... to my Brewing Kvass page.
Making Kvass
Baking whatever
grains are available, most often rye, and producing a brew of
low-to-medium alcoholic strength, occasionally flavored with fruits or
herbs, traditionally make kvass. Most traditional recipes usually call
for the use of day old bread and you will find many of these recipes
here. The Russians regard Kvass as a unique drink but historically
Kvass is mostly a poor mans form of beer.
Many thanks, to
my Russian friend Nick for sending me these recipes that were passed
on to him.
Bread Based
Kvass:
-
Slightly dry
sliced rye-bread in oven at 300 F for 20 minutes
-
Remove the bread
from oven and place in Primary fermenter. Add boiling water, 2/3 of
the rye-flour and mix well. Cover fermenter and allow mixture to stand
for 24 hours.
-
Add the remainder
of rye-flour with warm water, add yeast and let it ferment during 24
hours.
-
Cover and allow
mixture to ferment.
-
Filter the
water-rye-bread mix thru cheesecloth. Carefully extract all liquid
from the rye- bread. Discard the rye-bread and keep the liquid.
-
Kvass will be
ready to drink in a few days.
-
Drink Up!!
Grain Brewed
Kvass:
-
Make a yeast
starter at least 24 hours before brewing.
-
Place
approximately 1 gallon of water in your brew pot and heat to about 150
degrees F. Turn off the heat, add your grains and allow them to steep
for 30 minutes.
-
After steeping
the grains, remove the bag, turn the heat on to being the boil
process.
-
Once the wort has
been boiling for a few minutes, you can add any fruit or herbs that
the recipe calls for
-
Allow the wort to
boil for 30 minutes. A rolling boil is required to extract all the
flavors from the fruit and herbs.
-
When you have
reached the end of the boiling period, remove the brew pot from the
stove.
-
Transfer the wort
into a primary fermenter and cold water to bring the liquid volume up
to the call for amount.
-
The cold water
should lower the temperature of the wort. If the temperature reached
70 to 75 degrees F, you add your yeast starter and seal the fermenter.
Be sure to attach the air lock and place the fermenter in a warm area
(no hotter than 75 degrees F for most beers) and allow it to ferment.
-
Kvass will be
ready to drink in about 10 days.
-
Drink Up!!
If you notice any problems, or
have any suggestion on how I can further improve this site, please
feel free to send me an e-mail
[12 November 2006].
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