Kvass Recipe

[gaz]

Ingredients

• 1.25 gallons of water (that's 1 gallon + 1 quart)
• 6 slices of toasted whole-grain rye bread
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 handful of raisins
• 1 packet Fleischmann's ActiveDry yeast
• 2 slices of lemon (optional)
• Fresh mint (optional)

Instructions

1. Bring water to boil in a pot.
2. Add the toast, raisins and lemon slices. Remove from heat and allow this mixture to soak for at least 3 hours or overnight.
3. Remove the large pieces of soggy bread and lemon slices with a hand strainer or spoon, then use a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth to further filter the liquid into a sanitized 1 gallon carboy.
4. Finally, add the mint, sugar and yeast. Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Fit with an airlock and let it sit in a warm dark place for 2 days. Give it another quick filtering and serve cold with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice if desired.

Notes
You may want to stir in the sugar in a separate clean pot before adding to the carboy, if you don't have a carboy spoon small enough to stir with.
The bread should be thoroughly toasted, having small burnt patches, but not burnt totally black.