Pumpkin spice kvass!

Right now I'm drinking kvass that I have made using brown sugar and pumpkin spice (4 ounces and 1 tablespoon per gallon, respectively). It isn't quite as good as kvass made with actual pumpkin bread, but it's a change from the typical mint/lemon combo that I usually make. All of the prior procedures are used, that is I steep bread in hot water, cool, strain into fermenters, and add the above mentioned ingredients. It could probably use about half as much pumpkin spice, but is still fairly light and refreshing.

Racking & bottling!

Trying not to make a mess. Racked the finished kvass into a couple of growlers and a 22 oz flip-top bottle. Activity in the airlock was pretty slow, and the gravity read at 1.000.

The finished kvass was not as good as my last batch... there was too much lemon juice, and the mint tea was not as good as fresh or dried homegrown mint. Even still, once it is carbonated and chilled it should be refreshing.

It's alive!

Peak of fermentation.

The fermenting liquid is turbid, and there's plenty of activity in the airlock.

Promised pictures!

As promised, here are some photos to help you walk through the kvass-making process. Here is one U.S. pound of stale bread ends I have saved in a freezer bag, brought to room temperature.

I have added one campden tablet (available at any homebrewing store or website) to 1.5 U.S. gallons of water, since our city water has quite a bit of chlorine and chloromine.

Once the water is 150 degrees F., add the bread, ripped into chunks (this temperature is about the threshold for pain, so a thermometer is not necessary). Let stand until it is nearly room temperature, usually four to five hours.

In the meantime, assemble the equipment and ingredients. Here we are going to make kvass using lemon zest & juice, ginger, mint tea (spearmint & peppermint), turbinado sugar, and crasins.

Once the liquid has cooled, strain through a cheese-cloth lined strainer. An extra pot comes in handy to catch the liquid. Make sure everything is clean and sanitized beforehand. Discard the leftover bread, compost, or grow mushrooms in it!

The remaining liquid should be pale and cloudy.

Using a funnel, pour the strained liquid into a gallon container (preferably glass, cleaned and sanitized). The yield from this is about 1 U.S. gallon, as the bread absorbs about a half-gallon. Make sure to leave some "head space..." the yeast will need room to expand.

Here I am coarsely chopping some ginger, divided evenly and placed into the jugs.

Zesting the lemon and placing in the jugs (fermenters).

Juicing the lemon halves and adding to the fermenters.

Weighing out 1 oz of tubinado sugar to add to each fermenter. This is about 2 tablespoons.

Weighing out 1 oz of crasins for each fermenter. This is about a small handful.

Here I am getting ready to add room-temperature soughdough starter to the unfermented liquid. This "mother" is over a year old, and I use it every week to make bread.

Plopping about a tablespoon-sized chunk into each fermenter.

Regardless of what you are brewing, making sure the unfermented liquid is properly oxygenated is key. Shaking the jug for approximately one minute usually does the trick.

Stopper the jugs and place the airlocks (with water). If you are using plastic wrap, make sure you rubber-band them. Place the jugs in a warm (60-70 degree F. ), dark place, away from sunlight. After a few days, you should see activity in the airlock and a raft of yeast forming at the top of the liquid. Once the activity has slowed and most of the yeast has dropped out, rack (or decant) the yeast to another vessel in which you will refrigerate and drink within a week. I will post pictures of this process once this kvass is ready.

For all you homebrewing nerds, the original gravity of the unfermented liquid is 1.024, not accounting for the sugars contributed from the dried fruit. This will probably put the finished product at around 3% alcohol.

It's easy!

I certainly consider myself a beginning home-brewer, and have only been at the hobby since last January. Like many others, I was unintentionally introduced to the hobby I vowed never to become involved with by none other than a Mr. Beer kit. After my first batch of something that resembled Natural Light in taste, I started reading about brewing all-grain in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing and began listening to Basic Brewing Radio podcasts by James Spencer. What I had learned in the following months was that brewing beer was conceptually simple, and that even all-grain brewing is within the reach of anyone with a will and a kitchen.

From what I gather, there are no hard and fast rules to making kvass. I see a lot of "recipes" from fellow home brewers, but I consider most of these unnecessarily complex and they require a bunch of equipment. If Russian serfs could make this drink in smoky huts during medieval times, you can too. Any decently stocked kitchen can pump out kvass; the following equipment is needed:

• Large stock pot (12 quarts is a good size)
• Campden tablets
• Kitchen scale (not necessary but nice)
• A stove or source of heat
• Strainer or muslin bag
• 2 Gallon jugs (just drink the cheap stuff and save the jug)
• Airlock + stopper (not necessary; plastic wrap and a rubber band can be used instead)
• Funnel
• Racking cane + hose (optional)

The following ingredients are needed, but not necessary. You can make this stuff out of anything you want to:

• 2 gallons of water
• 2 lbs of crusty sourdough bread (any bread will do, I have even made it out of burnt pumpkin bread and it was delicious). I use my leftover bread ends that are too hard to eat.
• Sugar (any kind will do)
• Raisins or craisins
• Lemon juice
• Sourdough culture (just mix flour and water, cover with a wet towel, and let it sit for a few days)
• Dried or fresh mint (any kind will do, even tea bags)

Here are my methods...they are not set in stone, and were developed through trial-and-error and theory. I am always open to suggestions and comments, but this process works for me.

1. Fill stock pot; crush and add campden tablet. I use this to eliminate free chlorine and chloramine and precipitate it out of solution.
2. Bring water to approximately 150 degrees F, add bread chunks, remove from heat; cover.
3. Once pot has reached 80-90 degrees F (5-ish hours), strain (bread could be placed in muslin bag prior to throwing in hot water as well) into gallon jugs, making sure there is some "headspace" for the yeast to do its thing.
4. Add the following to each fermenter:

• a tablespoon chunk of sourdough starter
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 4 oz sugar
• 1 oz of raisins or craisins (a handful)
• a few grams of mint, to taste

     5. Shake the jugs to oxygenate the unfermented liquid. Place airlock or plastic wrap and place fermenter in a warm place, between 60-68 degrees F.
     6. After a few days, fermentation will become obvious by activity in the airlock or taut plastic wrap.
     7. Once fermentation stops and the yeast drops out, rack or decant liquid into a clean container. Cap, refrigerate, and enjoy!

I cannot stress the importance of cleanliness of all your implements. A weak bleach solution works just fine to sanitize your equipment, but make sure you rinse with plenty of water before use. I typically use an acid-based sanitizer for all my brewing which costs next to nothing, especially considering that I re-use it for several brew sessions.

Well, that's all for this week. I have been making kvass bi-weekly, so perhaps I will add photos soon.