Russian Apple Kvas Recipе
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Snezhana Goldfild wrote in with this recipe for apple kvas (яблочный квас). I knew I had to try it so I purchased ingredients the next day and went to work. It really was as she described it “very refreshing.” It’s easier than the classic bread kvas that I posted earlier and just as good. Looking forward to having kvas more often now that I have such an easy recipe.
I mentioned this recipe to my mom and it brought back memories of her childhood; her brothers would go into the forest and collect birch tree juice. Her Mom added yeast and dried pears for color and they would drink Birch kvass all summer long.
Now, where do I find Birch tree juice – wouldn’t that be awesome?!
Back to the apple kvas – Snezhana mentioned that it can be made with fresh apple juice – I’ll have to visit mom’s juice maker for that. Snezhana – thank you so much for this wonderful kvas recipe. It’s sure to become a family favorite!
Ingredients for apple kvas:
8 cups apple juice (any kind, fresh or concentrate)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp dark molasses (or 1 tsp instant coffee), used for color only
6 cups filtered water
How to Make Apple Kvas:
1. Fill a 16 cup glass jar with 8 cups apple juice.
2. Add 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 Tbsp yeast and 1/2 tsp molasses, than stir until sugar dissolves. Finally add water.
3. Cover with multiple layers of cheesecloth or a cotton cloth and put a rubber band over the rim of the jar. Let stand on the counter for 18 hours, then refrigerate. Once it’s completely chilled, you can remove the cheese cloth and screw the lid on. If you put the lid on while it’s warm, too much pressure will build up inside the jar. This is especially dangerous with a plastic bottle (KA-BOOM!)
Serve Kvas once it’s completely chilled.
Notes: Snezhana suggested: 4-8 heaping Tbsp of sugar, (7 Tbsp = 1/2 cup which turned out quite nice!) Instead of using a cloth over the top, you can also poke holes in the lid while it sits on the counter.
Russian Apple Kvas Recipе - Квас
Ingredients
- 8 cups apple juice
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp dark molasses, or 1 tsp instant coffee
- 6 cups filtered water
Instructions
- Fill a 16 cup glass jar with 8 cups apple juice.
- Add sugar, yeast and molasses. Stir until sugar dissolves than add water.
- Cover with multiple layers of cheesecloth or a cotton cloth and put a rubber band over the rim of the jar. Let stand on the counter for 18 hours, then refrigerate. Once it's completely chilled, you can remove the cheese cloth and screw the lid on. If you put the lid on while it's warm, too much pressure will build up inside the jar.
Serve Kvas once it's completely chilled.
Notes
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
This is a very good replacement for the bread kvas. We were wondering if a small amount can be carried over as a starter?
Back in 2009 I would make honey kvas (мёд квас) just a fool around with another way of making it. It actually came out quite delicious.
Thank you for sharing
HI Marko, I honestly haven’t tested that so I”m not sure – maybe it’s done commercially but I don’t know the answer to that.
I’m getting back into my учеба русского языка, 8 years after I studied in Russia for college, so of course I gotta try some Russian recipes! I halved this recipe, and I’m excited to see how it turns out! It looks super easy and delicious! Огромное спасибо!
Please update us on how it turns out. We’d love to hear your feedback.
It turned out great! Kinda tasted like Angry Orchard hard cider! I’m making the kompot next 🙂
I hope you love the kompot, Rebecca!
Can this be made with just crushed apples with its own juice instead of the added sugars? Hubby cannot have refined sugar of any kind and I should avoid it as well. Will granulated monk fruit sweetener (erythritol) work? It has a crystalline structure but instead of sugar grams it has sugar alcohols. Спасибо
Hi Susan, I honestly haven’t tested that and don’t know how yeast would react to month fruit sweetener. I wish I had a better answer for you, but I haven’t experimented with that.
Such an easy recipe to follow. I made it twice. Doubled up the second time as it is so good. The small amount of the baking yeast aroma isn’t in the taste at all. I do believe it tastes better and develops more flavor daily in the refrigerator. Can’t wait to experiment with other juices.
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Larry! Thank you for sharing that great review with us!
Can I use sourdough starter or whey instead of the yeast?
