Brewing With Tea

I've never brewed with tea, but when I've brewed with coffee, I've used far less than the proportion you've proposed (that is, far less than the amount of coffee beans I would use to brew 1/2 the volume of beer). So my advice would be to use less tea than you are proposing.

Also, have you considered a wit beer? It seems as though it would work well with this tea.

[Edited to add: This post from the Mad Fermentationist blog may be of interest to you.]

 

I have brewed one beer with tea a while ago, but it didn't end up with much to show for it. I would be hesitant to open bags / leave the tea in the wort - you're asking for astringency issues there. I would definitely be keeping them bagged and taking them out prior to fermentation.

 

Why not use a tincture? I have a butt load of hibiscus flower, and intend to use a tincture in a saison. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

A few years ago I put a few green tea bags into a 5 gallon corny of pale ale for 2 days. It was awesome I would recommend using it in the finished product. You could drop a tea bag into primary a few days before bottling/kegging

 

I would use maybe two bags of tea, 4oz of vodka, and let it sit for a weak. You can get a bottle of commercial beer, and figure out your dosing from there.

 

I've brewed with tea before. My primary comment is to use much less than you think you should use. For one gallon, I think one single packet would give you enough flavor for what you are looking for. A hint of flavor is better than a bomb of disgusting crap. I would add the teabag near the end of fermentation. Soak it full of vodka (to saturate and sanitize), then throw it into the fermenter. Then wait a few days, then bottle or keg. Pretty easy actually. But don't use too much.

 

I would have to agree with dmtaylor – better to use less and have subtle flavors than to have it completely overpower your beer.

I've never brewed with tea, but FWIW, I recently added 1/4 oz of dried sage to 5.5 gallons of berliner weisse with 2 min left in the boil. It is a light, dry beer and the sage is definitely present, but not overwhelming.

 

Planning on doing one in the near future myself, something like a Earl Grey Bitter sort of thing. Will be paying attention to this thread as I haven't actually used tea myself either.

Also related - http://chopandbrew.com/episodes/chop-brew-episode-38-homebrewing-with-tea/

 

This is a good way to go because you can pull them out when you get the flavor you want. I did this with cucumber, which also only took a couple days to get where it needed.

 

I have brewed with tea three times in the past couple of years. All the same recipe, a witbier with earl grey tea. The only real change I made between batches is the type of tea and the yeast used.

I used one box (~18-20 tea bags) per 5 gallon batch. I threw the whole bags in at flame out and left them in while chilling and strained them out while I transferred to the fermentor. I figured that most similarly replicated the process of steeping a cup of tea. That amount was a guess initially and I thought about adding more after fermentation but never ended up doing that.

I was very pleased with the taste and strength as was everyone I shared it with (one batch was served at my friends wedding, with 3 other of my homebrews, and he got more compliments on the beer than anything else.)

Personally I think Constant Comet would go better with a stout than anything else, but as always brew to your own (or wife's) tastes.

 

Several brewers have made Earl Grey beers. Maybe reach out to them on best practices for a flavored tea beer? I tasted the very alpha-tested version of Ardent's years ago, and it was basically tea bags at flameout.

 

That's a good idea.

I would definitely not put the tea in the boil, at least the first time you try. I'm assuming that, like hops, tea flavor depends on oils. Oils will likely scrub out during fermentation.

You are in uncharted territory, good sir! Personally, that's my favorite kinda territory to be in. Good luck!

 

I've made a bunch of tea beers with all different types of tea. Best way to add it is with your priming sugar, IMO. Steep the tea first, then add your priming sugar to the hot water once you pull out the tea. As many have said, depending on the type of tea that you use, a little may go a long way. Adding the tea to your boil or steeping it in hot wort will not allow for maximum extraction or flavor and adding tea to your fermenter really won't allow you to play with dosage very well, as, again, extraction will be variable and the process could become quite cumbersome.

 

for the record not a scientist here but the teabags I steeped in the keg for a few days were green tea and didn't contaminate the beer. I would think that a tincture would extract more unwanted flavors from tea. Any more science minded people know if there's a difference between cold extraction and vodka extraction?

 

Indeed there is, as solubility in etoh and solubility in water differ.

That said, steeping teabags in beer is different than steeping them in water, as you will get different extraction in a solution like beer that has multiple components, like alcohol and sugar, than you will in water. That's why you steep your tea BEFORE you add the sugar to it.