Homebrew Kvass

No, it's not necessary. I was thinking you might want to brew this more like a regular beer. Rinse/sparge is never necessary though, for any beer.

 

Ah ha. We aren't done yet @Olga2622 .

"Toasted rye" can be regular rye malt or caramel rye malt. If you are certain this rye malt you want has no diastatic power, then caramel rye is what you seek. "Regular rye" malt has diastatic power.

 

Citation required.

 

Bibliography:

The Interwebs

 

If anyone wants to attempt to make Kvass with rye bread, sugar and bread yeast I think this video can be of great help. Afaik the herbs used in the video are a type of mint.

On the finnish side of my family we always make Sima for may first from white and brown sugar and sliced lemons, left to stand over night with bread yeast, then put into plastic bottles with some raisins and then left to carbonate until the raisins get plump and rise to the top. This is basically the "citronenkvass" (lemon kvass) described in the late 1800s German source (and similar to the modern version of russian kvass pictured in the youtube video, minus the toasted bread). The modern Russian kvass uses toasted bread, sugar and bread yeast to make a fermented beverage, but it's very much modern similar to the Sima.

 

I was confused about this part thank you for clarifying, I was under the impression that the unfermented (white) rye malt, I didn't realize that the rye malt you buy at a home brewing supply store was diastatic! Should I call and ask if their rye malt is diastatic?

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/Rye-Malt--lb_p_1095.html Would this one be diastatic or not? Does this even count as "fermented" red rye malt?

Thank you so much for teaching me all this!!!

 

Never had real kvass in my life, but I often like to make unusual brews, so I took a stab at a kvass-ish beer a few years ago. Here's what I did:
6lbs 2-row
1lb brown malt
1lb rye malt
2lbs marble rye bread toasted, then soaked overnight
couple handfulls of rice hulls
0.10oz aged cascade 60min (just for the preservative properties)
3g caraway seeds 60min
15min whirlfloc and irish moss
Nottingham ale and red star bread yeast (was nervous about using the bread yeast alone)
Finished at 4.2%
Was decent, easy drinking, fairly dry (get the impression the real stuff is on the sweeter side), but largely unremarkable.

 

By regular rye do you mean rye malt as homebrewing places label them, can you tell me where I could buy some caramel malt milled!

 

I have a book on Speed Brewing by Mary Izett and it covers a lot of different beverages, Kvass is one that is there. She uses:
1lb Crystal Malt
1lb 100% Rye Bread (no preservatives)
1 cup panela sugar
8 mint leaves
This is for a 1 gallon batch and she recommends champagne yeast

 

Yes, that is what I refer to as "regular rye" malt. It has diastatic power. This is the most common type of rye found at a homebrew store.

 

Weyerman Cara Rye is the rye with no diastatic power

http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shop/bre...y-grains/weyermann-cara-rye-malt-by-the-pound

 

Is there a difference between caramel and crystal rye malt, are they both non-diastatic?

 

Caramel and Crystal are interchangeable terms.