Hard Iced Tea

Quick question I followed the recipe from twistedrancher and tried it and tested it couple weeks ago was really strong reading about 0.998 and 15% but no ice tea taste so back sweetened it and split in two with more tea bags and sugar ... So it's been sitting for a couple more weeks and test it again today and sitting at about 10-11% and same sg but only tastes kinda lemoney
So my question is can I add some reg ice tea when I bottle to taste or do I have to add to carboy in case yeast starts Back up ? I'm really trying for the twisted tea flavour any tips appreciated as this is only second recipe I tried myself without the store bought boxes thank you

Ok, this is my second ever batch of anything.
My question is at what temperature do I store this while it ferments?
Its starting to get hot here in Texas so I need to be able to adjsut accordingly. Thank you.

I ferment my apples at 72-75F

I made the OP recipe (arizona sweet tea). I fermented about 6 weeks (maybe longer), it ended up at 7.5%. However, there isn't a whole lot of tea flavor left. I need to back sweeten and it def needs more tea flavor, I'm ok with loosing ABV points. I'm thinking about either making a concentrate from scratch or getting another gallon of sweet tea and reducing it on the stove (to make a concentrate). Thoughts on which sounds like a better idea?

I'm making another batch. The 1st 2 gallons came out good and I had to make a 6 gallon batch. It's been 3 weeks now it seams like it's taking longer than I was expecting. The starting gravity was 1.062 and has been at 1.042 for a week now. The bubbles in the airlock slowed down to like 2-3 bubbles a minute. Yesterday I desided to add another packet of lalvin k1-v1116 yeast and 1 tsp of enegizer and 1 tbsp of nutrient. Now it bubbles every 1-2 seconds.

I just re-brewed this for a friend today, he really like it the last time. Last time it ended up at 7.5%, back sweetened and added tea (because it lost all of it's tea flavor), it went down to 4.5% which isn't bad, but we want it a higher.

5 Gallon of Arizona Southern Style Real Brewed Sweet Tea
1 cups of corn sugar
10 cups (5 pounds) of cane sugar
6 lemons
zest from 3 lemons
1 packet Cote de Blanc yeast

I took 1/2 gallon of tea, heated it, and dissolved all of the sugar, then added all of the spent lemons and boiled it for a few minutes for extra lemon flavor. i ended up with 5.5 gallons with the sugar additions.

The OG was 1.086, if it gets close to last time it should end up under 1.0 (.996 last time). If my math is correct, that should yield approx 11.2% abv. After fermentation I plan on back sweetening and add more tea - up to 2 gallons - it should drop down to 8%, exactly where we want it.

I checked the sg today and it's 1.000 and still going strong. This stuff took off like a rocket. I'm thinking about putting it in a secondary ferminter. It's really light in color and it really cloudy and has a strong sour dough type smell.



About how long will it take for it to clear up.

I'm finaly bottling my first 6g batch. It has a sour dough smell. Is that normal or not?

Countryboy73 said:

I'm finaly bottling my first 6g batch. It has a sour dough smell. Is that normal or not?

Click to expand...

"sourdough" is not a good sign.
If your trying to describe the bready thickness of cooked sourdough then that should be fine but if you getting any sort of lacto sourness then it might be infected.

Never brewed this either so it may be comepletley normal!

have you tried any of the other arizona teas yet?

Johnnyhitch1 said:

"sourdough" is not a good sign.
If your trying to describe the bready thickness of cooked sourdough then that should be fine but if you getting any sort of lacto sourness then it might be infected.

Never brewed this either so it may be comepletley normal!

Click to expand...

Yeah it like the cooked sour bough. I've already drank 3 ltrs of it. It's a little weak on tea taste but has a little kick to it.

The first time I brewed it it was 2 1/2 gallons. It tasted awesome. I think the second pack of yeast I put in this batch has something to do with the smell.

Good morning bignick
Followed your recipe for hard ice tea my starting sg. was 1.070 looking forward to trying it .
Have 2 batches of hard cider brewing,traditional mead, apple pie mead,hard ice tea.
fixing to make mapfelwein,some sort of a holiday mead,and cinnamon red hot hard cider

Here's a new idea... I don't particularly care for tea unless it has a little lemon and a LOT of sugar. On the other hand, I just happen to have 5 gals of SKEETER PEE ready for stabilization/sweetening. I poured a bit of unsweetened pee in a glass and added what I thought would be the right amount of sugar for tea the way I like it. I'm not sold on Skeeter Pee either now. The ol lady likes it. What I plan to do is save the skeeter pee for our annual canoe trip and get some iced tea blend tea and sun it, then chill and sweeten to taste. i think that should have a good kick without losing the tea flavor and hopefully enough of the lemon will poke through as well.

what about fermenting a gallon of sugar water then on secondary add tea ?

I'm wondering if anyone has thought to back sweeten using a diet tea mix? Like Liptons Diet Peach or Raspberry? Or perhaps Crystal Light Tea Mix.

Okay so who of this thread actually used the lemon zest of any lemons they added. I am getting my first one gallon on the go tomorrow and was planning on just using citric acid. However, if adding lemon zest enhances the flavor positively I would consider it. Curious as to if it makes it bitter?

Let me know if you've ever tried adding zest!

I will post my recipe tomorrow after completion

Need to try this!

Try pasteureiZing a cantelope to add when making melon iceD tea.

i don't know if anybody is still interested in this, but the way I make this is I brew a gallon of sugar wash (or Kilju) and add about 3 cups sugar. I keep an eye on it, and when the wash's sweetness has gotten down to where I want it I make a pot of tea on the stove with 12-15 bags of tea. Then I add it to the wash just like you would making regular ice tea. Tastes almost exactly like regular ice tea.

I’m waiting on my order of Lapsang Souchong (smoked black tea) to make a batch myself, as a mead. I am kinda torn between fermenting the tea or just adding it to secondary like you described.

Ferment it!