How to Make T’ej
T’ej (Ethiopian-style Honey Wine) is a spontaneously fermented mead. Spontaneous fermentation means that no lab-grown yeast is added to ferment the honey water. Instead, the wild yeast and bacteria present in the air are used. I have made my fair share of mead but have always used a little packet of wine yeast I pick up at the brew store. What could be more local and unique than the yeast floating around in the air around your house?
With a little guidance from Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Katz, I made up a recipe for Peach Ginger T’ej and started brewing.
Special Equipment:
1 gallon (or larger) ceramic crock, wide-mouth glass jar, or plastic bucket
1 gallon glass jug
Drilled stopper that fits in the jug
Airlock
Ingredients (for 1 gallon):
3 cups raw honey
12 cups water
4 ripe organic peaches, quartered and pits removed
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated (peel and all)
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp cardamom, crushed
3 whole star anise, crushed
1/2 tsp rosemary, fresh or dried
A handful of fresh, unwashed blueberries from your backyard (if you have them)
Process:
Boil water. Add grated ginger and boil 10 min. Add cinnamon stick, cardamom, star anise, and rosemary, cover, and remove from heat.
Stir in honey after 10 minutes and chill to room temperature in an ice bath.
Add sliced peaches to fermentor (1-gallon wide mouth glass jar in this case). Pour honey mixture in, straining out spices. Add the blueberries that I mentioned above if you have them. You can use any other clean fresh fruit that you may have available. I did this because I figured the blueberries were probably covered with lots of wild yeast.
Cover with cheesecloth and set in a warm spot (set outside in a shady spot for a few hours a day if you can).
Stir twice a day and remove peaches with a slotted spoon after 2 days. Transfer to jug after 3-4 days when the brew starts to be bubbly. If the jug is not full, add water and honey in a 4:1 ratio to fill. Cork with an airlock.
Leave for 2 to 4 weeks, until bubbling slows. Drink (or bottle for aging).
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The batch I made on 6/11 is bubbling away like crazy right now. Just as good as any lab-grown yeast that I have used. Can’t wait to taste it.
i just started my own batch using the same base recipe.
used 1 pint of organic strawberries and three organic peaches.
i’m so excited about this, and paranoid since every aspect isn’t controlled as it is in my normal brewing.
can’t wait to hear your updates!
Sounds great. I actually haven’t bottled or tried my t’ej yet. It is still just sitting in the jug and aging. Will let you you when I actually taste it. Thanks.
While your recipe looks wonderful (and this is how it was done in days prior to dry yeast), yet I am confused because traditional T’ej from Ethiopia is made with Gesho sticks and ground Gesho leaves. I am assuming you are calling this T’ej becausing you are using wild yeast? Honest to goodness T’ej is wonderful and ready in such a short time–you can also use part of your finished brew to start your next batch for a faster start of fermentation. Happy Brewing.
Sara you are correct. This is not a traditional T’ej since it does not contain gesho and is fermented completely instead of being consumed while still actively fermenting.
I have the honey wine in the 2nd week of the airlock stage. On one the bubbling is slowing down. I read somewhere on honey wines that people hadn’t let it finish and then the wine exploded out of the bottle when opening. I don’t know if this was a different recipe. Have you had any problems with this? What do you consider slowing down of the bubbles?
Thanks!
I would tuck them away in a dark place for several months…especially if you want to bottle it. Just make sure to check that the airlocks are full. If you do bottle, I recommend 22-oz beer bottles or better yet American sparkling wine bottles. These can handle a good amount of pressure in case the mead continues to ferment in the bottle.
So Mike, How did it come out? I dying to hear. I am moving to Ethiopia soon and one of the first things I want to do is start doing some brewing and find some local recipes. I will let you know what I find.
Cheers, Ken
Hey Ken, it turned out well. I’ve made a few batches since and prefer to make it in cooler months as there is less bacteria in the air.