12/28 Tie Kwan Yin #31-35, #41-45 Grape Ape

I used the new method of two 15 minute steeps of 1 oz of tea in 6 cups of water at 195 degrees. This is our house favorite tea, Tie Kwan Yin. We steeped 1 oz of loose leaf tea at 195 degrees twice, using 6 cups of water for each steep. We used 11 cups of tea, 1 cup of sugar and 1 1/4 cup of starter buch. As usual we made 2 gallons.

We harvested this on 1/4 but I think it was a day late. It was a bit strong and not sweet at all. We flavored it with 1 tbsp of sugar and 1/4 of concord grape juice. We’ll check it after only 3 days (usually grape takes 5) and we need to start checking the first fermentation at six days. This’ll be a strong batch but hopefully still good.

We refrigerated the grape after 2 1/2 days because it seemed explosive. This batch didn’t turn out so good. I think because it was too strong when we bottled it and we did a short 2nd fermentation to compensate. The results while not bad, were not up to our standard. I’ll try to keep a closer eye on the temperature of the fermentation environments.