HI Mina, I have never tested that – if anyone else has, please let us know.
This recipe is perfection as is. Making the second batch as I speak. Thank you for this great recipe; I have been craving kvass for a while and this does the job.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
hi, I made it last week but I used cider yeast. I liked the flavour! I used crystal bottles and just one plastic bottle to control. Tnaks for this recipe.
You’re so welcome, Maitzina!
A new size 2, paper drip coffee filter makes a great topper. it fits wide mouth canning jars perfectly and can be secured with the lid rim only. It looks great too. Question: can I substitute maple syrup for the sugar?
Hi Coach, I haven’t tried using maple syrup so I’m not sure but I think it’s worth experimenting! Let me know if you try 🙂
I’ll do that. I just finished making my 10th batch using your recipe. It is DEE-licious. Thanks.
My pleasure! 🙂
A cloth would work better than holes in lid….don’t want fruit flies in there.
Great suggestion! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Natasha! I know this is an oldie but goodie recipe 🙂 I am craving some Kvass and want to make it bc I know there are gut benefits too, but do you know if this one with the yeast has less benefits from the fermentation process vs. kvass made with bread? Or do you think it’s about the same? Thank you so much as always!
Lindsey, I don’t have the answer to that. If anyone knows, please feel free to share.
Is there alcohol in this?
Hi Julie, if it sits longer, it will start to have very small amounts of alcohol, but nothing significant. It is similar to kombucha.
I thank you for the recipes. It is so wonderful trying recipes from other countries.
My pleasure Virginia! I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Hi Natasha, may I ask, did your kvas form a white foamy cap on the top? If so, do you just take it off?
Hi Alena, I don’t recall getting a foamy cap with this one but you can skim it off with a spoon. Did you possibly use a different kind of yeast?
Red star 🙂 thanks for the reply
You’re welcome Alena!
Hi Natasha, you for the recipe, we have been making this kvas for quite some time and love it but we had a few times where it didnt become bubbly and we cant figure out why any suggestions what might have went wrong?
Thank you
Hi Diana, typically it is due to not letting the kvas sit long enough to become bubbly but it could also be due to using old inactive yeast or keeping it in an environment warmer than 100˚F, or reducing the amount of sugar. The yeast feeds on the sugar so reducing it or using a sugar substitute could be a culprit. I hope that helps!
Do i need to use warm/ boiling water? Since the recipe says to wait till it is chilled before putting the cap on.
Hi Solomiya, no, the warm/boiling water is not necessary. Just use filtered water such as from the refrigerator or bottled water. I meant when it is chilled in the refrigerator so it doesn’t burst.
Would apple cider work better instead of apple juice?
Hi Lana, apple cider has some spices that will alter the flavor of the kvas (cinnamon and nutmeg, sometimes other spices). I haven’t tried that substitution but keep in mind if you use it, the flavor will be different.
Thanks for the recipe! I can’t wait to try it! Kvass stirs up so much nostalgia of my Russian summers, so it has a special place in my heart 🙂
My hubby (American) hasn’t been able to acquire the taste for it, so I’m hoping he might like this one. I think I’ll add some cinnamon to give it a little extra oomph!
You are welcome Sonia and let me know how it turns out 😄.
I just wanted to mention that you can find birch syrup online too — not that you shouldn’t look for it in local stores also!
It’s on Amazon as “Alaska Birch syrup”
Thank you so much for sharing!
Excellent recipe. Thank you for sharing. I am looking forward to making it! I have been making bread kvas, but this definitely sounds much easier! Have you tried kvas made with lemons or beets?
I haven’t tried kvass with lemon or beets but I’m always willing to try new things :).
Привет Наташа, как дела?
Inspired by your apple kvas and the sharing your grandmother’s way of making birch tree juice kvas -which turned out magnificently- I decided to give ‘Latino succulent kvas’ a shot, using Aloë vera which is known for its medicinal and dermo-protective (skin-envigourating) properties.
