305guy

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I'm working on an all-grain bavarian Weizen with Green Tea, and have a few questions about how to add the tea. I've read that some micros have done it by using pre-made iced tea instead of water during the boil. I'm not sure how much flavor would make it to the bottle so, by that method, should ALL the water used in the boil be tea, or just a fraction of it, and what about the water used during mashing?

I was also thinking about adding the tea near the end of the boil as a substitute for aroma hops. Again, I don't have a clue what an appropriate amount would be, or the pros and cons of each method.

Finally, would the tea have any effects on fermentation?

pedalmedic

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WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY above my head, but cool idea.

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k1v1116

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the only advice I can give is steep the tea the same way you would steep grain (below 170f) tea has tannins too and you probably dont want them in your beer.

david_42

Recipes 

I've used chamomile in a ginger beer. I just made a quart of tea and added it to the keg. That let me adjust the flavor slowly. I've had commercial jasmine and lavender beers. In both cases, the tea was added post-ferment. It will be really easy to overwhelm a Weizen, so that might be your best approach.

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Brewinator

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Subscribed. I've been wanting to do a green tea wheat, but I am utterly clueless as to how much tea to use. I will look fwd to your results.

BrewMunster

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Dry hopping maybe? Then again it might not add enough of the flavor to the beer.

305guy

Recipes 

After doing a little chemistry research on the internet and some more thinking, I found that Green Tea becomes harsh and bitter if let steep too long (something I actually already knew from personal experience). I also remember that the proper method to make iced tea is to steep the tea with hot water, then chill it. Both those facts would lead me away from "dry-teaing", and reinforce the idea of using them at the end of the boil. If good green tea is made by steeping the leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes, why not add the leaves in a hop bag to the last 5 minutes of the boil? As for amount, typical for a cup of tea is ~1.5tsp for 8oz water. Take that up to 5 gallons (640oz) and you get 80 times the amount for a standard cup, or ~120tsp = 2.5 cups for full-strength green tea flavor, and scale that down to taste (maybe half).

Brewinator

Recipes 

Yes, you want it subtle, so as not to dominate the wheat.

The question is, how do you handle bitterness? Tea is bitter, so you'd have to figure that into the IBU. Maybe you could just pop open a wheat beer with a known or low IBU (like Blue Moon) and add some already-brewed tea to see how much tastes right, and scale it up.

You'd hate to waste a whole 5 gallons of ingredients just as an experiment.

I'd definitely have some takers for this beer if I could do it right.

Jack

Recipes 

I would try one or more of the following ideas:
1. First worst teaing
2. Dissolving your priming sugar in tea
3. Brewing a beer without tea and blending it with tea until you get the taste you want.
4. Brewing a concentrated beer and "top off" with tea after primary fermentation is complete.

TerryWendel

Recipes 

Not sure what was mentioned earlier but from what I know of green tea is that boiling it can lead to bad flavors. In my experiences anyways.

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