Ginger Mint Green Tea

[JonAllenNH]

I make a Ginger Mint Green Tea that everyone enjoys (Green Tea steeped with ginger and mint, sweetened with honey and spiked with Irish Whiskey). Want to develop it into a beer. Been tinkering and reading and I've come up with the following recipe to attempt. Wanted to get the thoughts of fellow brewers, especially more experienced ones (only brewed 4 batches and never made my own recipe). Wanted to keep the abv down so I had to keep the initial way down.

Extract 4 gallon boil 5 gallon finished

OG 1.034 (Est)
FG 1.008 (Est)
ABV 3.42% (Initial) 4.8% (Finished)
IBU 22.1
SRM 5.51

3.3lbs Pilsen LME
1lb Pilsen DME
1lb Honey Malt (steeped)
.5oz Cascade (60 min)
2 oz Ginger Root (diced) (60 min)
4 oz Mint Leaves (diced) (60 min)
1 oz Ginger Root (diced) (20 min)
.5oz Cascade (5 min)
1 oz Ginger Root (diced) (5 min)
WLP001 White Labs California Ale Yeast

Decided to try and use the Ginger like a hop in additions. Brewing extract with 4 gallon boil down to 3, top off with cold brewed Green Tea (remove tannins and bitterness). Add 750ml of Irish Whiskey in Secondary along with Oak chips soaked in the whiskey and another 4 oz of mint leaves.

Anyone have any thoughts? Improvements? Suggestions?

 

[Colorowdy]

Skip the 60 minute additions of ginger and mint. It would be way too overpowering. A half ounce of ginger at 15 minutes should be enough. I think I read somewhere candied ginger leaves a cleaner taste. I have never used mint but I would imagine that if I was going to I would not add more then four or five grams and probably at 5 minutes. Up the hops to 1 ounce each addition. Top off your fermenter with water, you can add your tea in the secondary. You can also add more mint and ginger if you desire in the secondary. I would use light oak chips for the secondary. I hope this helps.

 

[JonAllenNH]

Thanks for the input. I was kind of going for overpowering (weird as that sounds). Brewing it as a beer mostly to add a little ABV and carbonation more than the flavor, hence the relatively low grain bill and IBU. Odd to say, but I don't really want it to taste too much like beer...more of a beer undertone.
I was going to top off with tea because I was afraid the Green Tea would get lost in the hops/malt, having such a delicate flavor. Figured if it was about half wort and half tea (3g/2g) it would stand more of a chance. Will it hurt the fermentation process you think? Noticed a lot of brewers doing tea beers are adding the tea leaves to the secondary and letting it steep for 2+ weeks or adding the tea at bottling.
I planned on light oak chips, but thanks for validating my thought! Got something right! Wanted to soak them in the whiskey to pull out a little bit extra of that whiskey barrel flavor.

 

[JonAllenNH]

Also, do you think Cascade is the right way to go? Chose it for the floral/citrus notes, but don't know if it's the best choice. Want to avoid piney, but I also want to avoid Grapefruity...

 

[Colorowdy]

I think the tea will be lost during primary fermentation. I would primary first you can always add more in a secondary. How about a green tea tincture with vodka?
I think cascade is fine.
Ultimately it is your beer do what you want.
I kind of want to tweek this recipe and make a sour.

 

[PamelaToledo]

Sounds like a good recipe. I'm looking forward to tasting it. I've never tried ginger and mint tea. The oddest green tea combination that works that I've seen is green tea and mango and if that were not enough, they allow you to get a lot more of the benefits of green tea in one small mint- Sencha Naturals Tropical Mango Mints.. Here's where you can find said mints : http://www.dailycuppacoffee.com/sencha-naturals-tropical-mango-mints-12-tubes..

 

[JennaFortin]

It also has been known to calm an upset stomach as well as stomach cramps. It also supports a healthy cardiovascular system. It's a little known fact that spices such as ginger have far greater concentrations of antioxidants that any common fruit or vegetable source. also, i'm a regular drinker of dieter's drink ( green tea).