Kvas

Other Fermentables
1

In response to an offer I made to translate a Russian kvas recipe or twenty on another thread, here you are:

This comes from Elena Molokhovets Gift to Young Housewives, once the standard text that Russian women were given when they got married. Chapter 46 deals with Kvas, Beer and Mead. All instructions are hers, but be warned that if you bottle following her instructions, the Kvas will still be fermenting. I’d advise using plastic soda bottles and keeping an eye on them.

Makes 5 litres (1.2 US Gallons)

450 g (1lb) rye bread (a small loaf or half a large one)
300g (10 oz) molasses, treacle, golden syrup, or honey (the Russian word patoka isn’t very specific, and doesn’t translate precisely into English).
4.5 litres water
yeast (or rye sourdough starter)
2 raisins per bottle to prime

Dry the bread, either by chopping it into little pieces and air drying or in a low oven (130C).  Boil the water and pour over the dry bread.  When cooled to body temperature, strain into a bucket and add the molasses/treacle/honey, then yeast or starter at below 24C. Leave for 12-24 hours, then strain into bottles, adding two raisins to each.

Leave for 2 days, chill and drink.

2

That’s really cool, thanks for posting it.  I don’t know that I’ll try it any time soon, but I’d like to make some kvass at some point. :slight_smile:

3

No problem. I’ll translate some more if you like. I just looked at a whole section of hybrid beers in one of my Russian brewing books that use bread, malt, various sugars, and as much as a whole pound of hops in 20 litres (just over 5 US Gal).

4

I’d love to see more as you have time to do them.  No rush though, and no pressure.

5

Sounds like beer to me. Bible beer. It’s probably still a little sweet?

6

Thanks, and that’s simple enough that I may actually try it around the holidays.

7

Never tried it but looks interesting.  Thanks!

8

Thanks for posting that.  More would be welcome.

9

this is cool!  Thanks for posting that.  I’ll use some of my wife’s rye bread and try this out.  Might scale down to one gallon to fit in one of my one gallon jugs.

I’ll report back once I’ve got it going.

10

We have done it a couple of times. Its ok, just ok. More of a soft drink for sure. They have Kvass in Slovakia. They used to; just like in Russia, drive around with these giant tanks of kvas and dispense it into peoples jugs who would come out when the truck passed.

The recipes we used included carrots and beets.