Drunken Emu's Mississippi River Water (Hard Tea)

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Any og and fg readings to shoot for?? I plan on doing a batch this week

 

[cms2bit]

Ok been 17 days and stored it three times over that time. Air lock is STILL bubbling... Is that right? Is it because of the lemon and orange that are in there too? Do I need to worry about it?

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Ok been 17 days and stored it three times over that time. Air lock is STILL bubbling... Is that right? Is it because of the lemon and orange that are in there too? Do I need to worry about it?

What's your gravity reading?

 

[cms2bit]

OG was 1.042 ish... About 5% mark. Just took out the orange and lemon (I had cut into quarters), and took a reading of 1.000... Added ten more bags of tea cause it tasted good but tea wasn't overly strong... Am wanting to drink it a bit early... This weekend if possible (any issues with that anyone knows of?)... But air lock was still bubbling about once every two seconds when I did all this... Was that the fruit?

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

OG was 1.042 ish... About 5% mark. Just took out the orange and lemon (I had cut into quarters), and took a reading of 1.000... Added ten more bags of tea cause it tasted good but tea wasn't overly strong... Am wanting to drink it a bit early... This weekend if possible (any issues with that anyone knows of?)... But air lock was still bubbling about once every two seconds when I did all this... Was that the fruit?

I could see this dropping a few more points for another day or so. But I would definately say this is something to drink asap.

 

[cms2bit]

Cool... So it's in a primary brew bucket... Was thinking of racking off to another brew bucket and taking back to my parents house a few hours away so my bro and I can see how far we can get through in a weekend... Leaving fri night to do so.
U think it will be good if I rack it Thursday and roll? Wasn't planning to pasteurise... Just drink as is over ice.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Cool... So it's in a primary brew bucket... Was thinking of racking off to another brew bucket and taking back to my parents house a few hours away so my bro and I can see how far we can get through in a weekend... Leaving fri night to do so.
U think it will be good if I rack it Thursday and roll? Wasn't planning to pasteurise... Just drink as is over ice.

I would think so. Maybe take your auto siphon and a growler to fill so you don't gotta go into the bucket for every glass. Sounds like a plan

 

[cms2bit]

Awesome, thanks !!! Let u know how it does us... Lol

 

[Rivenin]

trying 3 gallons of this tomorrow

 

[cms2bit]

Well... Did wonders... Sat night was hit! All this stuff needed was a few tea spoons of sugar to let it roll down the throat a lil easier... Killed 3 gallons in 1 night... Good times, good times.
Great recipe

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Well... Did wonders... Sat night was hit! All this stuff needed was a few tea spoons of sugar to let it roll down the throat a lil easier... Killed 3 gallons in 1 night... Good times, good times.
Great recipe

Nice!!

 

[Rivenin]

Still warm in the bucket. Ill most likely pitch tomorrow. Its awesome smelling!

 

[Rivenin]

Here it is as of a few minutes ago

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

OG was 1.042 ish... About 5% mark. Just took out the orange and lemon (I had cut into quarters), and took a reading of 1.000... Added ten more bags of tea cause it tasted good but tea wasn't overly strong... Am wanting to drink it a bit early... This weekend if possible (any issues with that anyone knows of?)... But air lock was still bubbling about once every two seconds when I did all this... Was that the fruit?

How long did you leave the secondary tea bags in?

 

[cms2bit]

Did ten bags, left in about a week

 

[CooperBrew]

I just backsweetened mine (2 cans lemonade for 5 gallons) and bottled this weekend. I used 1 lemon and 1 orange cut in half (not squeezed) for the first week in the primary as per the instructions but mine ended up with a strong pithy taste. Not sure what happened.

 

[TheManchesterMorgue]

I made a 5 gallon batch of this recently. Split the batch before bottling and made up some peach syrup for one half and lemon syrup for the other (frozen lemonade concentrate doesn't seem to exist really over in the uk). No pithy flavour or anything. Results were very tasty. Only problem I had was that sorbate and kmeta didn't hold up their end and so I had to fill 3/4s of my fridge with bottles of iced tea before they overcarbed. Nice recipe though. I added another 20 teabag infusion before racking into secondary also. Worked out better than I expected.

 

[PasbitinusBluinusRibbinus]

Tried my batch with zested fruit 20 days into primary (cold - 50s to low 60s). Its still sweet, but damn is that stuff good.

 

[WinterWarrior]

Just made up a 6 gallon batch of this! Can't wait!

I love southern style sweet tea but without lemon, so I left off the lemon and orange part of the recipe.

I realized after I had set everything aside and anxiously waiting for those lovely tell-tale bubbles that I pitched the yeast directly into the wort -- I didn't rehydrate ...

I hope that won't mess me up -- guess we'll know in about a day or 3.

 

[WinterWarrior]

Ok - so update

It must not matter (so far) because I just saw activity in the airlock -- so 6-7 hours and I see my favorite bubbly-bubbly!

Edited at 10AM next morning -- this thing is bubbling like crazy. I had added yeast nutrition and yeast energizer because I was worried about the acidity of the black tea.

Can't wait -- when this is finished I'll be backsweetening about half of it for me and if it tastes OK, will leave half of it as "unsweetened tea" for those that don't like sweet tea.

 

[Greenbasterd]

got a 5 gal batch stabilizing in secondary as of last night, og was about 1.070 because i like my stuff strong fg was around .992!! love it. tried the test sample last night and it was pretty nice, used 50 teabags but it came through. going to back sweeten with a concentrated tea that i add sugar to.

i only used 1 yeast pack, never a stirred and its fermented nicely. about a week.

cant wait to try it.

