Chai tea

[jackflash]

My first extract batch is fermenting away (HBC American Pale Ale) and I'm thinking about creating a Chai Tea (Cardomom, Cinnamon, Cloves etc.) and adding it to the fermenter when I'm dry hopping with 40g of Amarillo (after 2 weeks). I figure the right time to add infusions would be at the boil stage, but will it matter if I add it at that stage?

[Parky]

Wow, that's some mix of flavours you've got going on there 

In my (limited) experience I've only ever added infusions whilst dry hopping, or instead of a dry hop at the same stage. I read somewhere that the more fragrant additions will lose some of their impact if added to the boil. Not sure how all those wonderful flavours will blend, but you really don't know until you try - maybe my previous post will be of some use to you in determining how much to add (see end of thread) -

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,8130.msg101807.html#msg101807

Good luck, hope it turns out as planned!

[jackflash]

Thanks Parky. I was experimenting making infusions the other night. First I made a chai infusion (ginger, cloves, peppercorns, cardamom pods and cinnamon). I added the infusion to some bottled wheat beer I had made. I wasn't sure about it. It did add an element of spice, but I think wheat beer is the wrong style so I tried an infusion of coriander and orange peel which was much better. I was talking with a friend of mine who is in the pharmaceutical industry, and she talked about alcohol tinctures to extract flavours and aromas from the essential oils in orange peel, so I'm thinking now of doing a wheatbeer with an orange tincture! I can never leave anything alone!

[Parky]

I can never leave anything alone!

LOL - seems to come with the territory

I've used coriander and orange peel in wheat beers before too, and they can really give that style of beer a real lift and freshness (think Hoegarden or Blue Moon).

Haven't used a tincture with orange peel, but it definitely sounds like something that could work for both flavour and aroma.

Re: Chai tea in beer - I looked it up and saw that there are many beers using chai as a spice addition (mostly with a base of pale ale), and I've even seen that Metalman have a Yerba tea beer (although it's only lightly flavoured with tea), so you could be onto something with your chai addition - just have to find a suitable base beer to match it with I guess