Curiosity compelled me to crack a can of Saint Feuillien the other day.
Regardless of what I thought of the beer (a commercial non-lager Belgian beer in a can! Which didn’t completely suck! but which wasn’t what I was craving either), I’m intrigued by the ingredients listed on the can.
Water, malted barley, hops, yeast, sugar. Nothing unconventional so far.
Vitamin C though…
The only reason I can think of why one would add ascorbic acid to a beer is to prevent oxidation. Which leads me to wonder why the hell Saint Feuillien would think their beers are so susceptible to oxidation they need a pre-emptive shot of vitamins to cure their beer-scurvy.
Asorbic acid is a powerful anti-oxidant. If used in low doses it is flavorless and will only minimally effect the pH. I have actually used it in homebrew before on beer I knew got oxidized to prolong the shelf life and it works.
I’ve seen some of these canning lines in action. The thinking that canning lines don’t pick up o2 is a myth, at least on the smaller ones. They may be less impervious to o2 pick up after sealing but many of them have a lot of o2 pick up during the operation. Perhaps it is something with their canning line.
Just speculation on my part. I have considered using asorbic acid to prolong shelf life on my bottled beers but didn’t want the label to say it has additives so I shelved it. Kind of like when budweisser experimented with cinnamon in the mash for the same purpose but didn’t want to disclose they used cinnamon in their beers.
I hear some of the new mobile canning operations have had oxidation problems and they don’t have the equipment to check oxygen in the packages beer either. It’s flying blind so an antioxidant would be good insurance.
Hmm I’d have to look. I just use the recommended amount on the bottle I have. I’ve never perceived any off flavors at that rate. I’ll dig it out a bit later and let you know.
