There are so many different types of alcohol that can easily be fermented at home. Sourdough kvass is the EASIEST homemade alcoholic beverage. It doesn’t require any special ingredients or equipment to create a sweet and sparkling drink.
What is sourdough kvass?
There are a lot of different types of vegetable kvass recipes, however, traditional sourdough kvass is made from sourdough bread. It has long history of being brewed at home in Eastern Europe.
It is likely the original form of beer as it is very easy to brew at home and doesn’t require any special ingredients.
How to make bread kvass
All you need to do to make bread kvass is toast loaf of bread, then soak it in water to extract the malted sugars.
Then strain the liquid and ferment it with sugar, yeast and additional flavours. In the photo below, I have used hops for a beer-like flavour. However, there are plenty of different flavour options. See the bottom of the post for more ideas.
Traditonal Sourdough Kvass
Sourdough kvass is made from sourdough rye bread. It is toasted to malt the sugars, the it is brewed with bread yeast. This Eastern European drink has a long history of being brewed at home. It is a sweet, sparkling and refreshing drink.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 3 litres 1x
- Category: Beverage
- Method: Fermentation
- Cuisine: Eastern European
Ingredients
- 1 lbs of dark rye bread (see notes)
- 3 Liters of water
- 1 cup of sugar (or honey)
- 1 tbsp sourdough starter or 1 tsp bread yeast (see notes)
- Flavours (see section below)
Instructions
- Cut the bread into cubes and toast it in the oven at 350 F for 20 min. tossing halfway through. The goal is to caramelize the sugars, so toast as long as necessary.
- Combine 3 liters of boiling water with the dried bread in a bowl and let it soak for at least 4 hours (up to 24 hours). The goal is to extract the malted sugars into the boiling water.
- Strain liquid into a fermentation container and add in the sugar and yeast, along with any additional flavours that you want to use.
- Leave the fermentation container in a warm location to ferment for around 1 week. It will start to foam significantly after 6-12 hours.
- After one week, strain the kvass into beer bottles and store in the fridge. The kvass will continue to ferment and will build up pressure, so use appropriate containers, and release the pressure every few day until is stops building up carbonation.
- It will be ready to drink after 3 days in the fridge. However, it will continue to ferment for another 1-2 weeks until all the sugars have been consumed by the yeast. At that point it will no longer be sweet and it will have reached it’s full alcohol content.
Notes
- Traditional sourdough kvass is made with dark rye bread, however, even French bread will brew a delicious kvass. The only difference will be in the colour of the beverage.
- Using sourdough starter will only result in 0.5%-2% alcohol. If you use bread yeast it could ferment up to 8% alcohol.
- If you plan on drinking your kvass within 2 weeks of making it, you probably don’t need to worry about sanitizing. However, if you are keeping it any longer than that, I recommend sanitizing EVERYTHING
- The kvass with bubble as it ferments, so either use carboys with airlocks or fido jars
(affiliate links) for the initial ferment. It’s the best way to prevent your kvass from spoiling.
- Use plastic bottles
or swing-top beer bottles for bottling. Both will be able to handle the build up of carbonation. However, if you are using bread yeast, you should release the pressure in the bottles every day for the first few days in the fridge, as it can build up a significant amount of carbonation.
(affiliate links) for the initial ferment. It’s the best way to prevent your kvass from spoiling.Keywords: beer, alcohol, pop, sourdough, bread, rye, vegan, vegetarian, fall, winter
Flavours
There are a number of different ways to change the flavour of sourdough kvass. Here are a few things you can experiment with:
- Sourdough Starter: I have made kvass with bread yeast and sourdough starter. When using sourdough starter, your kvass may have an unpleasant, yeasty smell during the initial stages of fermentation. This is part of using a free-range yeast and bacteria culture. However, this smell and flavour will improve after a week in the fridge.
- Type of Bread: Though rye is the traditional bread for sourdough kvass, any kind of bread will work. Personally I like the caramelly flavour that comes from a nice loaf of dark rye. A loaf of white bread will result in a lighter beverage that is refreshing on a hot day.
- Added Flavours: Mint is the traditional flavour. Use a few sprigs of mint for a batch. Adding a handful of raisin, berries or a few slices of apples will give the kvass a fruity flavour. Lemon peel is refreshing.
- Hops: Adding 1 tbsp of hops will give your kvass a beer-like flavour. It also acts as a preservative, improving the longevity of your kvass.
Just tried my sourdough kvass last night after waiting patiently for two weeks! It was really good. I could taste the mint and orange peel coming through quite nicely, but otherwise the flavour was almost like cider – light and slightly sweet. So cool to have made my own drink with nothing but some sourdough bread, sugar, yeast! Thanks for the recipe.
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I’m glad it worked out for you! It is fun to make a quick and easy alcoholic beverage.
I made with my rye starter but didnt see bubling going on so the next day added half the yeast and still no bubbles
I know both are good with yeast
What do you think is wrong?
My bread was an all natural sour rye and water is from my well
How long did you wait? My husband makes sourdough rye all the time… but it takes a really long time to catch the culture. Like 5 days? Buckwheat starts really quick (2 days). I think it’s just the way the culture works. Also, if it was your first time fermenting sourdough, there might not be a very strong culture in your house. But if you start to do it regularly, it should get quicker to catch. I’m glad it worked with yeast!
Hi! The recipe looks good. I have also added 1tbsp of hops and 1tbsp of rye malt powder. One question. Can I use a fermentation plug, or should I close the lid tight? Thanks.
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I would use a fermentation plug. It really carbonates, so you need to let the CO2 escape.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll post the result later 🙂
Great!