Adding Earl Grey

[Mrobson]

I’ve got a pale fermenting at the moment which I’m planning on adding some earl grey to. My plan is to empty some tea leaves into one of them veg bags (Sainsbury’s have started using instead of plastic) after fermentation has finished and let steep for a few days. I’m unsure how much to use tho, ideally I’d like enough there to noticeably taste but not to be overpowering.

Anyone got any experience with using earl grey?

Cheers

 

[Session]

When I was in NZ I was a big fan of a Yeasty Boys beer called Gunnamatta. It’s an IPA brewed with Earl Grey.

Ive been slowly tweaking my recipe and stumbled across a post by Stu McKinley (one of the brewers at Yeasty Boys) who said they use T2 French Earl Grey in their brews. This is an Earl Grey with blue cornflowers:
https://www.t2tea.com/en/uk/tea/french-earl-grey-loose-leaf-everyday-tin-T125AI029.html
They use 4g/L added as a dry hop addition at day four, dry-hopped for three days if I remember rightly.

 

[Mrobson]

Legend!

 

[Sadfield]

When I was in NZ I was a big fan of a Yeasty Boys beer called Gunnamatta. It’s an IPA brewed with Earl Grey.

Ive been slowly tweaking my recipe and stumbled across a post by Stu McKinley (one of the brewers at Yeasty Boys) who said they use T2 French Earl Grey in their brews. This is an Earl Grey with blue cornflowers:
https://www.t2tea.com/en/uk/tea/french-earl-grey-loose-leaf-everyday-tin-T125AI029.html
They use 4g/L added as a dry hop addition at day four, dry-hopped for three days if I remember rightly.

Love that beer. Usually on offer in my local Tesco.

I normally use 3g/L, but that's at flame out in a 2.5% sessionable pale. I've use fancy pants Earl Grey, but find Twinnings works better for giving that bergamot hit.

 

[alsch890]

This is right up my street..... What sort of hops play nicely with Earl Grey?

 

[Sadfield]

I use Amarillo. Yeastie Boys use Motueka and Southern Cross.

 

[Session]

This is right up my street..... What sort of hops play nicely with Earl Grey?

This is the slightly modified hop bill from Gunnamatta. I believe Yeasty Boys use Pacific Gem for bittering but I switched this over to Magnum as it’s cheaper and I don’t find it makes a huge difference.
Bear in mind this is for a 12L batch, so you’ll want to double up for a standard 23L version.
They also bitter to 50 units, but I prefer a slightly lower IBU so have reduced this to 40.

 

[Mrobson]

I’ve gone with Magnum for bittering and a combination of Sorachi Ace, Nelson, Wai-iti & Rakau. Not doing a dry hop either

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Marble seem to use 5kg in a giant teabag during fermentation of their Earl Grey IPA :
Earl Grey IPA Kit brewing - Home Brew Forum
https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2015/02/11/Protz-Marble-Brewery-Manchester-Earl-Grey-IPA
Assuming that's a full brewlength in Williamson St that would be 5kg in 12 barrels or nearly 2000 litres so 50g in 20 litres.

 

[An Ankoù]

I’ve got a pale fermenting at the moment which I’m planning on adding some earl grey to. My plan is to empty some tea leaves into one of them veg bags (Sainsbury’s have started using instead of plastic) after fermentation has finished and let steep for a few days. I’m unsure how much to use tho, ideally I’d like enough there to noticeably taste but not to be overpowering.

Anyone got any experience with using earl grey?

Cheers

Those veg bags are amazing fr boiling hops in, too. Plenty of room so the hops can swirl around. Better than a hop spider in my opinion.
I'm not a great fan of earl grey tea so I don't think I'd like the beer. On the other hand, I love lapsang souchong tea, I also get in a regular supply of party kegs of Schlenkerla marzen ( a rauchbier) so I imagine you can see where this is leading. Has anyone tried lapsang souchong in a beer? Any thoughts?

 

[Sadfield]

Those veg bags are amazing fr boiling hops in, too. Plenty of room so the hops can swirl around. Better than a hop spider in my opinion.
I'm not a great fan of earl grey tea so I don't think I'd like the beer. On the other hand, I love lapsang souchong tea, I also get in a regular supply of party kegs of Schlenkerla marzen ( a rauchbier) so I imagine you can see where this is leading. Has anyone tried lapsang souchong in a beer? Any thoughts?

Go for it. I've not used it myself. However, a friends brewery specialise in all manner of smoked beers and even have an annual smoked beer festival. They had this Lapsang Belgian pale ale on at the last one, it worked really well.