Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Spiced Chai Rice Extract Milk Stout

To Honor a Fool, when Caspito comes to town this coming week/end, we are making a brew unlike any seen before! The next addition to the Davedave lineup will be a Spiced Chai Rice Extract Tea Beer, currently unnamed. I have done some researching and a small bit of looking around the internet and have decided on the following as a starting batch:


1/4 lb. chocolate extract
4 lbs. rice extract syrup
2 lbs. honey
2 lb. dry wheat malt extract
1 lb. dry x-lite malt extract
1 c dark brown sugar
1.5 oz. summit (60 min)
1 oz. golding (15 min)
1 oz. cascade (3 min)
1 package star anise
1 package cardamom seed
2 T freshly chopped ginger
5-6 cinnamon sticks
a good handshakes worth of peppercorn twists
15-20 cloves
darjeeling tea base
1 or 2 packages lactose


most of the spices will be brewed with the tea up front and then the rest of the boiling process will go as usual for a brew of this kind. the question is, when do we put everything in the brew, what do we add at primary, what kinds of yeast should we use (WYeast Labs Yeast List) should we substitute in any other hops? I have heard that adding a few bay leaves to the beginning of the tea brewing adds a nice flavor.

thoughts?

5 comments:

Dave v1.2 said...

I wrote this just a few minutes ago and I am already questioning the amount of certain spices/additions being called for. i need some help in the right direction, friends. (cinammon, cardamom, clove, ginger, etc etc etc)

Dave v1.2 said...

remember, the idea here is SPICE, so adding more over the sweet honey, brown sugar and rice extracts *can* overpower, but isn't that what we want????

Caspito said...

yes indeed. we want spice at the forefront, but in close relations with the sweetness of the honey and lactose. like a good spicy chai latte made from scratch. you are in the right direction with the cloves and the cardamon.

Dave v1.2 said...

i absolutely agree - any thoughts on certain quantities used in the batch?

Unknown said...

I know this is a super old post to comment on, but as an Indian and avid Chai drinker/brewer, I thought I'd offer some spice advice.

Cardamom and Ginger are the most important spices in Chai. A lot of people omit the Cinnamon and cloves entirely, as they tend to overpower the subtlety of the other notes. Personally, I do without the cinnamon and I add one whole clove per cup of Chai yield. How this translates to your large scale batch I have no idea.

Also, cardamom is generally added a the end of the Chai brewing process, as it can get bitter if boiled for too long.