Kvas making demands a lot of experience, many skills and special equipment in the form of large, false-bottomed, wooden tubs.
Kvas is safer to drink than water. Tolstoy describes how Russian soldiers took a ladle of kvass before venturing from their barracks onto the Moscow streets during a cholera epidemic. Kvas is so well known and used in Rus literature that it demands and gets the respect that is owed to it from people who have tried it and now love it. Because kvass protects against infectious disease, there is no worry about sharing the glass or so they say.
I have included 3 kvas recipes. Remember that there are literally hundreds of thousands of recipes for kvas so you should feel free to make small changes as you try these recipes.
3/12 lb Rye Malt
1 ln Barley Malt
Boiling Water
1/3 lb Raisins
4 ea Pieces of Hops
3 tb Dry Yeast
2 tb Wheat Flour
Luke warm Water
Boil a sufficient quantity of water to produce a thick, but pourable, gruel using the 2 malts. Mix to a smooth consistency, place into in a cast iron vessel then place in oven for 2-4 hours for full infusion. Remove and pour into a large pot, dilute with boiling water to the desired consistency, allow to settle then decant. From the decanted liquid, take 3 cups and dissolve therein 3 tb of yeast and 2 tbsp. of wheat flour, allowing the mass to rise in a warm place then pour this mixture back into the pot.
Add sugar to taste, 1/2 ln raisins & 4 pieces of hops. Mix well then place in a warm room until the yeast and raisins come to the top and form a hemispherical foam "cap". Remove this "cap" with a perforated spoon, pour kvas into your bottles, seal them then put in a cold place. The kvass may be drunk the next day.
45 ea slices of black bread, place upon large cooky sheets. Place in heated oven till bread is dry and hard. Place bread in a wooden tub and pour over it 18 cups of boiling water then cover the tub and allow to stand until luke-warm. Now you must strain this liquid through cloth without pressing. Add to this liquid add 48 ounces of molasses and mix it very well. Now add 5-6 tablespoons of yeast mixed with 1 tbsp. wheat flour; cover lightly with a clean towel. Allow to stand for 12-16 hours in a warm place. Next strain, pour into bottles, place 1-2 raisins in each bottle; seal and store in in the regrigerator or in a cold place. Kvass is ready to drink or to use in 2 days time.
