Making a T'ej

[bernardsmith]

Thanks for your responses, guys. Upon further research I've decided that what the folks brewed up at Dogfish Head Brewery is closer to an Ethiopian honey beer (t'alla) than a honey mead (t'ej). Two months conditioning after fermentation is probably appropriate, although the stout will condition for about six months beforehand before I blend them together.

Both will have an ABV of about 9% which will definitely make this a winter sipping beer.

It's interesting to note that the recipe given in "Extreme Brewing" for "t'ej" uses a mead yeast, although I have also heard from other brewers who suggest an ale yeast instead. There was a Discovery Channel show a while back about how DFH brewed this beer in about eight weeks (!) in time for the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" album, but commercial breweries have tricks and techniques unavailable to the home brewer. They considered using raw, unfiltered honey at first but figured out that it wouldn't dissolve easily in their equipment, so they ended up using a small amount as a nod to authenticity but made up the bulk with orange honey.

The "Extreme Brewing" recipe also recommends pulling about half the volume of beer out, three days into primary fermentation, and boiling for 15 minutes with 9 oz. of gesho. Cool beer and add back into the primary fermenter.

Traditional t'ej recipes call for boiling some of the honey with the gesho and the leaves (forgotten what they are called) to bitter the honey. The gesho acts like hops and presumably boiling the gesho isomerizes the acids much like you do when you boil European/ US hops.

 

[lhommedieu]

Traditional t'ej recipes call for boiling some of the honey with the gesho and the leaves (forgotten what they are called) to bitter the honey. The gesho acts like hops and presumably boiling the gesho isomerizes the acids much like you do when you boil European/ US hops.

Yes - that's what my research turned up as well. I should have mentioned in my post that you remove the gesho before returning the cooled beer to the fermenter. I think that I'm going to age the stout 6-8 months, age the t'asso for two months, and blend them together for a month before carbonating. The Discovery Channel show about DFH brewery's "Bitches Brew" also mentioned that both the twigs and the leaves were used in the boil.

When making traditional t'ej I think that you also add the gesho sticks to the fermenter both for bittering and also because there are natural yeasts in the gesho twigs that will ferment the mead. It makes sense that the leaves are used for bittering and the sticks are used as a sort of dry hopping. The twigs get a grey fuzz on them (a fungus?) that is considered normal. It's considered ready within a month or so. Before drinking the t'ej the twigs are taken out and the liquid is decanted.

It's really a fascinating piece of chemistry when you think about it...

 

[bernardsmith]

Yes - that's what my research turned up as well. I should have mentioned in my post that you remove the gesho before returning the cooled beer to the fermenter. I think that I'm going to age the stout 6-8 months, age the t'asso for two months, and blend them together for a month before carbonating. The Discovery Channel show about DFH brewery's "Bitches Brew" also mentioned that both the twigs and the leaves were used in the boil.

When making traditional t'ej I think that you also add the gesho sticks to the fermenter both for bittering and also because there are natural yeasts in the gesho twigs that will ferment the mead. It makes sense that the leaves are used for bittering and the sticks are used as a sort of dry hopping. The twigs get a grey fuzz on them (a fungus?) that is considered normal. It's considered ready within a month or so. Before drinking the t'ej the twigs are taken out and the liquid is decanted.

It's really a fascinating piece of chemistry when you think about it...

It is very fascinating but after a few days of inaction with the twigs (inchet) and leaves (inchet) I broke down and added wine yeast. I suspect that the in storage and transit the gesho available here may be less than a viable source of natural yeast. But that said, using a bittering agent to make a traditional Ethiopian mead got me thinking about using Western bittering agents (AKA hops) in my meads and so I am experimenting with hops and the use of hops in mead got me thinking about whether hops might work in hard cider and so I am experimenting with both dry and bitter hops in cider..

 

[Stasis]

Maltese T'ej

Recently I have become interested in brewing a T'ej mead. The only problem is that finding gesho is extremely difficult. Brundo does not ship to Malta and morebeer.com have gesho available but shipping to Malta is EXTREMELY expensive.
I'm looking at $48.75 total cost to import only 4oz of gesho to Malta. This is excluding any importation tax I might be lucky enough to be required to pay when it finally arrives here.
I might order gesho in bulk to save on shipping, but then again I do not know much about t'ej to know if the cost is worth this hassle. Plus I do not know if the strength of gesho diminishes by time, and I do not know if it expires like some other fresh herbs I bought, and I do not wish to be brewing only t'ej for the next couple of years...
I have therefore dismissed the idea of ordering gesho from morebeer.com and have run out of options.

After some research I found that there is a common tree in Malta which is very similar to the gesho tree. The gesho tree is Rhamnus prinoides while the Maltese version is Rhamnus alaternus. Both these trees come from the Ramnus genus. Now I know this doesn't mean anything. For all I know they could be totally different when it comes to using them for t'ej. The similarities though are:
- Same 'medicinal' fruit. Although perhaps the Maltese version has different uses.
- Same look of leaves and fruit
- Same genus
- Most importantly, the Maltese version is not poisonous! heh

I was about to dismiss this use because in the end the fact remains that they are not the same. But then I got thinking: If the Ethiopians had this strain it is very much possible that they would have used this as gesho anyway. It might not be the same, but it could be something like using a different type of grape to make wine. The flavor could be somewhat different in the end but they would both be wine and equally good. I would also get all my "gesho" for free and from a local source.
Or I could be brewing a gallon of laxative

Just thought I'd throw this around before potentially doing something stupid. Thoughts?

 

[Stasis]

Maltese T'ej

After a lot of research I have stumbled upon this study:
http://tinyurl.com/pu3roqd

The study points out the various similarities of plants of the Rhamnus subspecies. In fact, Rhamnus Staddo is also used as gesho in Ethiopia.

I could make a large rant out of this post but the bottom line is:
Using Rhamnus Alaternus instead of Rhamnus Prinoides as gesho for the making of T'ej seems promising. The jump from theory to practice in mead making could be huge, therefore I intend to make a side-by-side comparison of a "Maltese t'ej" and Ethiopian t'ej. I hope that this could help brewers from all around the world brew a form of t'ej in an easier and cheaper way. Unfortunately it might take as long as 6 months for any sort of conclusions to be made.
Until then, wish me luck

 

[WVMJack]

Have you tried to find an Ethopian resturant and see where they get theirs from? Are there any Ethopian grocers in country? WVMJ

 

[Stasis]

Have you tried to find an Ethopian resturant and see where they get theirs from? Are there any Ethopian grocers in country? WVMJ

There are no Ethiopian restaurants or groceries in Malta. Most of the Maltese market caters only for what the majority of people need. In fact even mead making ingredients and some equipment is hard to find, if not impossible.

 

[abruck]

where did you get the Gesho?

 

[bernardsmith]

I tend to add yeast to the honey when I make t'ej. I use the gesho for its flavoring properties and not for its fermenting ability. If you intend to do something similar you might then consider using beer hops for their bittering and flavoring (and aromatic) properties. You would be making a Maltese variation on traditional Ethiopian t'ej. You could boil the water for 20 minutes to maximize the flavor of the hops (or 60 minutes to maximize the utilization of the acids) or add hops when you remove the kettle from the heat to maximize the aromatic quality of the hops.