Can you use tea as you base, worried about the caffein????

I found a really good tea that i would love to try and replace my water in the wort boil with a blk tea. It has lime, coconut, and blk tea..

Is it ok to have caffein in the fermentation??

this is the only thing im worried about... you would have to sit down and drink some of this very tea to understand why... its F'in delicious, and the lime will make for a really neat lime lager... the cocnut taste like super clean malt... but not over powering

It's fine, but I'd recommend steeping the tea AFTER the boil. I've experiments with black tea, coca tea, and cacao husk tea and I've noticed that if I steeped the tea before the boil I get a bit of an astringency or bitterness that's not present if I don't boil. So what I did was cool the wort down post-boil to about 185 then steep my tea for the appropriate amount of time. Then, remove tea and continue the cooling.

The yeast will enjoy the nutrients released by the tea and caffeine isn't an issue.

bovineblitz said:

It's fine, but I'd recommend steeping the tea AFTER the boil. I've experiments with black tea, coca tea, and cacao husk tea and I've noticed that if I steeped the tea before the boil I get a bit of an astringency or bitterness that's not present if I don't boil. So what I did was cool the wort down post-boil to about 185 then steep my tea for the appropriate amount of time. Then, remove tea and continue the cooling.

The yeast will enjoy the nutrients released by the tea and caffeine isn't an issue.

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Thank you for the reply.... I will post back after and let you know how the experiment went... Four different beers out of one batch.. Trying to find a good lime beer... how much of the tea favors did you get threw to the end product

Last month, I steeped a cup of earl grey tea leaves in a grain bag for the last 4 minutes of my boil. My base beer is a Kolsch. Earl Grey is essentially a basic black tea such as ceylon but is flavored with bergamot, a bitter citrus flavor that comes from a small fruit similar to an orange. I've only tried one beer so far as they are still conditioning, but I think it turned out great.

I did it this way because that is how I make my tea every day - by steeping it in 212 water for 4-5 minutes. I think the way bovineblitz did it would also work fine. Some teas need to be steeped at 212, others at somewhat cooler temps (green teas for example are better at 180-190). Steeping too long will bring out astringency, tannins or whatever it is - I'm not sure but it tastes bitter and bad. I would only use good quality tea - not something from a tea bag - and put it in a bag so there is good flow through the leaves. I don't know what effect the caffeine will have. The beer is a bit cloudy, but I think will be a winner.

good luck and let us know how you do it and how it turns out.

It may take some experimentation but you could over steep some to add the bitterness in place of the boil hops.

gtheroux said:

I found a really good tea that i would love to try and replace my water in the wort boil with a blk tea. It has lime, coconut, and blk tea..

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What's the tea? it sounds great, I'd love to try some...

I've been cold steeping mine for a while now.. Only thing is it takes more time and planning.. I usually boil off an extra gallon from my wort and use my tea as top off water.. It works well and yes boiling tea and coffee release tannins wich I learned causes my muscle spasm(charlie horses)..

Big_Belgian said:

I did it this way because that is how I make my tea every day - by steeping it in 212 water for 4-5 minutes. I think the way bovineblitz did it would also work fine. Some teas need to be steeped at 212, others at somewhat cooler temps (green teas for example are better at 180-190). Steeping too long will bring out astringency, tannins or whatever it is - I'm not sure but it tastes bitter and bad. I would only use good quality tea - not something from a tea bag - and put it in a bag so there is good flow through the leaves. I don't know what effect the caffeine will have. The beer is a bit cloudy, but I think will be a winner.

good luck and let us know how you do it and how it turns out.

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Yeah it depends on the tea... I forgot to mention that I did my black tea a little hotter, the coca tea is similar to green tea. Basically just steep it at whatever temp and time are standard for the type of tea.