Sanitizing tea leaves

[fishops]

I am gonna age a porter over some earl grey tea leaves in secondary. I'm sure they're covered in bacteria, wild yeast and all sorts of wonderful things. What's the best way to sanitize them without damaging the flavor?

I don't want to heat them up since they're full of tannins and I'm aiming for a mild, cold-steeped flavor. I was considering laying them out on a paper towel and misting them with Starsan. Anyone tried making beer with tea?

 

[Impetuous Brewer]

Just a thought, but you could put them spray them with water and then heat them in the oven/toaster oven at around 180 or so for about 10-15 minutes and pasteurize them. I would be a little reluctant to mix them with a sanitizer directly, I say this as someone who drinks a fair amount of tea. Keep in mind that all black teas are essentially dried/roasted in some form. Make sure they are damp prior to heating them though.

 

[elkdog]

Maybe a dip in Starsan, as it is no-rinse and wouldn't involve heating the leaves? I'm totally spitballing here.

Edit: Just read your post more carefully (stupid apfelwein), and saw that you mentioned Starsan. How bout that?

 

[DeadDoc]

If this hasn't been dealt with yet... if you do it in secondary it shouldn't matter as much... probably just a rinse down with water just to wash anything off like you normally would before eating. The alcohol should kill most things off anyways.

 

[Seawolfe]

Dunk in vodka and shake out? Heat for a few seconds in microwave (maybe with a glass of water in there for safety?) I'd probably just dump them in - we dry hop in the keg sometimes and thats always turned out well. Tea shouldn't have more ookies than hops, right?

 

[shot0rum247]

Although I think you can probably drop em in the secondary as the alcohol will most likely kill everything harmful, hops are a natural preservative and bacteria has difficulty growing on them. But i would just rinse the leaves and put em in the secondary.