I have been thinking about this for a long time. I hear people talk about the different attributes that a specific ingredient adds to beer. How do you pick that specific ingredient out? I have heard of making a tea with some items, but I don’t feel (although I haven’t tried) you would get the full flavor out of something like malt. So, I was thinking about putting together (or finding) a very light, neutral beer recipe that I could make in gallon batches (and split so I have a control and a flavor) and add different malts or hops or flavorings or whatever to see how thet really taste in a beer.
Is that a dumb idea, or is there a better or easier way of finding this information, or does someone already have this recipe?
No. it’s a great idea. But making malt teas really does give you a good idea of what that ingredient will add, which gives you a leg up when you brew multiple batches of the same base and only change one thing at a time.
My wife’s friend was with me at the LHBS and got all excited when she saw juniper… the idea of five gallons of juniper beer makes me want to gag, so maybe I’ll do a 5 gallon batch and split it into five one gallon experiments.
How would I make a tea? Just boil water and pour it over the malt/hops/flavor/whatever and steep it like tea for a few minutes? It seems like there whould be more to it than that… Then taste hot, room temp, cold (like beer)? If that is a good way of doing it, I’ll do it that way, save the time, energy, effort, and money.
How would I make a tea? Just boil water and pour it over the malt/hops/flavor/whatever and steep it like tea for a few minutes? It seems like there whould be more to it than that… Then taste hot, room temp, cold (like beer)? If that is a good way of doing it, I’ll do it that way, save the time, energy, effort, and money.
Matt[/quote]
Here’s an excerpt from a Zymurgy article I wrote…
One way around that is to make “teas” with ingredients, steeping them in water to get an idea of flavor. This works great with grains or extracts, and maybe less well with hops. For grains, try putting 4 oz. of water in a cup in the microwave for a minute. It should heat up to about 170F. Stir in 1.5 oz. of crushed grain (about 4 heaping tablespoons) and let the mixture sit for about 30 min. to be sure you get conversion of the starches in the grain. You may need to reheat the mixture in the microwave once or twice during that time. I put it in for 30 seconds after 10 minutes and another 30 seconds after 10 more, and then let it sit for the final 10 minutes. Pour the mixture through a coffee filter and let the liquid drain off. You’ll be left with a couple of tablespoons of a sweet, malty liquid that really lets the flavor of the grain shine. Make sure to write down your impressions of the flavor and aroma so you can compare them to the next grain you try. Once you have an idea of the flavors of individual grains, try making a tea with a combination of grains to see how they work together.
Does anyone offer a tea/tasting kit? Something with 4oz. of several grains as well as maybe some hops? That would be interesting to me… Either way, I am going to be making some “tea” soon. Thanks Denny!
