Gluten-Free Kvass, A Beer-Like Beverage

Gluten-free kvass is a beer-like beverage made from puffed cereals. Feel free to drink it fresh and sweet or let it ferment until it is a stronger brew. Personally, I enjoy it both ways!

I’ve been gluten-free for a long, long time. And I’ve never much bothered with gluten-free beers. However, I’m good friends with the Thirsty Writer, so when he came to visit us on our island property, he brought along a selection of brewery-made gluten-free beverages.

The alcoholic kombucha was nice. But it was the hops-flavored soda water that really caught my attention. It was the most beer-like thing I’d drunk in years. And I was inspired to make my own, gluten-free, beer-flavored beverage!

My husband, Brad, frequently makes traditional bread kvass, so gluten-free kvass seemed like a simple option for a beer-like gluten-free beverage.

What Type of Cereal?

Are you excited to make your first batch of gluten-free kvass? The key is in having the right type of cereal.

• Traditional bread kvass is probably the precursor to beer. It’s a beverage made from malted sugars in toasted bread.
• I tried making kvass out of gluten-free bread and it was a huge failure. GF bread just doesn’t have the structure to stand up to brewing.
• After a few experiments, I found that puffed gluten-free cereal was a perfect alternative. As a bonus, it’s also a lot more affordable than GF bread!
• The key is to use puffed whole grains. These are sometimes sold like a snack (puffed sorghum). However they are more often sold like breakfast cereal (rice, millet, quinoa). The key is to make sure they are just 100% puffed grain. No added salt, sugar, or preservatives.
• If you can’t find any of these options, you could use homemade popcorn, but the flavor won’t be as beer-like.
• A lot of the flavor comes from the grain, so feel free to try different varieties or use a mix of cereals!

What type of yeast?

Yeast is what turns sugars into alcohol and bubbles. However, there are TONS of different strains of yeast. Each strain will thrive on a particular type of sugar. For example, wine yeast prefers fruit, beer yeasts prefer malted barley.

Here are a few options for your gluten-free kvass:

1. I recommend using instant bread yeast (or fresh baking yeast). It’s great at consuming simple sugars and will ferment to around 8% ABV.
2. Brewers yeast really does prefer malted grain, specifically barley. Gluten-free bread just might not have what is needed.
3. Distillers’ yeast tends to come with all the necessary nutrients, and will quickly create a very alcoholic beverage. I don’t recommend using it, as the ferment will go too quickly which will impact flavor development.
4. A gluten-free sourdough starter will be able to ferment to about 2% ABV. However, it contains bacterial cultures as well as yeast. So the resulting drink will be like sour beer, with a potentially funky flavor.