hard ice tea?

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99expo

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well i just made my first cider and it got me to thinking about other drinks i could just add some yeast to. i was looking at the Arizona iced tea and it says 100% natural, no preservatives, no artificial color-flavors. so it should work...right

I was just trying to make something my girlfriend would like.
any recipes would be helpful too
 
I think tea wine would probably be something you'd want to reserve for cooking. I tried brewing up a batch of coffee wine once and... yea... it was seriously nasty. If you are going to make a tea wine, stick with loose tea leaves and/or tea bags and stay away from the bottled stuff.
 
Fermenting Arizonia iced tea will convert all of the sugar into alcohol leaving an astringent, bitter beverage that I doubt your gf would like. It's 10% sugar by weight, so sweetening it back to the original level with an unfermentable sugar (like lactose) would be pricy.
 
Could you ferment it for a while, then kill the yeast like a winemaker does? What are those, campden tablets? Add some more sugar, maybe some extra-light DME, to give it a little more sugar to start with? Would that make sense?

Not sure how you would then carb, though, unless you were kegging...
 
the_bird said:
Could you ferment it for a while, then kill the yeast like a winemaker does? What are those, campden tablets? Add some more sugar, maybe some extra-light DME, to give it a little more sugar to start with? Would that make sense?

Not sure how you would then carb, though, unless you were kegging...
In the UK we don't get Arizona iced tea so can't comment on the product. I kind of guess you're thinking of a 'beer' style with this but instead of hops you'd use tea as a bittering/aroma ingredient. That would work but would be something of an acquired taste.

OdinOneEye - In the UK tea wines are usually made as a 'blender' to add to and balance other fruit brews that need a little more tannin. Definately not a drinking wine on it's own.
 
It's not something that I would make, just trying to brainstorm a solution to the problem presented. Personally, I like my beers to taste like beer.
 
A friend of mine from Georgia mixes drinks he calls "Ice Picks." A few ounces of vodka to a tall glass of southern sweet tea. It tastes pretty good, and there's no fermentation required!
 
Caplan said:
In the UK we don't get Arizona iced tea so can't comment on the product. I kind of guess you're thinking of a 'beer' style with this but instead of hops you'd use tea as a bittering/aroma ingredient. That would work but would be something of an acquired taste.

OdinOneEye - In the UK tea wines are usually made as a 'blender' to add to and balance other fruit brews that need a little more tannin. Definately not a drinking wine on it's own.

Yeah, see, we don't have anything (that I know of) like that here in the US.

And it just goes to show... (obvious and probably insulting English joke coming up) the British aren't exactly known for their culinary skills :D AAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA.... oh God I'm sorry, but I just had to.
 
OdinOneEye said:
Yeah, see, we don't have anything (that I know of) like that here in the US.

And it just goes to show... (obvious and probably insulting English joke coming up) the British aren't exactly known for their culinary skills :D AAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA.... oh God I'm sorry, but I just had to.

Actually, England (London in particular) is touted as one of the top places in the world for fine cuisine. :D
 
OdinOneEye said:
(obvious and probably insulting English joke coming up) the British aren't exactly known for their culinary skills :D AAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA.... oh God I'm sorry, but I just had to.
It's a fair comment about the state of British cuisine across the board about 25 years ago. It's improved at restaurant level and in a lot of homes as improved wealth and foreign travel has widened peoples interest and expectations. By no means is this everywhere.
There are people who take real pride in British Cuisine or in using the best of British produce with skill to re-create dishes from overseas.
If you Google 'Rick Stein' or 'Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall' (two famous food writers in the UK with real passion for the subject) you'll find information about 'real' British food and produce - none of the 'battered and deep fried pizza', 'deep fried potatoes' and 'mechanically re-claimed meat burgers' that most of Britain can quite rightly be accused of living off.
 
Yeah, I'm just ribbing you though. There's that old thing about how bacon is the only thing you guys can cook decently.
 
OdinOneEye said:
Yeah, I'm just ribbing you though. There's that old thing about how bacon is the only thing you guys can cook decently.
I know you were only ribbing, but I agreed with your original post (mostly;)):D
 
so back to the ice tea
maybe i could to a pale ale without any hops(not trying to make a wine) then add some tea to the primary and keep it mind this is for my girlfriend

and whats up with the british.......
 
99expo said:
so back to the ice tea
maybe i could to a pale ale without any hops(not trying to make a wine) then add some tea to the primary and keep it mind this is for my girlfriend
You could try. I'd do a one gallon experiment first though. Don't waste time and money on a 5 gallon. Or try Yuri_Rage friend's 'Ice Pick' recipe!
 
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