Any beginner kvass recipes?

[mChavez]

Hi!

After a week of hot & summery weather (the temperature here went up to low twenties - that's a heatwave for Scotland!) I've developed a real craving for Kvass - the Eastern European fermented rye bread drink, and okroshka - a cold soup made with kvass (yep, that's a soup made with beer ).

I found some full grain recipes on the mad fermentationalist website, however, my brewing experience is limited to 2 batches of kit beer, and I currently do not have the equipment for all-grain brewing (I am planning to start doing partial mash recipes very soon though!).

Does anyone have a good extract or partial mash recipe for kvass?
I found some rye LME in my local homebrew store and I guess I can steep some rye bread in a regular pot...

PS I would also be grateful for any light, refreshing low-alcohol (up to 1.5%) beers that can be made from extract or partial mash!!

Thank you!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

You might check out the lambic forum. Real kvass is just rye bread steeped in water and exposed for wild fermentation. You can make it as strong or weak as you wish and it is often permitted to go sour. If you are looking to make something with rye LME and a clean ferment with yeast you are really shooting for a rye beer.

I'd get a hold of some really good black rye bread (not the store-bought stuff - a real bakery, sold by a little old woman wearing a babushka), steep it and make the wort as strong as you like to taste, strain it, pitch some ale yeast and let it ride for a few days. You might consider an open ferment for this. The lambic folks might be able to give you better guidance.

 

[mChavez]

Thanks Thunder!

I was hoping for a controlled closed fermentation rather than going wild.
It's hard to find good rye bread here, which is another problem.

That's why I was thinking of a mix of rye bread, small amount of rye LME and a touch of hops, but I guess there's only one way to ind out if its gonna taste nice!

 

[caver95]

When I lived in Moldova they sold this on practically every corner, I never get into it.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I was hoping for a controlled closed fermentation rather than going wild.
It's hard to find good rye bread here, which is another problem.

That's why I was thinking of a mix of rye bread, small amount of rye LME and a touch of hops, but I guess there's only one way to ind out if its gonna taste nice!

The good news is that it turns around pretty quickly, 3 days or so, so you can experiment with small batches.

Where/when did you get to sample kvass?

 

[mChavez]

I'm originally from Russia (though been living in the UK for the last 8 years), so I've had plenty of kvass back in the days.
In fact, kvass was what brought me into homebrewing, but I still haven't produced a decent batch of it! I always ended up with a very green & yeasty taste and I decided to learn how to brew beer first.
Searching for kvass recipes gives a lot of info on the ingredients and various types of kvass, but all fermentation guidance is very basic (mix everything in a pot and hope that open fermentation works).

I'll try the rye extract with some roasted barley and see if that gives good results but that's only gonna happen in a few months time.
TastyBrew calculator suggests that a can of rye extract and 500gr of roasted barley will produce about 1.8% alcohol - will probably make a good light beer with some light hops, but it's no kvass =(

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I've had kvass in Russia - I guess it is technically a beer, but a really old-time type of beer. The kind-of-beer-that-they-had-when-beer-was-first-invented-by-accident kind of beer. I really think the proper way to brew it is to toss some slightly moldy rye bread in a wooden rain barrel behind your house and forget about it for a few weeks. If you can get a grandmotherly old lady to walk by daily and spit in the barrel, all the better. I'm not knocking it at all; it's actually pretty good, but I just think it is going to be hard to replicate with LME and clean yeast.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Maybe the thing to do is bake some good rye bread and go from there? Here is a recipe:

http://familyofmann.tripod.com/lprye.htm

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

After a little reading, I have found that kvass is not always a free and wild fermentation - it is innoculated with what is called zakvaska, which seems to be a sort of lactobacillus starter based off of kefir and yogurts. I am not sure, but this term may refer to what are called kefir grains, which contain the flora "starter" used to make kefir.

I've heard that inoculating a beer with yogurt is sometimes done in lambics as well. If you make up some bread with the above recipe, steep it, and inoculate the mixture with a dollop of live kefir or yogurt, you might have a good start to a repeatable and controllable kvass recipe. Fruit and juices are often added as well, and herbs like mint are also used.

Hmm..now I am going to have to try this just for the challenge!

EDIT - Wikipedia suggests that zakvaska is something similar to sourdough bread starter, a lactobacillus and yeast blend.

ADDITIONAL EDIT - you might want to check out this thread where someone is attempting an sour ale using sourdough starter:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/pitching-sourdough-starter-experiment-409266/

And this might help too:

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/10/brewing-kvass-at-east-end.html

From the tasting this looks a lot like real kvass.

They say that All Star Kvass is available at Whole Foods, a local natural foods market chain. I'll have to try it and see if it is as I remember it.

 

[rossthefireman]

I just made a kvass with some real basic ingrediants. I used WLP001 to ferment it and its in bottle right now finishing off. I used 1lb of Russian rye bread, raisins, lemon juice and sugar (1 1/2 gl) . Got 1.4%abv . The first taste I got after fermentation was really good, light and refreshing but it struck me that a small amount of sourness would be really good in it. I may try that next time.

 

[pjj2ba]

I brew an "all grain" beer that uses half malt and half homemade rye bread. The bread is allowed to stale for a day, and then it is chopped to bits in a food processor. Then it goes in the mash tun. I use some 6-row to help convert the bread. Not as simple as a conventional Kvass, but it does work

 

[mChavez]

Thanks guys!

All fermenters are in use now but I am going to try kvass soon.

 

[Shooter]

I made kvass once, using a recipe out of the homeade soda book by Creswell. Turned out decent. I recall the recipe did call for rye bread. I know there was also peppermint in the recipe and I believe there were also raisins in it.

 

[ReDim]

I am making my first Kvass in the US right now. I am using Coppers Bewing yest, because that's what I had lying around. Basically I have been buying Artisan Asian sour dough bread this last month and it's fresh baked, so it lasts only 3 days before going dry. What ever went dry I would store until I had about 5 lbs of that bread. I then threw the dry bread into my 5g fermenter topped if off with boiling water and waited 20 minutes, then I added cold water to top off the fermenter. dumped some honey in to it, (less then a pound) and pitched yeast. 20 minutes later the fermentation started.

Traditionally, this is made from left-over bread. What ever bread that is left over and gone dry. Having said that I would worry about preservatives in the bread. Some fresh baked breads are good to go, but the hod-dog buns that stay 2 month in my fridge are still fresh are not good. I would not use Borodinsky bread because it's long shelf life makes me wonder about the preservatives that used and so if those preservatives will kill the yeast.

Darker breads and rye breads make better tasting kvass.

But basically kvass is no fuss type of thing, easier to make then a beer.

But this is the first time I am making Kvass in the US, so don't knwo everything either.

Ohh, Homemade Kvass in the Slavic countries is usually made with baking yeast, getting wild yeast to attach itself to the bread is used less often, because Kvass making is about easy and practical. Using brewing yeast for Kvass is our invention, us coming from brewing beer.