Not only is Aloë juice the basis of several soft and hard alcoholic drinks such as Mezcal, Pulque and Tequila, which reveals a high natural sugar content in this cactus/succulent, and next to this our succulent seems widely marketed all over the word as a fresh food or -water conservant, not to speak of the thirteen-in-a-dozen cosmetic product gamma touting Aloë vera as the next best thing to the ancient water from the Macrobian springs, widely known for their mystical rejuvinating power, in Greco-Roman Antiquity, said to turn old, wrinkled бабушки, with horny stumps on their heads anid eternally bent backs, into lithe, blossoming teenage girls almost overnight. 😉
But back to the kvas: I found Aloë juice marketed here in green plastic bottles with English/German labels: “Aloe Vera Juice with Vitamin C, No Conservants or Articifial Colorants added / Aloë Vera Getrank mit Vitamin C, Weder Konservierungsmittelen noch Farbstoffe” .
According to the label they contain: Aloë vera gel [cactus/succulent juice is always a thick, slimy gel. -OC], mineral water, citric acid, extract of grapes and fructose. The nutritive chart says 8.3% carbohydrate content, meaning our sugars.
So as it already contains sugars, only yeast had to be added, 1 tablespoon of dehydrated yeast per 3L juice. I used a general-purpose top fermenting beer yeast, but regular baker’s yeast works just fine. Adding more yeast speeds up the process but the product will end up tasting like yeast if you are not careful, so don’t over-do it. Also, the general rule is, re-hydrate you spoonful of yeast powder first in a cup of Aloë juice for at least 30 minutes before adding it to the mother-flask. stir from time to time. After 36 hours it is ready to drink ad the taste is heavenly, but if you like it a bit more “character-building”, wait 3 days, then it will contain as much alcohol as a beer.
In conclusion: the recipe, based on Natasha’s originals, is yet again a winner, and although not “from the Motherland”, there are and have been enough White and старообря́дцы families in exile that have or had settled in warmer countries all over the world where this succulent grows naturally or has flourished as an introduced species.
I hope someone will repeat my steps and enjoy this mixture of tradition made possible by Natasha’s kitchen ideas. ;-))
Thank you so much for sharing that! You are a pro! 🙂
I have found birch tree juice in the local Russian supermarket, it is sold quite cheap in tetrabricks, containing 95% birch juice, remainder is sugar and citric acid as conservant. I added 200 grams white sugar to 2 liter of juice, followed by two tablespoons of dried baker’s yeast. After 2 days a beige coloured kvass is obtained, but still too sweet for my taste, 3 days is best (last day can be done in a brown plastic 2L bottle, 3/4 full with a balloon on top, to dissolve carbon dioxide).
I observed that pure birch juice, when left standing to the air for about a day, turns from colourless to red. I suppose this is from the oxidation of phenolic compounds in the birch tree juice into quinonic compounds which are almost always deeply coloured (for the chemists). These phenolic compounds we want to preserve, as they are responsible for the anti-oxidant action of the tree juice. Now when yeast is added, this colouration does not happen. One can observe a slight reddish colouring in the beginning, but by the evening everything is beige coloured. This can be explained by the reductive properties of yeast. These properties are even employed on an industrial scale in bio-organic fermentation reactions in synthetic chemistry. For us it guarantees the protection of valuable phenolic compounds in the birch sap against rapid air oxidation.
Also, there is a naturtal foaming agent present in the birch tree juice. I always rehydrate my yeast in a cup of the juice with added sugar for 20 minutes before adding to the mix. Use a large cup (not more than 1/3 full), as so many foam will be generated in a small amount of time, that your cup will overflow.
Anyway, thanks for sharing another great idea.
That’s very exciting to learn since my grandmother made birch kvass! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise 🙂
My pleasure, I must thank you, and bless your grandmother, birch kvas is simply the best kvas I’ve had as of yet!
i tried your birch kvass recipe with the tetra brick juice from a russian store, it is delicious! my kid loves it
. indeed a bit on the sweet side, i am going to try it with less sugar next time, see if it still works. thank you for the idea!
Hello Dear, what kind of yeast can I use? I guess its not that usual stuff you bake cakes with or is it?
Richard, I use the same yeast that is used for baking. In this case it was active dry yeast by Red Star Company. Hope this helps :).
