Chai in beer

Hello, came up with a recipe for a Dirty Chai stout, have never used chai in a beer was thinking of brewing a quarter gallon strong batch to put into secondary. I have seen one recipe call for Chai and the ingredients were thrown into the boil my problem with this is when i drink a chai tea if the tea bag is steeped too long i feel it has astringent flavors. Or i was thinking of just adding a chai spice brew excluding the black tea just to get the spice. Any thoughts??

 

Masala chai made traditionally is boiled with the tea in it, the spices help cover the tannins and it becomes an accent rather than a detractor in my experience, much like diacetyl in certain styles of beer.

Instead of using "chai tea" from the store, which is more likely to be the cheapest tea dust sprayed with an oil vaguely similar to chai spices in taste, I would get some loose leaf black tea (Assam would be an excellent choice and, AFAIK, traditional), and find a recipe for the traditional stuff with clove, cardamom, cinnamon stick, fresh ginger, etc. (I even throw a couple peppercorns into mine, but that's me...) taking the boil time for the tea recipe and adding the tea ingredients that long before flameout.

If you have a Whole Foods nearby, look for "Rishi" brand chai loose leaf, it's a great brand with the spices already in and no artificial guff.

Excluding the tea to get just the spice would work, but personally I'd try with the tea. I'm not sure how much I would use, however...

Very interested to see how this turns out.

 

Also might want to use a good amount of lactose as the best way to taste ANY chai flavors is with LOTS of sweetness. If you've ever had some traditional chai the cup is like 1/2 filled with sugar when the tea is poured in. Sounds like a cool experiment though, a little different from "pumpkin spice"

 

Really good point. I would mash high, maybe use lactose like you mentioned... Don't know, this one will need experimentation. A chai milk stout does sound nice...

 

I did a Chai Brown Al a few years ago where I used the whole spices like andycr mentioned.

I think I used clove, cardamom, cinnamon, and black pepper corns. Like he suggested I would look up the recipe for homemade chai online and use that spicing. All these spices can be bought reasonable at an Indian grocer, at least that's where I got mine.

 

......................a post like this, with no mention of how it turned out, is, well ABSOLUTELY EFFING USELESS!!!!!!!!!!

 

Very good idea on taking a chai recipe and putting it in the boil according to that recipe... think i am going to do that... as for RachmaelBenApplebaums reply iam using lactose, to make it a dirty chai (for those who dont kno is a chai tea latte with at least one espresso shot) so i plan on a cold brewed coffee for secondary... i will post on my findings but if its too good might have to hold off on posting the recipe

this is a recipe that i definitely have to mess around with... do you think the cold brew might take away from the chai too much tho?

 

Cold brew sounds like a great approach for the smoothness, I would try it. I've had chai with a shot of espresso in it and it works well together.

 

I have had the same Idea floating around in the brain for a few years now. Thinking about going lighter in body as a curve ball... most spiced beers I've enjoyed in the past have been porter-stout. Please post updates on boil / secondary and what the verdict is.

 

i'm going to be making a chai porter soon based on the input from (tsname). he put chai spice into last few minutes of boil and left it in primary. Chai spice is the mix of things used with the tea. I buy the spice by itself or make it myself with the ingredients on hand then mix with tea to make my own chai tea.

i'll be adding it in the primary, not the boil, or maybe at flame out. I did this with pumpkin pie spices for my pumpkin ale and it is deelish

 

Gerallly speaking I understand that its best to add the tea at finishingto darker styled beers, with some dry hopping of the spices for added effect

Might give it a shot for my brown ale, stout, and porter recipes

 

It was like 10 years ago when I made this and was maybe my 4th batch ever. If my memory serves me it turned really good but as I said that was years ago and I didn't take notes then like I do now.

If I were to do it again I would go with a porter or even a stout and add lactose. I think a darker beer would hold up better, but I would be sure to go lite on the roasted malts.

 

Add chai spices (not chai "tea") after fermentation completes

Sanitize your spices and rack when flavor is achieved.

The tea is useless and just creates off flavors IMO.

Tried it both ways, spice is the way to go.

 

I love a good chai tea, cold or hot. Making a stout would be fun.

 

House beer is a Chai Milk Stout. Everyone loves is. Even took second at a local homebrew comp with it a couple years ago. Made a chai infusion and added it at bottling to get the right flavor

 

For the chai tea mix, also check out Teavana. Their chai mix is the closest one to the middle eastern chais that I found available in US. If you are going for the sweetness, I would also consider clover/orange blossom honey, as that is how some of the folks do the sweetening, and it may work with your recipe.