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Author Topic: Black Tea Flavor?  (Read 1756 times)

Offline pete b

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Black Tea Flavor?
« on: May 06, 2015, 05:42:21 am »
I am drinking an English IPA I bottled about 10 days ago and it has a very agreeable And pronounced flavor that reminds me of iced tea, especially after the first few sips. I don't know where the flavor comes from, my first thought was the hops but I don't see that in the profiles of any hops I used.
Here's the recipe:
5 gallons
10# Maris Otter (5 each Crisp and floor malted)
.5 # medium english crystal
.5 vienna
.1 midnight wheat
.5 rice flakes
60 minutes: .5 oz nugget, .5 n. brewer
1 oz EKG 10 minutes
1 oz EKG hopstand
1 oz EKG dry hop
Burton ipa yeast @64 degrees
The EKG were whole leaf.
thoughts?
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

Offline BrodyR

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2015, 07:50:54 am »
It's interesting you said that. Last night I transferred an English Summer Ale from the primary to a conditioning keg and tried a sip.. first taste that came to mind was tea.

I used:

Marris Otter: 85%
Flaked Wheat: 15%

24 IBU's of Galaxy at 60m

1.5 oz of Boadicea hop stand
.5 oz of Galaxy hop stand

2 oz of Boadicea dry hop
1 oz of Galaxy dry hop

Burton Union Yeast

So we have two commonalities - the Burton Yeast and a decent bit of late English hops. Not sure I'm a fan of it and was thinking about dosing it with some more Galaxy.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2015, 08:04:49 am »
I've used EKG hops a few times that had a slight tea character to them. Maybe a little more pronounced in whole leaf ?
Jon H.

Offline kmccaf

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2015, 08:20:21 am »
I've used EKG hops a few times that had a slight tea character to them. Maybe a little more pronounced in whole leaf ?

I've had that character more pronounced in some years than in other years. Maybe it was this particular harvest?
Kyle M.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2015, 08:25:09 am »
I've used EKG hops a few times that had a slight tea character to them. Maybe a little more pronounced in whole leaf ?

I've had that character more pronounced in some years than in other years. Maybe it was this particular harvest?

Same here. Most years little or none, but a few times pretty pronounced. Maybe it's harvest related, as you said, like the cattiness in some of the American hops.
Jon H.

Offline erockrph

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2015, 08:53:51 am »
My vote is the hops. I can't say that I've gotten this out of EKG's before, but that black tea character is pretty common in other UK hops. I use Challenger a lot and I get it from them. I get it from Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey, which uses Sovereign and Boadicea. I also get it a lot from Summer hops from Australia.
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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2015, 09:07:17 am »
Challenger definitely has a tea-like flavor.

S. cerevisiae

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2015, 09:12:18 am »
By the way, there are 10 cultivars grown in the UK that are labeled "Golding" (the Golding cultivar that is grown in the U.S. is Canterbury Golding).   East Kent Golding just means that the hops were grown in the eastern part of Kent County.  Many hops that are labeled EKG are actually not grown in East Kent.

Offline pete b

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2015, 09:28:31 am »
I think that the fact it is most assertive the first few sips also points to hops: aroma playing a role in how flavor is perceived. It was my first time with a few things: whole leaf EKG, dry hopping EKG, Burton yeast, and the medium English crystal. When I chewed this crystal malt it was more flavorful then say a 60l crystal malt. While the beer is not very sweet I wondered if that certain character of sweetness enhanced the perception of "iced tea".
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

Offline pete b

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2015, 09:31:10 am »
By the way, there are 10 cultivars grown in the UK that are labeled "Golding" (the Golding cultivar that is grown in the U.S. is Canterbury Golding).   East Kent Golding just means that the hops were grown in the eastern part of Kent County.  Many hops that are labeled EKG are actually not grown in East Kent.
I've wondered about this. Are all hops in the "Golding" family pretty much interchangeable? I've always bought specifically EKG because I really enjoy it and consider it indispensable in some of my English ales.
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.

S. cerevisiae

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2015, 07:50:51 pm »
As weird as it sounds, I have learned from my British brewing brethren that EKG can be one of many Golding cultivars when sold in the hop trade.

Amos' Early Bird
Bates Brewer
Bramling
Canterbury Golding
Cobb's Golding
East Kent Golding
Eastwell Golding
Mathon
Mercer
Petham Golding
Rodmersham


Online hopfenundmalz

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Re: Black Tea Flavor?
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2015, 07:46:33 am »
As weird as it sounds, I have learned from my British brewing brethren that EKG can be one of many Golding cultivars when sold in the hop trade.

Amos' Early Bird
Bates Brewer
Bramling
Canterbury Golding
Cobb's Golding
East Kent Golding
Eastwell Golding
Mathon
Mercer
Petham Golding
Rodmersham

This is true. Ron Pattinson has said the same.

Same goes for "Hallertau".
Jeff Rankert
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