Apologies if there is already info on the forum about this that I possibly missed.
I’m brewing my first-ever tea beer, and am using green tea. Was originally planning on adding it at flameout, but wanted some advice - I don’t want it to pick up too many tannins.
I like to add any kind of flavoring like that at packaging. That way you can add to taste rather than guessing at the amount.
What type of base beer is this involving? My neighbor once made a Chai Tea Porter that was quite good and won awards. But I don’t think he actually used tea - something about concerns about tannins. Good luck with your batch and I suggest that you go lightly on the tea!
I’ve never brewed with tea, but if you’re doing a hotside addition, I’d be prepared to pull them out quick. I like my green tea and oolong steeped for 2-5 minutes (depending on the tea), at 180-185F. Grassiness happens quickly with green tea, but there’s a lot less astringency than with black.
I do think you will get the best results with a hotside addition using green tea, but that doesn’t allow you much opportunity to add to taste. This might be worth brewing a small batch to confirm time & quantity for the tea addition.
what everyone said about -at packaging and -tannins
i may know more about tea here than anyone, and the less than or barely visible particles in tea will continue to produce tannins/astringency especially from hot water.
i have been considering using smoky lapsang souchong for a while and my method will be to add it to vodka #1 to get a baseline tasting on it in alcohol, and then from there be able to adjust it if i add it to a beer.
why tea? green tea? i think the effect will result in a flavour profile you don’t expect. i tried one green tea infused beer and it did not remind me of any kind of green tea.
overall: i dissuade you from this, being a tea lover (i could give up beer, couldnt give up tea. id die), and if you want to experiment do so in tincture added to some beer and not all of it so you can compare.
I was visiting a brewery yesterday that uses Celestial Seasonings in their base beer to get different flavors. He said one box works as an addition to a sixtel (about 5 gallons) added at kegging. I had a sample of peach cinnamon in a sour blonde ale as well as a sample of the base beer.
It sounded pretty easy and certainly didn’t hurt the clarity.
In NCJOHB, maybe 30+ years ago, Charlie had a Christmas beer recipe that used Celestial Seasonings Roastarome tea
I know some people/breweries use it as a whirlpool addition but of the tea-infused beers I’ve liked it’s either in the keg or added post-fermentation. Specifically for green tea I’ve liked it in the keg but if you’re bottling added post-fermentation right before packaging should be fine, too.
I wrote this a long time ago: Friday Fun Ingredient – Tea! | Experimental Brewing
But like others have suggested, this is a vodka infusion - 2oz of tea to a cup of vodka.