Instead of the molasses or instant coffee could I just use vanilla? I’m new to the world of baking and cooking so sometimes I ask dumb questions, haha!
It’s a good question, but I haven’t tested it with Vanilla so I’m not sure how it would affect the flavor.
Hi Natasha,
I was just curious, how long do you usually refrigerate the kvas once its done brewing?
Thanks!
For it to cool completely, you’ll want to refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Thanks a lot,I will until tomorrow,I wish it’s gonna a be alright ..my fiancé from Russia so I use a lot your recipe and turn out he like so much.because i am from Indonesia.
Oh wow! How did you two meet? I hope you both love the kvas! 🙂
I made mistake,I put directly to refrigerator .can I still continue the proses?
You should still be able to put it at room temp and continue with the process.
This was just wonderful, especially now during hot summer days! My 3 and 5 year old boys loved it as well. Making more today 🙂
Great :), I actually would love a glass of it right now.
Hi Natasha! I made apple kvas, i overslept and it was sitting on the counter for about 23 hours! It smells and tastes somewhat like apple cider. We’re drinking it, just wondering if that’s the usual smell and taste? I’ve made a lot of Russian bread kvas, not apple kvas and just don’t know what to expect. Thanks!
That’s expected. Your kvas will be stronger than mine 😉
I wanted to pass along some info on honey. OlgaPaulescu passed out a little bad info on it. Honey is a complex mix of sugars but it is mainly glucose (roughly 30%, by weight) and fructose (40%) in invert form; the bees supply the invertase, which is the enzyme that inverts the fructose. Honey’s make-up is not consistent – it varies by source, season, region, and producer. It is about 75% fermentable sugar; the remainder is water, proteins, some minerals, etc. Glucose is a monosaccharide. This simple sugar is derivable from converted starches such as what happens when mashing malted grain. To metabolize sugar a process called Glycolysis will occur. Glucose is required for glycolysis, so if glucose is present there is no delay in the digestion of the sugar. In the case of fructose, which is a complex sugar, it must be broken down into Glucose before being digested. Fructose will be broken down into sucrose and glucose and then the sucrose will be broken down again into glucose. So yeast prefers simple sugars over complex, because the complex sugars like sucrose and fructose take more time and energy to metabolize.
Yeast does “feed” off of honey. You wont get sick from fermenting it. Mead has been made for a long time without any incidence of causing sickness (fermented honey and water). I do like your recipies. I shall be trying them in the very near future as I make my own breads.
I didn’t know that about honey. Thanks for the tip. It probably does taste different, but I haven’t tried it with honey.
Natasha, do you ever let it sit longer than 18 hours? Cause isn’t the longer it sits the tastier it gets? If you have, how long did it sit?
We drink it sometimes for up to a week; I guess that’s the same as letting it sit that long. It does get pretty strong though 😉
there is a russian grocery stoer nearby my house and they sell birch tree juice all year round! i absolutely love it!
I should check our Russian store for birch juice. I never had it but my husband had some back in Ukraine.
Hi Natasha!! Well this receipe of kvas is awesome., i love how easy it is to make with no bread and all that hard stuff. And it sure tastes like KVAS that i remember from Ukraine!!, I used to never buy apple juice before since i dont like apple juices. But now when i go grocery shopping first thing is i buy apple juice, I am looking forward making this Kvas for my upcoming sons birthday party! Only think i did is i put slices of lemon just an hour before serving the kvas., (more for a good look 🙂 But the lemon did it job it gave even A better taste to it. All i wanna say is THANK YOU For sharing all your receipes of good stuff :)) God bless your family!! 🙂
Thank you so much for your nice comment. I’m all smiles reading it. God bless you and your family as well. Happy birthday to your son and thank you for sharing the lemon idea. I love that. I bet it would look and taste great!
Natasha !
This is an awesome recipe ! The Kvas turned out Super !! Love your website.Thank You.
Thank you Ksusha. I love getting comments like this. 😀
Josh, as far as I know, kvas comes from the word zakvaska or leven, and the verb that comes from the levening process zakvashivat can also refer to fermenting, but kvas does not refer to beer or wine or other fermented drinks that have any large concentration of alcohol at least as far as I know.
