I do it like this ( note that i’m not Russian, but the owner/chef of local Russian restaurant gave me recipe. I’m from Slovakia and this is the second summer season i’ll be doing kvass) :
For about 10 L of Kvass you will need:
10L of water ( obviously)
600-700 g of sugar (white sugar is fine, if you have access to malt, use it )
At least 500 g of dark bread
5-7 g of yeast (in the cube or powder, does not matter. I use the one in cubes)
few raisins
Part 1:
Bring up the water to a boiling point or near boiling point and let it cool. Meantime prepare the bread, just slice it and bake in in the oven (on the electric grill function if you have it). It is best if you sliced it a day before and let it dry a little so it “gets” grilled a bit easier. Don’t be afraid to burn it a little ( for the color and taste).
Prepare your yeast ( in a small dose of sugary water, just mix the yeast with a shot of water with a spoon of sugar and let it be on a counter for few minutes )
When the water is cooled down to around 40 degrees Celsius, throw in sugar a stir it until it dissolves. Then add the rest of ingredients, bread and the yeast. Give it a final stir and let it sit it a warm room.
I’m not sure if you should cover the pot (or where you are gonna prepare it ), but i usually leave it open, just covered with clean dish-towel.
Wait for at least 12 hours ( sometimes more ) i usually leave it through night and the next day it is ready. usually it takes 16-20 hours ( if colder place, the whole day )
Part 2:
So you have your kvass ready. Now you need to collect the bread. Do it with sifter it will be floating on the surface. Throw it into the garbage. Be careful, try not to swirl the water too much, because on the bottom of a pot is the yeast, that we will collect later.
Be sure the water was not swirled or anything, if you managed to swirl it a lot, wait additional 30 minutes or so, until all the yeast and “muddy” water will lay down. If the kvass is clear, pour it slowly and steady so only the surface is flowing away, not the bottom parts.
The bottom part pour into separate jar or something, which you can store. That muddy, white yellowish thing at the bottom is the transformed yeast which multiplied. You divide the kvass and the kvass yeast, because in a first place, you don’t want to drink it, and secondly you can keep it in the fridge and the next time, you will you it instead of bought yeast.
So that kvass you separated, the clear part, now pour into the bottles and add few (3-5) raisins into each bottle. Close the bottle and let it like it at the room temperature for couple more hours. You will feel that the bottles are getting hard when you try to squeeze it. Don’t be afraid when it will be so hard as rock ( The bottle will withstand it no problem) That is good. Congrats, your drink is now naturally carbonated (and tasty as hell).
Only now put it into the fridge to stop most of the yeast processes. The raising will give it a final touch add a little bit of sweetness and throw in some kind of fruity fresh taste 🙂
Next time, you will do it use the the yeast which you collected from the batch of kvass and make previously. Each time use everything that you collected and always repeat. So each time you do kvass you are left with the yeast, which you will use to make another batch next time. And again and again. The longer you do it, the better the yeast is.
To be honest the first batch is PALE compared with second and third if you use the same yeast. During that process, the yeast will adapt and transform. Since yeast are bacteria, they will mutate or what. Not sure how it works 😀 but it is like with bread. The best bakeries use the same yeas for decades. Basically it is a living organism that evolves for what you use it for. It is like that what they sell in shop is all-purpose, universal, some basic, which you will nurse or nurture for what you need. It is something like a starter.
Notes:
After the initial time i let it to ferment (part 2) I just take out the bread and pour everything into 3 big glass jars, each has about 3-4 L. So when it sits I can clearly see where is the yeast and how much I can later pour into the bottles.
I also use stockings as a filter i put on funnel so i don’t have any bread crumbs in my final product in the bottles.
I guarantee, that if you have a family, that 10 Liter will last you a week at max. It just taste so good and it is co great in summer when you are really thirsty. You don’t even have that weird film on your tongue or that weir after taste like you do when you drink co*ke or some other sweetened beverage. It has no stupid added acids, just what the yeast produced.
Don’t forget you can alter the recipe. You can add more sugar or add less ( it will be bit more sour, like some lemonade) Or you can put it different dried fruit at the end. I trued cranberries, plums ( didn’t like it) etc.
If you will decide to do it, i hope you will enjoy. And don’t forget that the second batch from your own yeast will be better than the first one from the yeast you bought.
Enjoy and serve cold :)
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