Tea Beer

22 August 2018

Tea makes a British Mild more British!

I like tea…. possibly as much as beer. But why choose between the two when you can have both?

This beer came out of a split batch I made with a friend. We brewed 5 gallons, and then each took 2.5 gallons to do what we pleased with. My friend and I have names starting with T, so we named hers ‘TnT’ and mine ‘TnTea’. I needed something to add to mine that would match the ‘British Mild’ style, so dry hoping, fruit in secondary etc, was out.

Tea, the other thing I like to brew!
Tea, the other thing I like to brew!

What makes this brew different is the tea I added before kegging. It created a nice finish, with a dry tannin taste towards the end. Just before kegging I brewed a tea concentrate- 3 tablespoons of loose leaf English Breakfast tea in 1 liter of water, which I poured into the keg.

TnTea- British Mild with Tea

Amount Ingredients Type
4 lbs Marris Otter Base Grain
0.25 lbs Crystal 75 Specialty Grain
0.25 lbs Crystal 40 Specialty Grain
0.35 lbs Crystal 20 Specialty Grain
0.16 lbs English Brown Specialty Grain
16 g Goldings Hops 60 minute hops
10 g Goldings Hops 5 minute hops
     
3 tbls English Breakfast Tea Steep in 1 liter water
  Thames Valley Yeast  
  1. Bring 1.5 gallons of water to 160
  2. Add grains and stir well, let sit for 60 minutes
  3. Sparge with 1.5 gallons of water heated to 170
  4. Bring to boil and add 60 minute hops
  5. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops 5 minutes before end of boil
  6. Cool and add yeast.
  7. Ferment 2-3 weeks.
  8. Siphon beer into bottling bucket/keg.
  9. Add 1 liter of tea (made with 3 tablespoons of English Breakfast Tea).
  10. Bottle/keg.
  11. Enjoy!

This post assumes you know how to brew- Want to learn? Posts on learning to brew!