Lawrence Brewers Guild

My first attempt at kvass:

Kvass

Overnight mash:
5 lbs Belgian pils malt
2 lbs flaked barley

Bread:
2 med size loaves dark rye bread, homemade
Sliced and mashed overnight with a handful of malt

Sunday, 6/26/11
Mashed grains in a bag in a cooler the night before. Rinsed with 170 deg sparge water.
Collected about 3 ½ gal wort.
Used a stick blender to liquefy the mashed bread, poured slurry in with wort.
Added about 6 mt.hood hop pellets
Boiled 30 min.
Chilled to 85 deg with immersion wort chiller.
Collected about 3 ½ gal chilled wort @ 1.042 OG. Lots of junk in the bottom of the kettle.
Added another 3 qts of filtered water to bring total fermentation to 4 + gallons.
Added ¼ teaspoon rapid rise bread yeast.
Fermented in garage, daytime air temp 80 deg.

Wednesday, 6/29.
After immediate and steady fermentation, no more co2 pushing through airlock this AM.
Gravity: 1.012.
Aroma from fermenter: sweet rye bread, hints of caraway.
Flavor: Surprisingly clean. Similar to a wit but minimal citrusy flavors. A slight sour note, but likely from the rye at this point. Right now, if this was chilled and carbonated, would be a decent light summer belgiany ale.

Will let it sit til the weekend to see if it drops a couple more points in gravity. Then bottle.
I’ll be curious to see if and when the intense sourness sets in, as others have reported will happen.

Great summary Dale. Look forward to a taste!

well done! I too look forward to a taste and am interested as to the sour change.keep us posted please. Dave

Kegged tonight and charged with co2. in the heat of the garage, i didnt feel like messing with a bottling line.
It dropped a point from 1012 to 1011, with maybe a touch more sourness, but still mild. Looking fwd to trying it when it chills.

sampled again this morning (yes, 7 am...).
Not much flavor change. Still bready/yeasty, cloudy copper color. Very little sourness, which I still think is from the flaked rye. No odd off flavors or high alcohols, even after a week storage in 85 deg garage. Must have been a very clean pack of bread yeast!
General impression: interesting novelty brew so far. nothing wrong with it, would probably be very welcome with a plowman's lunch back in the day.
Will post if anything changes.

Finally! Sourness! Nice soft sourness setting in. Bready character in the distant background. Still cloudy but beginning to clear.