Ever use tea?

[Swervo Maneuver]

Imma thinking of doing a trial batch (2.5 gallons) using green tea. Probly toss a coupla few tea bags in the water instead of/in addition to steeping grains.

Anybody ever try it? Any ideas or suggestions? I figured I'd use light malt xtract and hop it gently to see if I can find the tea.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I used Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea in a batch of Mead that was excellent!

 

[Janx]

I have used tea a lot in mead to get tannic acid into the must.

I would be careful how long you leave it in there. With green/black tea, you'll get more and more acidity (to a point) the longer you steep it. I'd make a batch of tea first and then add that to your batch rather than leaving the tea bags in for the whole steep/boil. A lot of tannins would be pretty harsh.

Let us know how it goes! Cheers!

 

[D-brewmeister]

I have been a big fan of a green tea called Yerba Mate for about a year now, it has a different stimulant than caffene which is much mellower and longer lasting. It also has alot of anti-oxidents and other good stuff in it, and generally is a lot beter for you than coffee. In any case, I was considering adding some to a portion of my current batch of pale ale, probably at bottling. I would just brew up some strong stuff, let it cool a bit and add it to the bottling bucket (perhaps even use it to disolve the bottling sugar?). It has a very green color, so I'm not sure what it will do to the color of the beer, It could make a st. pattys worthy green beer but without adding nasty food coloring . I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

 

[Janx]

Please do keep us informed! I'm a big Yerba Mate fan, too

 

[Swervo Maneuver]

I'll have to try that yerba mate stuff sometime.

I'm not really interested in a green tea-flavored beer.
I'm more interested in the interaction between tea and the beer fermenting process.
I'll probably boil 10 or so bags for 3-5 minutes (to avoid those yucky tannins) after/instead of steeping grains and before adding malt extract.
What's the worst that could happen?

 

[Swervo Maneuver]

If you want an exceptionally cloudy beer with no real discernable green tea flavor, try boiling green tea a few minutes before adding your DME and hops.

The only strange thing about my Green Tea ale is its slight malty sweetness despite my use of the White Labs Dry English Ale yeast. Was it the tea? Who the he11 knows?