Sanitizing Tea Bags

mrrshotshot said:

Anybody have any luck with this?

I want to secondary a pale ale with some green tea. I'm afraid the boil temps and primary fermentation will get rid if a lot of what I want out of the tea so I'd like to secondary.

My first idea was to bake them at 180 in the oven for an hour to "pasteurize" them.

My second idea was a soak in vodka, but wasn't sure if this would affect flavor in anyway or damage the tea leaves.

My last idea was to just say f*** it, toss em in and hope for no infection.

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invivoSaccharomyces said:

Steep it in ~150 degree F water for a couple minutes. That's all it takes - pasteurization is quick and easy. This should kill everything that can grow in beer, without losing too many aromatics from the tea. Then dump in the water with the tea.

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BGBC said:

I'd use loose leaf tea. You could put in in a sanitized bag (like muslin hop bag) or use any kind of stainless loose leaf tea strainer (which can be sanitized before use).

Another idea is to make a strong pot of tea and blend in secondary or at bottling.

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