Earl Grey Mead.

so i am going to be brewing a earl grey mead. every recipe i have found has called for mutiple uses of spices like cinnamon, thyme, sage etc. and they use apple juice or grape juice. i want it to be a straight earl grey mead. i am also not sure about how many teabags to use or how much honey. my thoughts were 2.5lbs honey to 5 teabags and brewing 2 gallons.(5lbs honey 10teabags total) when i brewed my dandelion mead i used about 4lbs honey for 1 gallon and used a baking yeast(which i will use again for this recipe) and it came out considerably sweet.(and delicious) maybe the tea mead will be a little better on the dry side, or i could also add 2 cups sugar. I also have on reserve in my freezer... wild wine berries, mulberries, raspberries, dandelions. i am thinking just brewing in 2 different carboys and then adding a cup of maybe raspberries or the mulberries into just one of the secondaries.

the teabag box says 1 teabag per 8oz. so for 1 gallon that would be 16 teabags. i guess what it really comes down to is how much of a tea flavor do i want. a hint...or for it to hit me? hah i also dont want too much tannin either.(if there is any in earl grey)

any ideas or thoughts about this? has anyone ever tried this or something similar? do the other recipes incorperate the juice for body? and can i go without it???

I would try to brew 4-5 tea bags of earl gray in 2 cups of water and let it steep for at least 5 min then dump the steeped tea into your must. That's per one gallon. This would give you a "good" hint of earl gray. IMHO, I don't think you would want more than that. Earl gray does have tannins btw.

Up to you--I would probably use 8-10 per gallon (steeped)--at least of my favourite brand (Bigelow). What brand are you thinking--it makes a difference.
I would like to state that you can minimize the amount of tannins that come out by brewing the tea for shorter--maybe 3 minutes, and lower temperature water.
I think that you can do without the juice if you want.

Why use baker's yeast?

chickabeelane said:

I would try to brew 4-5 tea bags of earl gray in 2 cups of water and let it steep for at least 5 min then dump the steeped tea into your must. That's per one gallon. This would give you a "good" hint of earl gray. IMHO, I don't think you would want more than that. Earl gray does have tannins btw.

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yea that sounds good, yea i was reading it is black tea with other stuff in it so that explains the tannins.

Brann_mac_Finnchad said:

Up to you--I would probably use 8-10 per gallon (steeped)--at least of my favourite brand (Bigelow). What brand are you thinking--it makes a difference.
I would like to state that you can minimize the amount of tannins that come out by brewing the tea for shorter--maybe 3 minutes, and lower temperature water.
I think that you can do without the juice if you want.

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yea i will prob steep for shorter. prob about 3 mins, what do you think 10 per gallon would give me as far as the earl grey taste in the mead. i want it apparent but not to kick me in the face. the brand i will be using is clipper organic earl grey.

gratus fermentatio said:

Why use baker's yeast?

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i have always used bakers yeast. i have tried other yeasts and they work just fine, but i have a ton of red star baking yeast that works just fine also for a medium-sweet mead. i ordered some different yeasts from norther brewer but i will prob end up brewing before they even get here. one thing i do is i put the carboy in some cool water to slow down the fermentation so that there isnt too much of a co2 taste in the mead. ive never had a problem with it.

I've used black tea in a chai tea mead I've made, sorry I haven't tasted it yet so I can't tell you how it is lol, but it has an awesome dark brown color like iced tea, I can't wait, it's almost time to bottle!

agent44 said:

I've used black tea in a chai tea mead I've made, sorry I haven't tasted it yet so I can't tell you how it is lol, but it has an awesome dark brown color like iced tea, I can't wait, it's almost time to bottle!

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how did you brew it? how much did you use? if you dont mind me asking.

Krausen89 said:

yea i will prob steep for shorter. prob about 3 mins, what do you think 10 per gallon would give me as far as the earl grey taste in the mead. i want it apparent but not to kick me in the face. the brand i will be using is clipper organic earl grey.

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Not familiar with the brand, can't say...
Try steeping it in 8oz water for the 3 min (like your getting ready to make the must). Add some honey if you need it slightly sweetened. If the flavour is too strong for what you want, use less than the recommended 16 bags per gallon (if you were fermenting full strength tea). Try working it out that way.
Remember that you can always add more Earl Grey flavour by dry hopping the bags in the secondary until it reaches the flavour profile you desire.

Krausen89 said:

how did you brew it? how much did you use? if you dont mind me asking.

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3 bags in a pot for 1 g

so im finally brewing it. i used 12 teabags and steeped in 4 cups water. then i used 2 gallons of water minus the 4 cups. which will prob give me more then 2 gallons. and 5lbs honey with 3 cups sugar. letting the must sit at 180F for about 10 mins. and then going to add the tea and cool. still thinking about what fruit to use. maybe a mix of mulberries and respberries in the secondary.

I made a Bochet that used 10bags of herbal tea per gallon. However I let the tea cold steep and the tea sat in the primary the whole time. It is bottled and at month 7 now. That tea taste is there and is nice and refreshing.

