I always keep a batch of iced-tea in the 'fridge. I make it first as sun tea (letting the tea-bags steep in gallon jug of water).
Unfortunately, there’s no place where I can get direct sunlight, my apt is on the north side of the building and has no south facing windows (nor east or west windows, too).
I simply let the bag steep for 'til the water is a nice brown color. I then add 1/2 cup of sugar and top off the batch so it’s exactly one gallon and then chill it in the 'fridge.
And, invariably, it turns cloudy. It doesn’t taste bad, but I’m wondering why it turns cloudy, since when I first put it into the 'fridge, it’s nice and clear.
I rinse out the gallon jar each time I make a fresh batch and use only standard, store brand tea bags and sugar and tap water.
>Unfortunately, there’s no place where I can get direct sunlight, my apt is on the north side of the building and has no south facing windows (nor east or west windows, too).
Sounds like the water is not getting hot enough to properly steep the tea, thus, after a period of time, the tea comes out of solution.
I don’t have any scientific proof, but I do live in the south, where sun tea and sweet tea are practically artforms ::
I’ve noticed that with tea if I don’t get the water hot enough it produces irregular results – cloudy tea, concentration differences from the top of the pitcher to the bottom, dispersion differences in sweetener, etc.
[quote]
E. Iced Tea[ul][li]polyphenols ppt = cloudy[/li][li]make more concentrated tea, [/li][li]use more tea leaves or bags [/li][li]not longer brewing time[/ul]F. Instant Tea, Decaffeinated Tea, Sun Tea[ul]no polyphenols = not cloudy [/li][li]not bitter[/ul][/li][/quote]
Of course, your experience contradicts letter “F”!
Actually I used to use sugar in my iced tea. Sometimes I would put sugar into a gallon jug of sun tea. Occasionally, after sitting in the refregerator for a couple of days, the tea would become syrupy. I don’t know why it happened, but it was disgusting. (And no, I didn’t use an unreasonable amount of sugar.)
I wanted to take a gallon of tea with me on a dive trip, but I didn’t want it to “turn” – i.e., get that slightly thick consistency – so I decided to take it unsweetened and resolved to just choke it down on the boat. After diving I poured myself a cup and drank it. Surprise! After the salt water, the unsweetened tea tasted just fine!
Since that time I have not used sugar in my iced tea, preferring the natural taste of the tea.
Sometimes I would put sugar into a gallon jug of sun tea. Occasionally, after sitting in the refregerator for a couple of days, the tea would become syrupy. I don’t know why it happened, but it was disgusting. (And no, I didn’t use an unreasonable amount of sugar.)**
How much sugar were you putting in? I’m using 1/2 cup (dry measure) to 1 gallon of tea. I stir vigorously to dissolve the sugar and then chill the mix.
too lazy to look in my chem book. but I think maximum solubility goes down with temperature. Thus when you cool something down stuff will desolvate and suspend in the liquid. You’ll then have cloudy tea. Try making a batch and not putting it in the refrigerator.
I don’t remember how much sugar I put in. Now that I think of it, sometimes the tea would become syrupy without sugar (I usually didn’t sweeten the tea in the fridge, but added sugar later).
From “Perfect Iced Tea,” in Fine Cooking magazine, #52: “Be sure to let the tea cool at room temperature. Putting hot tea directly in the refrigerator will make it turn cloudy. To clear cloudy tea, try adding a little boiling water.”
Last night, I made a new batch. I put some near boiling water (lots of bubbles and steam coming from it) in the jar with some tap water and let the bags steep. After letting the bags steep and getting a good color, I let it cool down to room temp. I added sugar and chilled it.
So far, so good. It’s nice and clear! If it turns cloudly, I’ll let y’all know.
What happens is when the tea is hot the maximum solubility of for the sugar goes up.
thus, if you allow it to cool down to room temp before putting it in the fridge the disparity between roomtemp solubility and chilled temp solubility is less then the disparity between hot and chilled.
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