SC - Ginger ale (as an offshoot from Kvass)

[Philip E Cutone]

"Jessica Tiffin" <jessica at beattie.uct.ac.za> writes:
> Does this mean ginger ale or ginger beer are period, or am I
Hmmm... perhaps i should have watched my mouth...  It seems i have
read somewhere that ginger beer, and perhaps birch beer are
period... but i cannot place a reference... i Think Digby mentions one
or the other... I should have said old time ginger ale, as it was made
with a ferment, rather than modern methods which have no alcohol...

let us see... could a quick sparkling mead with ginger be considered
ginger ale? :)


so i actually brought Domestroi in today... in chapter 65 it has the
following:

    Ordinary kvass.  To brew ordinary kvass, take four parts honey and
    strain it until it is clear. Put it in a jar and ferment it using an
    ordinary soft loaf, without any additional yeast. When it is done,
    pour it into a cask.

hmmm... no mention of water at all.  This being similar to the "honey
mead" instructions, which take five parts honey to one part
water. (and hops for the curious)  I thought the osmotic presures were
not condusive to yeast existance at that level of sugar
concentration. Perhaps the soft loaf is in reference to the crusty,
but not all cooked (thus partially malted) load that was mentioned a
couple days ago. 


for reference ratios of meads and kvass:
		Honey	Water
boiled mead: 	1 	7
white mead: 	1	4
honey mead:	5	1
Ordinary mead:	1 	6
boyars' Mead:	unclear*
kvass		4	0 (except that which is in a "soft" loaf.)

* take wax from 6 parts honey and add to hot water. add measure of
  hops  to brew and ferment it with yeast.strain it so it is clear of
  wax and ferment it in the jar for a week. then place  it in a cask and
  let it stand in the cask for another week. then strain the mead clear
  of yeast and place it in a second cask. Fill the cask up with honey.


It might be of interest, that to make the various flavored meads, t
mentions adding the spices/fruit *after* the mead is made.  In the
case of berry meads, it says to boil the mixture and place it in a not
yeast infected cask. thus implying they berry juice is not to be
fermented.


ah well.. back to work..
:)


in service,

filip