Hello, I just came across your recipe while looking up DIY kvass. And I will just mention that this recipe is also called Cyser. Does kvas mean ferment or something similar so if I use apples instead of mint or bread is it still called kvas or does the name change. Like in English grapes would be wine honey mead apples cyser etc…
Just curious.
I plan on trying your traditional kvas recipe tomorrow with my kids. Thanks for posting it.
Hi Josh, I’ve never heard of cyser so I’m not sure how to compare it but I do have a recipe for apple kvas posted also without any bread. It must have something to do with being a yeast drink.
Privet Natasha. ya zdelala kvas but i accidently put 1 tbs of yeast instead of .5 tbs is it ok? wont be too much?
It might have a stronger yeasty flavor. I don’t think it’s a complete loss. Let me know how it turns out. You may want to add a little more of everything else if you can.
Hello,
I’m making apple kvas now with fresh apples instead of apple juice. Have you ever made apple kvas this way?
I did that with lemon kvas. I boiled the water, put in sliced lemons, sugar and honey, then let it cool to room temp and mixed in the yeast and let it sit 24 hours, then sealed it and left in a cool place 3 days. Do you mean apple slices or fresh apple juice?
I meant fresh apples, peeled and cored. I put in thinly sliced apples, honey, sugar, and cinnamon stick. This is a recipe that I’ve seen floating around the internet. I’m now waiting for it to finish its fermentation process.
Let me know how it turns out. My lemon one just finished fermenting after three days and I poured it down the sink. It was a recipe I got from a Russian cookbook, but it would have made a nice juice/compote without the yeast. I hope your recipe turns out better.
Well, definitely not the best kvass I’ve ever made (but it was my first attempt with apples). The kvass had a strange-tasting film on the surface. Other than that, it tasted enough like apple but it was not a very rich taste.
Thanks for reporting back. I probably won’t quit trying new kvas recipes either. If you find a good one, let me know and I will do the same for you! 🙂
Yea, it was good, but the first time I used apple juice that just went bad, and this time I used fresh, and it didnt taste like kvas, or maybe I put an extra cup of water, and I let it sit in a bowl, instead of a bottle. maybe thats why? gona try again.
I’ve tried different brands of apple juice and they always work so I’m not sure what happened. Just make sure it’s fully chilled before you drink it. I’m not sure what advice to give you 🙁
Tried this kvas last night turned out great! Now want to try bread one. Thanks!
Thanks Lena. Glad you liked it 🙂 Isn’t it ridiculously easy?
can you use a pot instead of a glass bottle? one glass bottle is too little for my family
I used big plastic jugs and made a double batch and I just put the tops on without screwing them on at all so they wouldn’t explode :). I imagine a pot would work, you’d just need a pretty big cheese cloth or cotton cloth to cover it. We make our other kvas in a large silver bowl so I think this should work too.
Hi Natasha, and your readers.
I am writing my Nanna’s story. She came from Ukraine when sh was 15, but I can’t find her town of birth. I wondered if you or any of your readers might be able to help me. She called it Chmeliwka. She said it was 200 miles round trip from Kiev. They had a little house there but were forced to move to Ivankiw when she was 6 years old.
Thank you for your efforts in publishing the homely and warming recipes of our past. My Nanna is very elderly now and can’t always recall correct recipes.
Yes, I think we drank this stuff when we were kids. I remember Nanna squeezing the apples through a wringer that was attached on her washing machine!
Thanks again for your help, Peta.
Hi Peta, thanks for sharing your story. Unfortunately I’m not very familiar with the geography. Hopefully one of my readers may be able to help 🙂
Natasha, I made the kvas!! It came out amazing!!! My kids love it! I’m planning to make this kvas at least once a week from now on. Thank you for posting this recipe. Looking forward to lots more!!
God Bless!!
Olga
Thank you Olga! I’m so glad you and your kids enjoyed it! God bless you too!
my husband LOVES birch kvass ! i buy it at the russian store all the time. if you do get the recipe PLEASE post! =)
That sounds yummy, I wanna try!
oh and i’m not sure where u live but we have birch juice here in our russian stores.. my husband loves it! says its the best thing he remembers from ukraine!
