Rooibos tea in beer

[ChairmanDrew]

I'm thinking of experimenting with rooibos tea in a brew. I've been looking at other recipes that use tea (and have made a green tea lager with moderate success).

I have a question around the addition of rooibos. In the only recipe I can see on the site that uses rooibos https://www.diybeer.com/au/recipe/ruby-roo-pale-ale.html the tea is added as a brew the day before bottling. However, other tea recipes the tea is added at the beginning, or also as a "dry hop" with the bags directly.

Is there something particular about roobios tea that would be different?

[ChairmanDrew]

It occured to me that the reason for the late addition of tea could be that the Mr. Beer pale ale used could already be quite bitter, and steeping tea for a long time to contribute to further (unwanted) bitternes. Keen to know if anyone else has any thoughts on this.

[Kegory]

14 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

It occured to me that the reason for the late addition of tea could be that the Mr. Beer pale ale used could already be quite bitter, and steeping tea for a long time to contribute to further (unwanted) bitternes. Keen to know if anyone else has any thoughts on this.

You could be onto something there. I don't know but IIRC @Brauhaus Fritz has brewed with the Mr Beer Pale Ale. What's your take on the bitterness theory, BF?

[Brauhaus Fritz]

1 hour ago, Kegory said:

You could be onto something there. I don't know but IIRC @Brauhaus Fritz has brewed with the Mr Beer Pale Ale. What's your take on the bitterness theory, BF?

I would love to help, but really can't remember. I used the Pale Ale twice, in the Poolside Pale Ale and the Lost City Brown Ale. They where nice beers but really can't say anything about bitterness. I wanted to brew a Lemon Myrtle Pale Ale again and started to steep some Madura Green tea and Lemon Myrtle, but gave up on the idea as the tea itself was too bitter for me.

[Kegory]

10 minutes ago, Brauhaus Fritz said:

I would love to help, but really can't remember. I used the Pale Ale twice, in the Poolside Pale Ale and the Lost City Brown Ale. They where nice beers but really can't say anything about bitterness. I wanted to brew a Lemon Myrtle Pale Ale again and started to steep some Madura Green tea and Lemon Myrtle, but gave up on the idea as the tea itself was too bitter for me.

Maybe that does help. Lost City Brown Ale = 60 IBU no hop boil, Poolside Pale Ale = 56 IBU with only a 5 minute boil of half a pack (12.5g?) of Mosaic, so not contributing much to the bitterness.

It looks to me that the Mr Beer Pale Ale is probably, as you say @ChairmanDrew, quite bitter.

Is there an easier way to find out the IBU's of various cans?

[ChairmanDrew]

3 hours ago, Kegory said:

Is there an easier way to find out the IBU's of various cans?

I've just been looking at the recipe spreadsheet where it shows the IBU of the basic can recipe. But for the Mr Beer North West Pale Ale recipe it shows an IBU of 44 when brewed at 8.5l. The Ruby Roo recipe I linked above, while making 9.5l, shows an IBU bitterness of only 32. So I'm not sure one of the two is entirely correct.

[Kegory]

3 hours ago, ChairmanDrew said:

I've just been looking at the recipe spreadsheet where it shows the IBU of the basic can recipe. But for the Mr Beer North West Pale Ale recipe it shows an IBU of 44 when brewed at 8.5l. The Ruby Roo recipe I linked above, while making 9.5l, shows an IBU bitterness of only 32. So I'm not sure one of the two is entirely correct.

I can assure you, neither do I.

[Pale Man]

20 hours ago, Kegory said:

Is there an easier way to find out the IBU's of various cans?

If you have the brewfather app it lists Coopers cans and the IBUs. I think is pretty accurate. For instance the MR Beer Pale Ale comes in at 56 IBUs at 8.5 litres.

[ChairmanDrew]

Decided to take the plunge and give this a go. Playing it pretty conservative.

 

Coopers Real Ale 1.7kg

Brew Enhancer 2

2l of spiced rooibos tea (8 teabags steeped for 5-10 mins)

OG 1.033, 23l

 

I used up the last of this particular spiced rooibos tea that I like (I don't think you can even buy it anymore). The plan is to throw a few more bags of another brand at the end of fermentation, this one a bit more clove in the spice. Hopefully get a nice spicy ale in the end.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by ChairmanDrew

[ChairmanDrew]

Just got this in the bottle. Tastes pretty OK straight out of the fermentor. Mild, but distinct spiciness.

I'll check back in in a few weeks.

[ChairmanDrew]

Tasting time. I had a cheeky sample at 1 week in. It was decent. At week 2 the bitterness of the Real Ale is mellowing out. It's a very palatable, mildly spicy beer. I'm gonna call it my Xmas ale for this year

So for those interested, yeah, rooibos goes fine in beer.