Kvass

[GeorgeSalt]

The OH came back from town today with a bottle of Kvass. Not something I've tried before but it has a pleasant, refreshing flavour. A search of the forum yields three previous mentions but no recipe. Google comes up trumps though with a selection of recipes along the theme of:

Stale rye bread (toasted) - 500g
Yeast
Sugar - 250g - 500g
Raisins - 2 tablespoons
Water to 1 gallon

The bread is cubed, toasted and added to water that has just been taken off the boil, this is left to soak for 8-10 hrs. The resulting liquor is strained through a cloth into a demijohn whilst trying not to squeeze any cloudiness frome the bread.

A yeast starter is prepared and added to the liquid along with the sugar and the raisins. It's then allowed to ferment under airlock for 4-5 days before bottling (some recipes suggest fermenting dry, racking and clearing - most don't). Serve chilled.


The above is untested (yet) and a putting together of several recipes online. The commercial version appears to be made from barley malt concentrate and includes caffeine and honey in the recipe. There's also a distinctive citrus note to the taste (from the citric acid in the concentrate?). Unlike prison hooch the bread is not being used to provide the yeast but is the primary flavouring.

It seems simple enough. I shall give this a go over the Autumn. But what yeast to use?

[safronsue]

fascinating. i'd like to know how this works out. good luck with it!