Recipe; Green Tea & Ginger 2012

First of all I have a confession to make. I forgot my camera, no piccies for this post, but don't despair i'll keep it brief and you can find other versions with piccies here, here and here.

Recipe; for 5 gallons

200g Green Tea (Bancha)
4 kg sugar
5 litres red grape juice
5 litres apple juice
3 Teaspoons Tartaric Acid
2 Teaspoons Citric Acid
5 Lemons (juice and zest)*
3 Limes (juice and zest)*
4 Teaspoons Pectolase
80 grams root ginger, peeled and chopped*
100g Crystallised ginger chopped*
Yeast nutrient (tronozymol)
3 Campden tablets (crushed)
Yeast, Ritchies Champagne.

OG; 1080

Method.

Put the tea leaves into a muslin bag (or two) and bring them to the boil in around a gallon of water. Decant the water into your fermenting bin. Add another gallon or so of water to the pan containing the bagged up tea. Bring to the boil and then tip the lot, including the bagged tea, into you fermenting bin.

Add the cartons of fruit juice, and also the sugar dissolved in a gallon or so of boiled water. Dissolve the acids, pectolase, crushed campden tablets and nutrient in water. Make up to 5 gallons with water. Stir well. Put a lid on it and leave overnight.

Next day stir the mixture very sloshily to get plenty of air into the liquid (use a whisk if you want) and check the gravity. If you want to be drinking this in a few months than keep the gravity around 1070-1080. mine came out at 1080. The yeast needs dissolved oxygen in the water to bud (multiply) so then add the yeast. I took a punt and used a packet that was almost 2 years beyond it's best before date. It was firing on all cylinders the next day. each day, for the next few days, stir the mixture sloshily and then cover it up again.

Around a week later transfer the wine to be into a secondary fermenting vessel fitted with an airlock. You don't need to be especially careful with this, but there's no need to add all the sludge. Then add the juice of the lemons and limes, and also citrus zests and ginger in a muslin bag together. I don't think i've left the addition of these ingredients so long before, but i think the result will be more of the lighter, floral flavours being captured.

When the fermentation stops then remove all the muslin bags (with contents), decant into demi-johns, degas, stabilise, fine etc as is your usual practice. You should be drinking a great homebrew in as little as 3 months, tho it will improve noticeably for a few months. If you make it stronger then it'll probably be quite unpleasant until it's had at least a year. If you have the patience to wait then go for it. it'll be great after a few years. If not then this is delicious easy drinking - especially with spicy food - very soon after starting it.