Krausen89 said:

so im finally brewing it. i used 12 teabags and steeped in 4 cups water. then i used 2 gallons of water minus the 4 cups. which will prob give me more then 2 gallons. and 5lbs honey with 3 cups sugar. letting the must sit at 180F for about 10 mins. and then going to add the tea and cool. still thinking about what fruit to use. maybe a mix of mulberries and respberries in the secondary.

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I would look towards citrus to compliment the bergamot orange in the earl grey.

I would never leave tea bags in a primary fermenter, I did once and got crazy off flavors and the only explanation was the funky tea bags floating around in there lol. Also I would avoid heating a honey based must at all costs!!!

agent44 said:

I would never leave tea bags in a primary fermenter, I did once and got crazy off flavors and the only explanation was the funky tea bags floating around in there lol. Also I would avoid heating a honey based must at all costs!!!

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Why avoid heating it? I do not boil..i heat to 150-180F which has always kept the honeys flavours safe and sound.

I guess Its everyone's advice that you will lose flavour from the honey, but if you heat lower and have results you enjoy, then don't let me stop you cheers

my only worry is that it wont be sweet enough, i ended up with more volume then i planned and i didnt check the gravity. the smell coming from the airlock is delicious! so that is always a good sign. anyone have any good suggestions for my next mead?

I made a mead using dried juniper berries, (my skyrim mead) and then aged on oak for a month, i racked it off and it's still waiting to be bottled but it tastes fantastic! Can't wait to see how it is in a few months!

1/2 cup per gallon, wasn't it agent44?

agent44 said:

I made a mead using dried juniper berries, (my skyrim mead) and then aged on oak for a month, i racked it off and it's still waiting to be bottled but it tastes fantastic! Can't wait to see how it is in a few months!

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that sounds really good. do you have a recipe? i would like to try that. what kind of wood did you use? i have also heard of people using oak leaves as a bittering agent. i also want to try a hopped mead. not sure what i am going to use in that either.

Krausen89 said:

that sounds really good. do you have a recipe? i would like to try that. what kind of wood did you use? i have also heard of people using oak leaves as a bittering agent. i also want to try a hopped mead. not sure what i am going to use in that either.

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Hahaha it was one of my first meads I made and well I wasn't very thorough about taking notes, off the top of my head for a one gallon mead I did three pounds of honey around half a cup of dried juniper berries and topped it off with bottled spring water, and pitched Lalvin EC 1118. I racked onto an oak product that my lhbs had in stock it's mulched oak whiskey barrel, I used a couple rounded tablespoons. I've racked it off the oak now, it was on for a month, and it's now clearing. I also used peptic enzyme and nutrient. No gravity readings because I never had a hydrometer then lol cheers

I was thinking of trying this but with more of an earl grey than tea taste. Do you think using the bergamot extract they make earl grey out of would work. I think it its an oil extracted from the orange skin so would this dissolve in the mead? I doubt I'll be able to track down bergamot oranges in Scotland for a reasonable price.

mooney said:

I was thinking of trying this but with more of an earl grey than tea taste. Do you think using the bergamot extract they make earl grey out of would work. I think it its an oil extracted from the orange skin so would this dissolve in the mead? I doubt I'll be able to track down bergamot oranges in Scotland for a reasonable price.

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The recipe i used was pretty good. Not too much tea or earl grey taste. next time around I might use a couple more teabags. I steeped them for 3 mins in hot. Not.boiling water. 6bags in 2 cups water. Then added to must. Just tried the same recipe with yerba matte and a little sleepytime tea. Going to add 1/4tsp cannabis to the secondary.

Krausen89 said:

so i am going to be brewing a earl grey mead. every recipe i have found has called for mutiple uses of spices like cinnamon, thyme, sage etc. and they use apple juice or grape juice. i want it to be a straight earl grey mead. i am also not sure about how many teabags to use or how much honey. my thoughts were 2.5lbs honey to 5 teabags and brewing 2 gallons.(5lbs honey 10teabags total) when i brewed my dandelion mead i used about 4lbs honey for 1 gallon and used a baking yeast(which i will use again for this recipe) and it came out considerably sweet.(and delicious) maybe the tea mead will be a little better on the dry side, or i could also add 2 cups sugar. I also have on reserve in my freezer... wild wine berries, mulberries, raspberries, dandelions. i am thinking just brewing in 2 different carboys and then adding a cup of maybe raspberries or the mulberries into just one of the secondaries.

the teabag box says 1 teabag per 8oz. so for 1 gallon that would be 16 teabags. i guess what it really comes down to is how much of a tea flavor do i want. a hint...or for it to hit me? hah i also dont want too much tannin either.(if there is any in earl grey)

any ideas or thoughts about this? has anyone ever tried this or something similar? do the other recipes incorperate the juice for body? and can i go without it???

Click to expand...

Do you by chance have the recipe you ended up with? I’m extremely interested in making an earl grey mead next