SC - kvas

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Mark Harris wrote:

> >A primary fermenter, such as is used with English ales, is helpful here,
> >or you'll almost certainly clog the airlock and explode!
> 
> What is a Òprimary fermenterÓ? IÕve made mead but not beer or ale.

A primary fermenter is usually a sort of bucket with a snap-on top. Some
modern English recipes call for doing the first fermentation, which
produces a lot of gunky foam which generally dries to the consistency of
concrete, in such a fermenter, often topped with some kind of plastic
wrap, before going to the standard secondary fermenter, which is usually
a glass carboy with a water-filled airlock fitted to it. If you don't
watch it carefully, and do a primary fermentation in a carboy, there's a
chance the airlock will get clogged with dried foam, and some sort of
explosion might result. For our batch of kvass we used a wide-mouthed
glass demijohn, formerly used for making wine. It has a snap-on top with
a pinhole punched in it, to relieve excess gas pressure. Had there been
any problems with clogging, the top just lifts off, and you can go in
with something like a stainless-steel spoon to remove the crud.

> >If anybody actually feels they need more details than this, I'll try to
> >find the recipe. 

> Yes, please. When you have time. This is more of an academic interest
> right now.
> Yes, I am. It does clear up some of the questions about kvas and I
> almost always like to learn about new things even if not always
> willing to try them. Kvass is a lot higher on my list of things to
> try than Kumiss though.

I rather liked it myself (kumiss, that is). The most important rule
seems to be that if you can't get mare's milk, don't let anyone try to
talk you into using goat's or sheep's milk! Otherwise you'll end up with
an intriguing Romano cheese wine...nowadays cow's milk is considered an
acceptable substitute, apparently. The final product is rather like half
whey and half white wine, with about 1% alcohol.

Adamantius