Brewing a Twisted Tea clone?

coreyman

coreyman

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Mill Street in Toronto, of the more main stream breweries use to make a Beer called Lemon Tea. Haven't seen it for many years actually. It was a light, somewhat malty, and not particularly bitter ale with a significant yet subtle flavor of both lemon and tea. I think it was 4.5 or 4.8, it was such a great summer treat. I forgot all about it until I read your post. Following this one!
 
I don't even like ice tea, way to sweet. Mill Street Ice Tea reminds me of many a hot summer afternoon 10 or so years ago
 
coreyman said:
Is brewing twisted tea a thing? I found this recipe but I'm unsure Twisted Tea Base V2.0 Beer Recipe | Extract No Profile Selected | Brewer's Friend (brewersfriend.com) I'm guessing at a minimum I would need to mix actual tea into this recipe with some lemon juice or lemon extract.

I couldn't find anything on Beersmith about it. I searched 'tea' and it came up with a bunch of recipies with 'steam' in the name.
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I've seen one YouTube video on ChopNBrew where chip interviewed this chic who was brewing beer with tea earl Gray fancy brands that impart different flavours and such.

I know in wine making some recipes I see tea leaves for the tannins they release.

This is something even I wouldn't try brewing and I throw all sorts of herbs and such in my beer.

But hey maybe describe what your going for in this beer a little more and maybe we can help you come up with a brew plan.

So your going for and alcoholic iced tea?
As soon as you throw alcohol in the mix it pushes most of these drinks sideways and you gotta do alot of work building the base flavours up to cover the alcohol.

Also you need a super clean fermentation with no off flavors that are gunna stand out in front of whatever "delecate" flavours your going for in lemon honey or tea flavour.


I'd steep the tea cold I rekon like you would for making iced tea.
Any heat is gunna extract the tannins that might give you that phenolic mouth puckering feel but hey I've not brewed with tea.

Some people use it for bittering when they cant use hops.
 
Craigerrr said:
To my knowledge "Twisted Tea" Is a Vodka, or other Spirit based beverage. I could be wrong though.
Sorry if I went off on a tangent with my little trip down memory lane
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According to Silver King Brewing it is a beer in which you use tea leaves instead of hops. Idk when to add them though. I want it to be refreshing and not bitter.
 
coreyman said:
According to Silver King Brewing it is a beer in which you use tea leaves instead of hops. Idk when to add them though. I want it to be refreshing and not bitter.
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Did ya watch chips link man Comonn!:p
 
coreyman said:
I was just able to watch that. I suppose I'll have to experiment with some things. Need to find me a gallon sized container I can put an airlock on now. Don't want to make 5 gallons of doo doo!
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Maybe a demijohn?
 
Hey everyone. First post here. So I've been craving twisted tea for a fat minute. Just started brewing about 3 months ago. Can't find much on homebrew twisted tea.
So I figure that I'll just make it. Used 1.5kg liquid light malt extract. 40 tea bags steeped in about 5 gallons water. Threw in some sugar and lemon juice. Will take O.G. tomorrow once it cools.
 
You know come to think of it a Komboocha SCOBY might be perfect for this Twisted Tea thing.

I find my Bootch Naturally has a lemony vibe to it without adding anything citrusy to it maybe something the Scoby produces...
 
Brewer #394662 said:
Hey everyone. First post here. So I've been craving twisted tea for a fat minute. Just started brewing about 3 months ago. Can't find much on homebrew twisted tea.
So I figure that I'll just make it. Used 1.5kg liquid light malt extract. 40 tea bags steeped in about 5 gallons water. Threw in some sugar and lemon juice. Will take O.G. tomorrow once it cools.
Click to expand...
Commercial twisted tea is just iced tea with vodka poured in. The thing about making your own is that the sugars will be consumed by the yeast to make alcohol, of course, so the final product won't be very sweet. If you try to sweeten it, the yeast will just keep eating it unless you keep it cold. If you bottle and let it warm up, the bottles may over-carbonate and you might end up with a bottle bomb
 
Is brewing twisted tea a thing? I found this recipe but I'm unsure ​
Twisted Tea Base V2.0 Beer Recipe | Extract No Profile Selected | Brewer's Friend (brewersfriend.com)​
I'm guessing at a minimum I would need to mix actual tea into this recipe with some lemon juice or lemon extract.​
coreyman said:
I couldn't find anything on Beersmith about it. I searched 'tea' and it came up with a bunch of recipies with 'steam' in the name.
Click to expand...
The recipe you mentioned is for brewed brew, not instant tea like Twisted Tea. To make Twisted Tea, use beer, then add tea and other flavorings to achieve the desired flavor. In this case, you need to incorporate actual tea and lemon flavors into the recipe.
 
Ah, Mill Street's Lemon Tea beer! :D Such a nostalgic blast from the past. Haven't seen it around in ages, but your post brought back all those summer vibes
 
Mill Street Lemon Tea was a beauty summer beer, I also haven't seen their Coffee Porter in a few years, use to come in a 6 pack of small bottles.
 
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