Chai Beer

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bottlerocket

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I made up a new mead in a 5l carboy last night and steeped a bag of chai tea and added.
i hear of different spices being added to meads all the time so hopefully the cinnamon/ginger/clove flavours will make a simple addition. just have to wait ages now for it to ferment.
Id like to try this with a beer
It would be like a green tea beer with a bit of a twist.it leaves a great aftertaste in your mouth for ages so i dont think too much would be needed.

has anyone done this before or have any thoughts?
 
Do a search on green tea lager or GT lager, using Asher as the poster for lots of info on adding tea to beer. Probably the most important things are to try adding small amounts of tea to a low flavour beer/mead in the glass to get a feel for how much to add, and expect haze from the polyphenols in the tea.
 
there's a great looking recipe for chai ale in "Radical Brewing". havent brewed it yet but I want to. Although I dont think he actually uses chai tea, just chai spices.

I've also been meaning to make a rauchbier using Lapsang Souchong tea to provide the smokiness but I just never get around to it...

I would brew a pot of normal tea and add it to the secondary. I think you would have to be pretty careful to brew the tea properly to minimize tannins. ie take the leaves out after a couple of minutes so the leaves dont overstew and leech out tannin. just like sparging really...

i dont think adding tea leaves/bags to the beer itself would be a good move because of the tannins but i havent tried it.

I had the Lindemans tea lambic a couple of years ago, now that's a bizarre tasting beer...
 
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