My first 'radical brew' a success!

Chai and beer actually do work together

Having been inspired by reading Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing I had a go at making a Chai tea flavoured beer recently.

My home brewing has wandered over the years from brewing beers like those you buy to brewing beers like those you can't buy. Sometimes I feel 'wouldn't it be great to have a barrel of ESB at home' and sometimes I feel 'why should I spend all day brewing something I can just go out buy'. As I'm not working at the moment I've got plenty of time but not much money so I've actually been doing both and I've been pretty much alternating between brewing a best bitter and something more unusual. Some of the ideas in Radical Brewing are way more unusual than anything I've tried before so I've been very inspired but also a little wary. I couldn't quite bring myself to spend all day making five gallons of chai tea beer in case it was shite so I just diverted five litres of the wort from a best bitter brew and adapted it.

Much to my delight the lovely Lisa gave the chai beer the thumbs up so my first radical brew was a success. The spiciness of the chai comes through very well though I thought it was a little astringent, though that might have come from the grains. Lisa is very fond of her beer and she's also a real tea lover so perhaps as I was combining the two I couldn't really go wrong. Chai tea beer is certainly one I'll try again, though not for a few brews as there are some other strange ideas I want to try ...