by gregtpayne | Jan 30, 2017 | Uncategorized
21g of Tie Kwan Yin. 2 steeps in 6 cups of water for 10 minutes each, stirring halfway through. One cup of sugar and we’re off for a week or fermentation.
We harvested this on 2/2 after 8 days. That extra day seems to make it too strong but it wasn’t too bad. We flavored one batch with 1/4 cup of fresh pressed apple juice and 1/2 tbsp of 6:1 sugar and cinnamon. The other batch we left plain and flavored it with 1/2 tsp of sugar. I’ll check the apple in two days and the plain in 4.
by gregtpayne | Jan 18, 2017 | Uncategorized
This week we made the usual two batches with 21 grams of Tie Kwan Yin tea each. We did two 10 minute steeps with 6 cups of water each, stirring midway through.
We harvested this on 1/25. Batch A turned out stronger than batch B for some reason even though it had less SCOBY. Had we tried both before bottling batch A (note to self) we probably would have done this the other way around but we flavored batch A with just 1/2 tsp of sugar and batch B with 1/4 cup of fresh pressed apple juice and a 1/2 tsp of a 6:1 sugar:cinnamon ratio (3 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp cinnamon). We’ll check the apple in a couple of days and the plain in 5.
by gregtpayne | Jan 11, 2017 | Uncategorized
We did this a little different than last time. This time we did a first steep of 15 minutes, stirring mid-way through. Followed by a second steep of 7 minutes. Still using 21 grams of Tie Kwan Yin tea.
We harvested this on 1/18. It was fizzy and not very sweet. Another day would have been too much. We are flavoring batch A with 1/2 tbsp of a mixture of 6:1 sugar to cinnamon ratio (3 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp sugar) and 1/4 cup of fresh pressed apple juice. Batch B we made plain with 1/2 tsp of sugar.
We moved the Apple Pie after only 2 days and it turned out great! We just moved the plain tonight after 7 days and I’m afraid we waited too long. We’ll see tomorrow.
by gregtpayne | Jan 4, 2017 | Uncategorized
This is Babs Happy Buch! Our new method of brewing was producing a very strong nute (nutrition for the SCOBY) so we reduced it to 21 grams. This is the amount we were originally using for Oolong but we were doing a longer steep of 6 cups diluted with water. This new method should yield about the same results, two 6 cup, 15 minutes steeps, but we’ll see. We’re going to check this after six days. This is turning out to be a cold winter and we’re running our heater a lot. This makes for a much warmer fermenting environment on the top shelf of our upstairs closet which shortens fermentation time, for both first and second fermentations.
Batch A seemed a little sweeter than batch B. I forget which had more SCOBY, probably B. So we added 1/2 tbsp of sugar for bottles #51-54. For bottles #61-65 we added 1 tbsp of sugar. #65 is a blend of batch A and B. We thinned the SCOBY families for both batches to about an inch each.
by gregtpayne | Dec 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
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.
by gregtpayne | Dec 22, 2016 | Uncategorized
After trying many teas over the past few years we have finally settled on Tie Kwan Yin Oolong as our house tea. It has an earthy, nutty taste as opposed to being floral. We tried a whole new brewing method that I’m liking a lot. It’s two fifteen minute steeps of 1 oz of tea using 6 cups of water for both steeps.
We harvested this on 12/28 after only 6 days. It’s been cold out and our heater has been on a lot. This tends to make for a warmer brewing environment and calls for a shorter fermentation period. Babs thought it was vinegary enough but it didn’t fizz much when we bottled it. We added 1/2 tbsp of sugar and will check it in 9 days however I suspect it may need to go longer.
Wow, we checked this after 5 days in second fermentation and it was explosive. It’s our heater affecting the second fermentation! We’re down from 9 days to 5. We’ll see how this tastes after it cools.
by gregtpayne | Dec 15, 2016 | Uncategorized
This is another Silk Road Teas Oolong called Xue Lie or Snow Pear Oolong. It is also the second batch made with multiple steeps although I’m starting to question this method. It will be nice to get back to the Tie Kwan Yin so that we can compare the brewing methods. These teas we’ve been trying from Silk Road are more floral so it’s hard to compare. We let last weeks batch ferment for 8 days and it turned out to be too long now that our heater is fixed so we’ll let this batch go only seven days in first fermentation.
We harvested this on 12/22. It tastes more floral than we like and tastes a little weak. We flavored one batch (#91-94) with 1 tbsp of ginger and 1/2 tbsp of sugar (didn’t fizz much) and the other batch (#1-4) with just 1/2 tbsp of sugar (it fizzed a little more, probably had the first steep).
I let the ginger go too long, five days. It was incredibly explosive. I can’t let ginger go more than 2 or 3 days!
by gregtpayne | Dec 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
We are trying a whole new way of steeping the tea called the “Asian way”. The tea we used for this batch is Ma Lu Mie (aka Monkey Picked) Tieguanyin Oolong. The details are in the Recipes section but essentially we do multiple 1 minute steeps of 6 cups of water each until we have filled the jars to the lines (about 10 1/2 cups). For two batches we used 3 oz of tea. Before steeping we washed the leaves in a quick bath of 190 degree water. After cooling to room temperature we add 1 1/2 cups of starter buch from the previous batch, transfer the SCOBY and put them on our fermentation shelf for, depending on the weather, about a week.
We harvested this on 12/15 after an eight day fermentation. Surprisingly it was too strong, especially the batch with less than an inch of SCOBY. Now that our heater is fixed we can’t let it go longer than seven days. We threw one batch away and flavored the other with a full tbsp of sugar to try to make it drinkable.
by gregtpayne | Nov 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
We used 35 grams of Tie Kwan Yin Oolong for this batch. We steeped it for 5 minutes in 6 cups of water, added 5 cups and 1 cup of sugar along with 1 1/2 cups of starter tea.
We harvested this on 12/7 and flavored it with 1/2 tbsp of sugar.
by gregtpayne | Nov 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
This is our third batch using the Darjeeling from Vahdam Teas however this may be our last Darjeeling for awhile. I believe after this we’ll move to pure Oolong. We used the usual recipe of 28 grams of tea with 11 cups of water and a cup of sugar steeped for 4 minutes.
We harvested this on 12/7 for a nine day second fermentation. This is our last batch from our heater issues so we’ll probably be going back to seven days although the winter season may change that. It tasted pretty vinegary. We added 1/2 tbsp of sugar and 1/4 cup of concord grape juice.
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