Hey Kolton,
4.4Kg sounds like a lot of tea to use. For perspective, we have a green tea IPA on tap right now and we only used 3lbs of dry leaves. And this beer is obviously a green tea beer. We actually steeped the tea in 5 gallons of boiled (then cooled to 165F) water for about ten minutes and added it to the brite when we racked. We used a yeast brink as the doser and bubbled CO2 through it for about 15 minutes in hopes of eliminating DO issues. That said, we are small and only do in house sales so DO really isn't (though it should be) high on our list of things to worry about.
Matcha is a particularly powerful tea. Spoke with our chef, and in his experiences matcha powder can be up to 10x as powerful as green tea. My suggestion to you would be to make a small amount of matcha and pull samples of your beer during fermentation and sample different dosing rates. Figure out what different percentages of matcha does to the flavor of your beer.
You're absolutely right to feel worried about over extraction. Most tannins in tea begin to be extracted after about 15 minutes above 165F. And you aren't going to be able to separate all the matcha from your beer, no matter when you add it. It is too fine to be able to use a hop bag or cheese cloth for separation. Unless you have some kind of filter or centrifuge, you will likely have matcha granules in your final product.
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Cameron Selna
Brewer
Sedona Beer Co
Sedona AZ
(928) 862-4148
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-11-2022 21:42
From: Kolton Huerta
Subject: Using tea in beer.
Hello all. New to MBAA. Been a professional brewer for about six years now.
I was wondering about using tea in beer. My plan is to use 4.4kg of matcha tea powder in a 5bbl batch of Hazy IPA with a cooled whirlpool at 175 degrees. Then adding white tea on the cold side to give a little more tea flavor. Does anyone have any input? My main concerns are tannin extractions and astringency.
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Kolton Huerta
Brewer
Ex Novo
Albuquerque NM
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