BernardSmith
Senior Member
I am planning on making at least two versions of kvass in the next week or so. Kvass is a traditional very low alcohol wine or beer. The beer version uses rye bread and sugar or honey, while the wine version uses berries (and sometimes ... beets). For the beer version I am planning on making a rye loaf and then toasting the slices and then soaking them in about 1 gallon of boiling water. To that porridge you add about 4 oz of sugar/honey, allow to cool and then add some yeast. As an alternative I will mash about half a pound of malted rye grains , half a pound of malted wheat and boil the mash to make 1 gallon - and add some yeast. To both versions I will add some hops for flavoring (not certain what kinds but I have a small bag of whole hops a friend gave me and may use these.
I also plan on making a berry version of the kvass - . This uses about one lb of berries and about 4 oz of sugar. The trick is to bottle the kvass a few days after fermentation begins so that a) the yeast is still in suspension - and so the drink is full of all kinds of B vitamins - and b) there is still a significant amount of sugar unferemented - so the drink is both sparkling and sweet and c) since the total amount of fermentable sugar per gallon is about 4 oz (at least with the bread and berries) the total ABV is no more than about 1.5% ABV. The grain version will have a higher potential ABV - closer to about 3 or 4%.
I intend to use a small quantity of Safale 05 yeast (a beer yeast).
I also plan on making a berry version of the kvass - . This uses about one lb of berries and about 4 oz of sugar. The trick is to bottle the kvass a few days after fermentation begins so that a) the yeast is still in suspension - and so the drink is full of all kinds of B vitamins - and b) there is still a significant amount of sugar unferemented - so the drink is both sparkling and sweet and c) since the total amount of fermentable sugar per gallon is about 4 oz (at least with the bread and berries) the total ABV is no more than about 1.5% ABV. The grain version will have a higher potential ABV - closer to about 3 or 4%.
I intend to use a small quantity of Safale 05 yeast (a beer yeast).