Oatmeal Stout adding Chai

[McBrewskie]

Doing a holiday brew for the wife's birthday. Thinking an oatmeal stout that is has some chai flavoring. Wondering how best to add it. I'm gonna make the chai spice blend from scratch(cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, honey) so that I am not risking black tea in it. So here is the question. Do I add it to the fermentor, or should I soak the spices in some sort of liquor and add the liquior to the bottling bucket? Wondering what kind of liquior as well if I go that route.

 

[usafbeach]

Bump

 

[HollisBrewCo]

I always go the vodka soaking route now due to an undrinkable spiced holiday ale. Just a week or so in a mason jar with some vodka in the windowsill.
This method also allows you to use trial and error to find the right amount of extract for your batch.

 

[McBrewskie]

I always go the vodka soaking route now due to an undrinkable spiced holiday ale. Just a week or so in a mason jar with some vodka in the windowsill.
This method also allows you to use trial and error to find the right amount of extract for your batch.

Cool. Would you recommend putting the spices directly in the secondary?

 

[uncommonsense]

Did this with ipa. I made the tea and then added it to bottling bucket. It was good but lots of sediment

 

[McBrewskie]

Did this with ipa. I made the tea and then added it to bottling bucket. It was good but lots of sediment

Good to know thanks.

 

[HollisBrewCo]

I would not recommend adding the spices to the secondary. I would go the vodka method so you can add a measured amount that you have tested directly to your keg or bottling bucket

 

[El_Matador]

You might wanna look into Bhakti Chai concentrates. They make a really good product.

 

[McBrewskie]

Thanks for the suggestions. Might stick with the vodka then. Don't want the chai to over power.

 

[McBrewskie]

What do you think. 8 oz. Of vodka steeped for a week with chai?

 

[RitsiGators]

I would try and steep it for longer, but i second that steeping works great

 

[McBrewskie]

I would try and steep it for longer, but i second that steeping works great

Okay, started steeping. Put together my own chai seasonings minus the tea and have the oatmeal stout in the fermentor. Have the spices steeping in 12oz of kettle one vodka and will let steep for 2 weeks.

 

[JoeBuch]

I am a big fan of alcohol soaking the spices until the flavor and aroma are right. I would check the other chai tea spice mix recipes here. I believe you need to add something unexpected like pepper to get the right flavor.

It is really important to research spice ratios. This has always made a big difference with my Christmas and pumpkin beers

 

[dnslater]

I recently added a bit of Chamomile tea to my Belgian Witbier. I steeped 2 teabags in a few cups of warm water for an hour and added at the end of the boil. Has a very subtle chamomile flavor in the Wit.

 

[xjmox14x]

How did this spice mixture workout for you?