Grain Chest: Lovegrass Bourbon (Teff)

[PalCabral]

What is Grain Chest?

In my thread from July 2025 called “Unusual grains in Bourbon”, viewtopic.php?t=94869, I discussed making a series of simple bourbon recipes where each of the selected “unusual” grains, or seeds, are given a center stage from a flavor perspective. I am interested to find out what these grains would taste like in a Bourbon, what they would add to the flavor profile, along with the corn and possibly other classic Bourbon grains. I have decided to go ahead with this idea and I’m calling the project Grain Chest. This is the second Grain Chest Bourbon I have made. The first was the Emmer Bourbon. viewtopic.php?t=95283

Caveat, I am not seeking to pioneer new grounds, nor do I want to make scientifically perfect side-by-side comparisons of different grains. My goal is simply to produce a good Bourbon, where the “unusual” grain gets to influence the product flavor-wise in the best possible way.

However, if you want to contribute with your experiments with unusual grains/seeds/weeds, please reuse the "Grain Chest" label or use the #grainchest tag. I'd love for you to share your experiences with small grains.

What is Teff/Lovegrass

Teff is an ancient crop that has been cultivated in Ethiopia and Eritrea since 6000-4000 BC. It’s the base for injera, the famous and ubiquitous bread that is served with principally every single dish of the Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisines. I’m not sure if Teff is available in your location, but in Sweden we are lucky to have many Eritrean immigrants and consequently Teff seeds and both white and dark Teff flour can be found in well-stocked supermarkets as well as in shops that caters for immigrants. My oldest made injera some years ago using dark Teff flour and I was fascinated by the odd taste of this bread and will also be using dark Teff flour for my Bourbon.

injera.jpg

Teff is a grass that has the tiniest grains, the grain is not bigger than a pin head. The taste is earthy, nutty, tangy, and with some hints of chocolate. I found that the injera almost tasted like mushrooms. I am really curious how it will flavor a Bourbon. The Ethiopians make beer from Teff called Tella so I am pretty sure I will not be the first that distill it.

Teff-Grain.jpg

Teff belongs to the Lovegrass family and the specie is also called Williams Lovegrass. I think the name Lovegrass sounds sweet for a Bourbon so I will use this name for the label. The latin name for Teff is Eragrostis tef.

The recipe: Lovegrass Bourbon

Based on the experience with my Emmer Bourbon where I felt that the barley malt was missing, the Teff/Lovegrass Bourbon recipe was updated before mashing to include Scottish Golden Promise Barley malt. The dark Teff flour I am using comes from a gigantic supermarket in Stockholm that has foods from all over the world. The Corn I use is a mix of flaked corn, coarse ground cracked corn, and coarse ground polenta.

teff flour.jpg

Since I am using Teff flour I have decided to mash and ferment using Yellow Label Angel Yeast, YLAY. This was the third and fourth time, respectively, I used YLAY. Learning from the first two Emmer Bourbon batches, I now feel I have found the sweet spot for my process. I use a total of 10kg/22lb of grains and 42L/11g of water for my ferments, which lands me about 38L/10g of wash to strip run.

This recipe is for 42L / 11g:
- 7kg/15.5lb Corn – 70%
- 2kg/4.5lb dark Teff flour – 20%
- 1kg/2lb Golden Promise malt – 10%

- 50grams/1.8oz Yellow Label Angel Yeast
- 42L/11g water

Mashing and Fermentation of Lovegrass Bourbon:

After milling/grinding, the grains were mixed into a 60L/16g fermenter where they were allowed to soak in 25L/6.5g, starting at a temperature of 67C/152F. The temperature was then allowed to fall to pitching temperature overnight. The next morning, I filled up the remaining 17L/4.5g, carefully stirring the grains to not have any clumps in the bottom. The water line was sitting at 49L/13g on the fermenter and the temperature 30C/86F when I pitched the yeast, hydrated in 50cl/7oz jar filled with 34C/93F water.

In my first fermentation, I was careless about fastening the lid. I was expecting the cap to rise and with the fermenter almost being filled to the brim I was concerned about overflow, so I let the lid sit loose on top of the fermenter. As it were, the cap rose only shortly and within a day and half, a more normal fermentation had started. In the first days, I stirred regularly the bottom of the fermenter, and then I left it be. Five days in, I noticed a thin vail on top of the mash. A day later, the surface was full of bubbles and something that reminded me of spiderweb. So I racked it, squeezed it, cold crashed it, fined it, and ran it, all within 3 days. Consequently, I didn’t reach the maximum yield from the fermentation, ABV landing at 6% rather than the estimated 8.5% ABV.

In the second batch, I paid a lot more attention to temperature and lid. The pre-soak really gives YLAY a head start. Fermentation starts fast and kräusen is over in three days. After five days, the obvious signs of fermentation were already over. I gave the mash a total of nine days in the primary before I racked the liquid part off the fermenter, which amounted to 25L/6.5g. Then I filtered the rest of the mess from the primary through a brew bag. I hanged the bag over a cleaned fermentation bucket and let it self-strain as much as possible. Then it was time for squeezing. The squeezaroo added another 14L/3.7g of mushy wash. I hate this part of the process.

squeezaroo.jpg

The process of 10kg/22lb grains and 42L/11g water gives me 39L/10g of wash. However, I cold crash the mushy wash and when it settles there’s a part of it I don’t pick for distillation. So in the end, the amount of strippable wash is 36-37L/9.5g. I wish I knew what ABV my fermentation landed on, but I can only find out after running it. My estimate is that I will get 8.5-9% ABV if it was a successful fermentation.

The smell from the fermented Teff Bourbon wash is nutty, towards peanuts, and chocolate. There’s also some slight spice in the mix but I can’t put my finger on what it is. It’s a very nice smell and promising.

More to come in a separate post.