Natasha! Hello! and Kyrstos Voskres!!! I am making a full Ukrainian meal for Easter as is my tradition, and excited that my Ukrainian family that live near Kamanetz-Podolsk will be celebrating on the same day this year!!! I was wondering about trying this kvas recipe with Cherry Juice? What do you think, would it work? thanks for all the yummy recipes, and for helping me keep Ukraine alive in the hearts of my family members and four children ( 2 of whom were born in Ukraine!!!!) May our Father bless you and your sweet family
Voistiny Voskres! I haven’t tried that, but I’m really curious now, so let me know how it turns out. My grandmother used sap from Birch trees and mixed in dried pears, so I don’t see why other juices wouldn’t work. Thank you and may the Lord richly bless you and your family as well! A full Ukrainian meal is hard work, but so worth it!
Will the kvass work w/honey instead of sugar, do you know? I don’t use sugar but really miss kvass, would want to make a healthier version…also coffee filters are a very easy cheap way to cover the jar during the fermenting process.
I’m not sure about honey and if the fermenting process might increase the risk of botulism with honey- that’s probably an extreme thought but try google it. I haven’t tried it so I can’t recommend it one way or the other. The coffee filter idea is genius!
Velentina,
Don’t worry about the sugar. The fermentation process takes care of that. The yeast “feeds” off the sugar and it’s almost gone when the kvas is done. There is very little to none in the drink when it’s ready. Same with Kombucha, but the fermentation process is longer. Honey does not “feed” the yeast, therefore it will not work the same. And the taste will be different.
Olga
I haven’t made this myself yet, but will be doing so after trying your kvas on Thanksgiving. It had a nice light flavor with a zing, like kvas should, not bready or yeasty like a lot of homemade kvases are. That photo with the cheesecloth over the jar opening looks so Ukrainian and homey :).
Hi Joe! Thanks for the tips. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that birch sap. That would be a fun surprise for my mom. She has birch trees in her yard…..hmm…. ok, I wouldn’t!! Good to know about the molasses. This was the first time I’ve used it and you can’t really taste it in the kvas. In coffee huh? I love my lattes – I’ll have to try that.
You really haven’t used molasses before? Wow! It is one of my staples. How can you make good baked beans or indian pudding without it? And shoo fly pie! One of my Thanksgiving day staples. Here is one that is very close to the one I learned from my mom:
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/coldfusion/display.cfm?ID=matf&PageNum=421
The only difference is that my mom put some of the crumb mixture in the pans, poured the molasses mix on, and then sprinkled more of the crumb on top. It would go really well with your latte.
Tapping your moms birch trees shouldn’t hurt them at all. Birch and maple trees get tapped for decades with no ill effects. Here is a video of how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB648j6l4xk
There are a few sources of birch sap online, but it is expensive. And supposedly the pasturisation process changes the taste some. You may be able to find it in a health food store. They may even be able to get it frozen rather than liquid. Supposedly a more stable form.
Molasses is a great ingredient. Shoo fly pie, ginger cookies, molasses crinkle cookies, gingerbread all use it. It is also good in coffee or drizzled over ice cream. Grandmas brand doesn’t have quite the bitter edge that Brer Rabbit has.
There are three grades of molasses, First, which is also called mild or barbados is from the first boiling of the sugar. Second, aka bold or robust is from the second. It isn’t as sweet as the first and has a more pronounced flavor. Blackstrap is the third grade of molasses. Not very sweet and even stronger flavored.
Oh…and it is also very good in coffee, on french toast or pancakes. Mix it in about equal parts with tomato catsup and add a touch of pepper sauce or some chili powder for a killer BBQ sauce.
Can you tell I kind of like the stuff?
You can also buy birch juice online for a reasonable price. Making birch kvas from the juice probably isn’t as good as getting the birch juice fresh from a tree, but it might be worth a try
natasha,
where did u buy the molasses? i’ve never seen that before.
I got it at Winco, I think in the baking aisle. It was only like $2 with some change. I got the mild flavor one – I honestly don’t know what the difference was between that and the bold one because I’ve never used it before either.