July 10, 2026
Homemade kvass: the fermented bread drink
The tastiest way to recycle stale bread
Kvass is Eastern Europe's popular drink par excellence: bread (or wheat bran), water, a little sugar, and a few days of fermentation. The result: a fizzy, tangy, malty drink around 0.5 to 1% alcohol — the lemonade of sourdough lovers.
The ingredients
- 300 g of well-toasted rye bread (almost black — that's where the roasted notes come from), or 150 g of wheat bran
- 60 to 80 g of sugar per litre
- A pinch of yeast (or a bit of active sourdough starter)
- Optional: raisins, mint, lemon
The method (3 to 4 days)
- Infusion: pour hot (not boiling) water over the toasted bread, steep 4 to 8 h. Strain, pressing well.
- Fermentation: add the sugar and yeast, cover with a cloth, leave 24 to 48 h at room temperature. Foam forms on the surface — that's a good sign.
- Bottling: strain, bottle with a few raisins per bottle (they float up when it's ready), seal.
- Short F2: 12 to 24 h at room temperature, then fridge. Kvass is best drunk young and very cold.
Watch the pressure
Kvass ferments fast: in summer, 24 h too long is enough to turn a bottle into a geyser. Use swing-top bottles rated for pressure, and burp them if you overshoot the timing.
Don't lose your best batch
Bread or bran? 60 or 80 g of sugar? 24 or 36 h? Every household has "its" kvass. FermPal tracks each batch phase by phase and keeps your recipe history — so you can find, six months later, the exact settings of that perfect batch. Free account, no credit card.