Hard Tea

[gaudet]

Made the beginnings of a hard tea today.

5 1 gallon bags of lipton ice tea
5# white sugar
Water to 5 gallon mark

I boiled 1 gallon of water to make my tea and let the bags steep for 1/2 an hour. I then removed the bags and left them drip into the pot for all the goodness. I then brought the steeped water back to a boil and dissolved a 5# bag of white sugar and about 1 ounce of lemon juice concentrate into it and boiled it for about 10 minutes while stirring the pot. I then poured the tea into my primary and topped it up to 5 gallons with tap water. Stirring well I took a sg reading and I got 1.042, later checked it again and it was 1.044 as it was cooling. I figure that its going to be about 5.25-5.50% abv when done...........

Yeast pitched was a pack of Muntons Ale yeast. It doesn't look like it took to fermenting yet. I will repitch in the morning if there is no action.

 

[gaudet]

This is proving hard to ferment. I repitched yeast yesterday and added nutrient and energizer. It seems to have restarted. The sg reading yesterday was 1.038

 

[dragonmaster42]

Teacontains benzoic acid which is a preservative and this might be causing some of the trouble. Smurfe pointed this out to me when I did a blueberry melomel because blueberries are high in this as well.

 

[gaudet]

Even tea brewed yourself???

What did you use to overcome that?

 

[vcasey]

A really big starter?
Really, when I made the cranberry mead I had a 1/2 gallon starter same with the blueberry and the ABC with the high SG. Seems to help and they all started fast. I'm glad you posted this because making a Hard Tea is on my to do list and I've now made a note of this challenge so hopefully I'll be able to avoid the problem or at least know what to expect.
VC

 

[gaudet]

Makes sense to use a large starter. When should I give up on a fermentation? How many days can one go at room temp 72 F and not worry about spoilage? I've had this batch under airlock since day one.

 

[vcasey]

No idea and perhaps someone will chime in later. Perhaps a call to George is in order. Good question for most wines, at what point is too late. Which is why I've started making big starters - less anxiety.
VC

 

[dragonmaster42]

A lot depends on the type of tea that's used, but I've readarticles regarding tea being investigated for its natural preservative and anti-microbial properties. I know you didn't want to hear that...

For the blueberry melomel, if I remember correctly, Iadded another yeast starter after a couple days of no activity andstaggered addingyeast nutrient over the next3-4 daysafter that and it got going.

 

[gaudet]

That's the info I want to hear. Makes my brewing job easier.....

 

[Wade E]

Yeah, I also have been contemplating making this for quite some time as I like Mike's hard Tea! Let me know how it comes out.

 

[gaudet]

I will have to try the Mike's Hard Tea...............

Big plus to energizer and nutrients cause this suckers blasted off now......
The airlock is very active now that I got the roids in there

 

[dragonmaster42]

Excellent news! I'll be interested to hear how this one tastes.

 

[gaudet]

Dragon,

Give it a shot, the older it got the better it was, so I'd say let it age for a few weeks before tapping..... I back sweetened by using 2 cans of lemonade concentrate. I also ended up removing a 1/2 quart of tea and dissolving 2 pounds of sugar into it to sweeten it. Which in retrospect was a little too much. Tastes vary though. Find a level that you like and make it work. I will try this again and do it a little differently. Its got a lot of potential. My brother in law loved the taste, he said the smell was a little harsh at first. But very drinkable.