Green Tea IPA

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bgs8884

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I just made an IPA batch yesterday (5 gallons). i will leave it in the primary for about 2-3 weeks and then secondary it. i am thinking of splitting it into 2 separate secondarys. i'll do 4 gallons in one and 1 gallon in another. in the 1-gallon batch, i am thinking of adding some green tea packets.

Has anyone had any experience with Green Tea? Do you think that it will add anything or just be a waste? do i have to worry about the green tea packets getting moldy or going bad in the secondary?

3 lbs Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 5 38.2 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 4 44.6 %
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 29.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 7 44.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [6.10 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 8 14.8 IBUs
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 1 12.7 %
1.6 oz Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 3 1.3 %
1.00 oz Cascade [6.10 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg British Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1098) [124.21 ml] Yeast 11 -
4.0 oz Caramunich II (Weyermann) (63.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.2 %
1.00 oz Cascade [6.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 7.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 9 10.9 IBUs
 
in an ipa u wont taste it at all.. i made a green tea pale ale with 1oz of hops for a 5 gal batch... the green tea i added was post boil at flame out and was a 1/2 gal of green tea made out of 50 tea bags... i can taste it in the finished beer but it is only a hint... and i would also not add green tea bags that have not been sanitized at all... if u really wanted to add green tea to a beer id add 75-100 tea bags to a half gallon of boiling water then turn the flame out, let the tea sit for 10 min then take out bags, let cool to 70 deg, and add to wort... this is what i would do but to a pale ale bc the taste is not strong enough for an ipa
 
Thanks for the advice. Stones brewery has a green tea pale ale, I have had it yet but have heard good things. How do you think they do it
 
Thanks for posting that millaj92!

I'm living in Japan and I have easy access to this beer, but I have yet to try it.

BTW, if you have a chance to try any of Bairds beer, go for it. They're amazing!
 
i am thinking of adding some green tea packets.

Please don't do this. I'm an avid tea drinker and 99% of the bagged stuff is far inferior to the fresh loose leaf tea (unless you've found a super premium tea). I would spend the money and get some loose leaf tea (I would go for a sencha or bancha myself - sencha is a higher grade Japanese green while bancha is a standard grade. If you really wanted to splurge, look for something like gyokuro) that looks like it does in that video posted.

To see what I mean, buy some of the green tea you would have used and brew up a cup of it. Then compare it to the loose leaf green tea.

Good luck!:mug:
 
caseyd,

I have made a green tea pale ale in the past and used much less tea than you are suggesting. I added 1 quart of cold-brewed green tea (4 bags that I let steep at room temp for a week) at flameout. The tea taste was noticeable.

Recipe:
12 lbs Pale 2-row
.25 lb Carafa I

1.5 oz Mt Hood in the mash
1 oz Mt Hood @ 60 min
1 oz Cascade @ 15 min
1 qt green tea @ flameout

Maybe you need more tea to overcome the pronounced hop flavor of an aggressive IPA, but I have had success with much less. Just my two cents.
 
I drink green tea every morning for breakfast and have been thinking about this. I agree with FatherJack, dont use bag tea and more important dont boil it. Green tea needs to be steeped at a specific temp (around 150-165F, but differs for the different teas) otherwise you extract tannins that are bitter and nasty. If you want a good place to get tea I use an online place called Adagio Teas, if you PM me your email i can send you a $5 dollar gift certificate (its one of their promotional campaigns)

I havent done this yet but I would do this one of two ways:
1. add in the tea during the steeping of the grains (less time though I would only go for 3-5 mins for the tea then remove it), for a cup of tea you use 1 tsp per 8oz (give or take but thats average), so I would use that since the grains are going to overpower it.

The second would be like the video and dry hop with it. Though i would test it out on a small cup first with the temp difference to find the time so you dont get those nasty tannins for steeping too long, green tea is delicate and can give bad flavors if not done right.

Im looking into this so will post if I find a good answer
 
I'm a novice. And have yet to make a beer( brewing number 0 tomorrow!)
But I have been looking into this for future brewing. I agree with the none teat bag idea the green tea in tea bags
Is vastly inferior. But I was wondering since we seem to have quite a few tea afficeanados here, is matcha a good add?( powdered tea) or would the price be what keeps you from suggestions that?
Hope this thread keeps going cause I am all about making this!
Best of luck with making this recipe bud!
 
I can add some info on the "cleanliness" of bagged green tea. I keep a pitcher of green tea in the fridge (just filtered water and tea bags). We usually burn through it pretty quick, but if it happens to last for more than a week, it clouds up pretty good. Of course, these minor infections could come from the fridge bacteria farm or from the pitcher not being sanitized, but I rinse the pitcher extensively with scalding hot tap water (no soap) every time I fill it, and the pitcher has a pretty good lid on it.

Also, like tobacco, tea is said to be "fermented" as opposed to just dried, so there is probably viable yeasts and bacteria in all tea.
 
Traditionally, japanes green tea is supposed to be steaper extreamly hot only for 1-4 mins I think?
Then removed and the tea served hot immideitly. The green tea we get in the store does have a couple things
That differentiat it from japanes green tea. The major thing is Floride.
American greens have a lot of Floride. Also the expensive japanes is a better quality. It's harvested different,
Ect. Then I think the process used to dry it ( ie fermentation, cutting , ect)
But you will notice , after green tea sits it gets more and more bitter. In the stone video I found it neat that the tea was in muslin
Bags? I think maybe they added it like a specialty grain? At the beginning of the boil? Then removed? Again, I have never tried it but want to desperately.
 
I just had a pale ale from Burnside Brewing in Portland. It's called "_lowercase ipa" and is brewed entirely with Perle hops and the flavor was so close to green tea. I bet it would complement the above recipes far better than traditional IPA hops.
 
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