them to get to the "desired" level of brown (like they do with "Normandy" cider) and then just added sulphites - which seemed to arrest further oxidation of the fruit pulp, allowing me to have some colour but not too dark....

I'd guess that ascorbic acid would work in a similar way as it seems that the food industry uses it like that, but unlike sulphites there's not potential allergenic reaction with vit C.....

regards

JtFB