I know a lot of people use tea when they brew. But what about pre-made tea? I've been working on a recipe and I know of a pre-brewed tea that will add exactly the right taste to bring my brew to perfection. But I don't know when to add the tea, since it is already in water/tea form. Should I just add some in at the end of the boil? Or should I use it as early as the mash? It's a special Jasmine tea. It is subtle so it may require a good amount of it, which is why I mention using it in mash or pre-boil.
Using Tea
- Thread starter eepyikes
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Watch out for sorbates they hinder yeast production.
bovineblitz
Well-Known Member
Hm. I'd probably plan on diluting my batch with a bunch of tea after it's made, perhaps even at bottling. Grab a commercial beer that's similar to your base recipe and mix it with some tea to determine how much tea to add, then scale up.
I wouldn't want to boil it, most teas get bitter when boiled plus you'd drive off aromatics. At the end of the boil should be fine, I'd let the temp drop to about 190 before adding it though. If you're doing this though, you may as well just add it at bottling... that way you know that fermentation won't drive off any aromatics either.
I wouldn't want to boil it, most teas get bitter when boiled plus you'd drive off aromatics. At the end of the boil should be fine, I'd let the temp drop to about 190 before adding it though. If you're doing this though, you may as well just add it at bottling... that way you know that fermentation won't drive off any aromatics either.
Thanks! Do you think I should try to compensate for alcohol loss by the added water?
Definitely no sorbates (unless natural tea has them), it's "tea's tea", says the ingerdients are water, tea and ascorbic acid (vitamin c)...
Definitely no sorbates (unless natural tea has them), it's "tea's tea", says the ingerdients are water, tea and ascorbic acid (vitamin c)...
bovineblitz
Well-Known Member
I'd do the recipe as a 5gal recipe and just plan on fermenting at 3-4 gallons (whatever you calculate) and dilute afterwards... just like doing a partial boil for extract.
New plan, new plan. I did a taste testing of a small cup of my finished brew and the tea's tea 50/50. The beer demolished the tea. No Jasmine taste or smell whatsoever. So it looks like I'm going to need to actually toss some kind of jasmine tea or flowers into the boil to even have a chance of bringing out the jasmine.
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bovineblitz
Well-Known Member
Alrightie, I suppose that makes sense since it's so delicate. I've used coca tea before, what I did was cool the wort post boil to about 195 then add a TON of loose tea in a big bag which dropped the temp to about 180. Held for the proper amount of steeping time. Worked well.