 

[user 83772]

Brewed this up yesterday. OG ended up lower at 1.036, but I did end up with slightly more than a quarter gallon more than the 2 gallons I expected (multitasking a bit while measuring my first water addition). :smack: No big deal though. As long as it ferments down to at least 1.000, I'm happy with it for a first go-round.

I will say, as a beer brewer it was more than a little disconcerting to open the bucket up & stir the whole thing around just now. My brain was screaming "YOU'RE GONNA OXIDIZE IT, YA MORON!" but I'm sticking with the OP's directions, so...quiet, brain.

Also, Montrachet has a definite aroma to it. So far I much prefer the smell of fermenting wort, but here's to new experiences!

 

[nickbrew]

This is my first time fermenting with fruit. Is the bad smell normal? It's obviously a smell of rotting fruit and I just want to make sure that this will go away. By the way, just second day in the primary.

 

[user 83772]

Just transferred my 2-ish gallon batch. Racked it over 2 crushed campden tabs & 1tsp sorbate.

Gonna let it sit for a week, then bottle with 4-5oz lemonade concentrate and bottle. How long is everyone letting theirs sit in bottles before consuming? Should I let it sit the standard two weeks, or is it ready right away? I don't particularly care if it ends up carbed, so long as it's tasty.

 

[nickbrew]

Just transferred my 2-ish gallon batch. Racked it over 2 crushed campden tabs & 1tsp sorbate.

Gonna let it sit for a week, then bottle with 4-5oz lemonade concentrate and bottle. How long is everyone letting theirs sit in bottles before consuming? Should I let it sit the standard two weeks, or is it ready right away? I don't particularly care if it ends up carbed, so long as it's tasty.

I have spent the last year brewing beers and this was my first experience away from that so I am pretty out of my element. Your addition of campden tabs + sorbate were for stabilizing it, yes? Also to reiterate my previous question, is the strong rotting fruit smell normal at the beginning of primary? I am extremely unused to it in comparison to beer-wort and my instincts tell me that something is wrong. I also just used the yeast mentioned in recipe without any additional energizer or nutrient; 32 hours in and no activity even after shaking it up earlier.

Sorry for the many questions, i'm really excited about this batch and I appreciate any patience with my amateurism.

 

[user 83772]

Yeah - although the OP originally formulated the recipe without, campden+sorbate have since been recommended to stabilize it, so I'm giving it a go. I might brew up another batch in a few days and forego 'em, just for sake of comparison.

I'm afraid I can't answer your fruit question, since I didn't use any. I read a few posts where others who were doing smaller batches like I am came out with heavier than desired fruit flavors when they followed that bit of the recipe, so I just didn't bother. I will say that for the first few days it was pretty aromatic - I'm primarily a beer brewer and Montrachet definitely has a different "stink" than the beer yeasts I've used have. Unless the fruit looks moldy or there's a pellicle or something on the surface, I wouldn't worry about it.

Also, from my experience so far with this batch Montrachet ferments differently than beer yeasts - it's much calmer, with a fizziness rather than a full-on churning type ferment that you'd expect out of a beer yeast. Much less kreusen too. So I wouldn't worry about not seeing much activity. If there's sugar, and the yeast is even somewhat fresh, it's fermenting.

 

[nickbrew]

Yeah - although the OP originally formulated the recipe without, campden+sorbate have since been recommended to stabilize it, so I'm giving it a go. I might brew up another batch in a few days and forego 'em, just for sake of comparison.

I'm afraid I can't answer your fruit question, since I didn't use any. I read a few posts where others who were doing smaller batches like I am came out with heavier than desired fruit flavors when they followed that bit of the recipe, so I just didn't bother. I will say that for the first few days it was pretty aromatic - I'm primarily a beer brewer and Montrachet definitely has a different "stink" than the beer yeasts I've used have. Unless the fruit looks moldy or there's a pellicle or something on the surface, I wouldn't worry about it.

Also, from my experience so far with this batch Montrachet ferments differently than beer yeasts - it's much calmer, with a fizziness rather than a full-on churning type ferment that you'd expect out of a beer yeast. Much less kreusen too. So I wouldn't worry about not seeing much activity. If there's sugar, and the yeast is even somewhat fresh, it's fermenting.

I appreciate your advice, especially with similar experiences with beer-beginnings. It's hard to tell exactly what is going on in there...I just used half an orange and half a lemon but I threw them in without thinking about seeds, tannins, pulps...Lots of things floating around. It smelled incredible just with tea, I think I would stick to it next time. I used 3/4 green tea, 1/4 orange pekoe and add in a tsp of ginseng...I guess it's all up to see what happens over time now.

 

[nickbrew]

Looking at 72 hours and no visible fermentation. Hydro reading confirms. Any suggestions? Repitching/add nutrient or energizer?

 

[user 83772]

Daaaaamnit. Finally got around to bottling my 2-gallon batch that I was supposed to bottle up back on St. Pat's. (just got busy & forgot it)

Got a little more than halfway through the batch, when the bucket tipped over the edge of the counter, sending the contents onto my lap and the floor.

Cleaning up almost a gallon of brew from your kitchen floor takes a LOT of paper towels. Just sayin'.

 

[user 83772]

Question, for whoever's still reading this thread: I now have 8 bombers full of this stuff, and it tastes pretty meh.

I used 5 oz of thawed store-brand lemonade concentrate to back sweeten (added it to the bottling bucket & racked on top of it) but the bottles range from mildly sweet & lemony to plain hard tea flavored, which isn't a good taste on it's own.

I've never had to back sweeten anything, let alone anything I've already bottled. I'm super hesitant to pour it out, sweeten it, and re-bottle it just because it's not worth the hassle.

Any tips on how to proceed?