Mead Lover’s Digest #0253 Mon 10 January 1994

 

Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator

 

Contents:

re: recipe book names (Darren G. Holloway)
Kvass (Philip Cutone)

 

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Subject: re: recipe book names
 From: darren@instar.cuc.ab.ca (Darren G. Holloway)
 Date: Thu, 30 Dec 93 15:52:47 MST

 

I suggest “Nectars of the Gods” as the title.

 

  • Darren

 

Subject: Kvass
 From: pec@tmc.astm.cmri.cmu.edu (Philip Cutone)
 Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:36:21 -0500


Hi there. I’ve heard of a russian drink called Kvass.
I believe it is a ferment made from bread and honey, but i am not
sure. Possibly just bread. maybe bread and some other sugar.
Anyone know what this is and/or how to make some?

Oh, by the way, i have not posted much here before, so i’ll give a
quick (well maybe not so quick) introduction:
My name is Philip Cutone and i live in Pittsburgh PA. I am a
programmer for Test Monitoring Center (we set standards for the oil
industry) and have been here for about a year. I’ve never actually
made a mead/wine/beer, Well not seriously, experimented with a few
very small (like 10 oz bottles) yeast cultures a few times and got
something fairly alcoholic out of it… I’ve got a few things working
against me in this department: No car – cant get the necessary
equipment. I understand there is a shop north of Pittsburgh a ways,
but i don’t think i’d like to ride my bike there… a bit of highway
tween my house and there. No space- I have quite a bit of stuff in my
apartment already, kinda makes it hard to set up a good place for
large amounts of bottles/equipment. Little money – well this speaks
for itself.

Anyway I think of ferments as just another way of cooking, which i
love to do, so i make due with what i have to get around the money/
special equipment block. I understand specific gravity and the need
for a better ferment lock and what not, but i like living life on the
edge. 🙂

Below i outline my first
attempt at making kvass (or any drink for that matter) I appreciate
suggestions on everything. Esp: clearing the mix, how long to age,
if 2 ltr bottles are ok to ferment/store in, what the sound of an
exploding 2 liter bottle sounds like, etc….

So here is the damage
I took a
loaf of bread (no preservatives, fresh baked) added about 2 liters of
wather and about a cup of honey. I threw in a handful of raisons and
a few spices (just a sprinkle) and brought the whole thing to a boil
(in a teflon pot if it matters) let the mix cool and poured it into a
glass gallon jug. Then i added about half a package of bakers yeast
(i can see you cringe, sorry)
I made a rude ferment lock by taking a latex glove and a
rubber band and fixing it around the neck of the jug. let it sit a
few days (feeding it candy and sugar until the glove did not inflate
after a few hours of its addition (the sugar that is….))
I think it took about a week. I then strained the mixture, well thats
not quite the right word, i put it through a strainer (stainless, no
filter) but the stuff was rather thick so it just sort of sat there
untill i pressed and stirred the mixture through. there was still
alot of gunk in the solution, mostly just got out the raison skins.
i thought the rest might settle in the bottle.
so anyway… there was about 2 liters of liquid left (due to
evaporation reduction in the boil) which i put into a 2 liter coke
bottle. then i charged it with a little sugar water and screwed on the
cap. It’s been sitting a few days and was starting to clear a little
leaving a translucent Mt Dew yellow mixture. The bottle was rather
hard from the charge and I thought i should a little pressure out,
which i did. (too fast i think. bubbles formed in the sludge at the
bottom and when i set it back on the shelf, i had a nice little
volcano (entirely inside the bottle, it was rather pretty actually))
anyway….


Let me know what you think!

Fil up

Bibit Hera, Bibet Herus, Bibet miles, Bibet clerus,
Bibet ille, Bibet illa, Bibet servus cum ancilla…
Bibet ista, bibit ille, Bibunt centum, Bibunt mille!
>From the Carmina Burana -“In Taberna quando sumus” (Orff)

End of Mead Lover’s Digest #253

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