Kvass & recipe

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MVKTR2

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First question, has anyone here actually made Kvass? If so how'd it turn out?

Secondly I've seen many some what similar recipes online and it seems quite straight forward to make. For those not clear as to what it is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass. As for an example of a recipe, http://www.whats4eats.com/beverages/kvas-recipe, most recipes look somewhat like this one.

Any thoughts, I might undertake this tomorrow when I can run by the store and pick up some rye bread.

Schlante,
Phillip
 
I make a pseudo Kvass - half bread, half malts, ~ 6% ABV which is out-of-style, but I like it. I've been messing around with the yeast, mostly Belgian. I just kegged up the latest that was fermented with a Saison yeast. It is very spicey!
 
Thanks phasedweasel for pointing me toward the Mad Fermentationist.

Turned out pretty well I though (nice bready flavor, interesting yeast character, easy to drink), but not exactly traditional since there is a small mash involved.

Looked over the recipe, I was considering doing something like this. Would you do it again? Also is that your website? Funny if it is. I'm the Brewers Advocate in my homebrew club. We just setup a new website with a webpage of the week & style of the month tab which I maintain. This past week I featured your website! Hopefully it sent a few visitors your way. It's a fantastic blog, you should be proud.

I make a pseudo Kvass - half bread, half malts, ~ 6% ABV which is out-of-style, but I like it. I've been messing around with the yeast, mostly Belgian. I just kegged up the latest that was fermented with a Saison yeast. It is very spicey!

So what did the recipe look like?

If I undertake this I'll probably make it in the 3-3.5% abv range with just a touch of malt.

Thanks & Schlante,
Phillip
 
Thanks phasedweasel for pointing me toward the Mad Fermentationist.
Looked over the recipe, I was considering doing something like this. Would you do it again? Also is that your website? Funny if it is. I'm the Brewers Advocate in my homebrew club. We just setup a new website with a webpage of the week & style of the month tab which I maintain. This past week I featured your website! Hopefully it sent a few visitors your way. It's a fantastic blog, you should be proud.

I actually did brew it again, half with bread yeast and half with sourdough starter. Again both turned out well. Both times the beers were interesting, but I'm not sure how much the bread actually added. I would probably just brew a dark mild with some rye malt to make it simpler.

Glad you've enjoyed the blog, thanks for the link!
 
Here is my recipe

Target OG was 1.062, and I hit it for once, normally I'm under by about 4 pts. I entered the bread into ProMash as the individual ingredients in its recipe (75% efficiency setting). I think for the flour, I set it's gravity contribution around 1.036.

2.5 lbs 6-row
1.5 lb Marris Otter
1.0 lb Rye malt - figured I'd go all out
8 oz crystal 150
6 oz Special B (raisin to go with the rum)
4 oz Aromatic
8 oz Wheat - this is to combat the thinness the 1st batch had. With only half the malt of a normal beer at the intended OG it will tend to finish dry and thin with bread alone

Bread contributions (two loaves)
2.42 lb wheat flour
0.4 lb rye flour
6 oz sugar
5 oz molasses

16 gms Cluster - First wort hopped
16 gms Spalt - 20 min. I figured I'd go all out on the spiciness
19.5 IBUs

I let the bread stale for a day and then tore it into pieces and then in several batches, ran it through my food processor to turn it into crumbs. I did not add any rice hulls and had no sparging issues. The bread pretty much disappeared during the mash. This might be an issue if you use less grain.
Mashed at 153 F for 1 hr.
Whirlfloc added to the end of the boil
Fermented with WLP Saison II @ 66 F for 5 days, then ramped to 80 F
I had been using the Trappist yeast, but I found the strong flavor of this yeast and the spiciness of the rye fought for superiority and it took a couple months for the two to mellow out and stop fighting.

I just kegged the version with the Saison yeast and that seems to complement nicely the rye
FG = 1.012 - Kegged and primed with 1/3 cup corn sugar and 1 tsp of dissolved gelatin.
 
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