Every spring, when the sap flow of the trees begins, we can take advantage of the gifts of the forest, namely the sap of birch trees, completely free of charge. Transparent, slightly sweet birch sap not only perfectly quenches thirst, but also has a cleansing effect on our slagged body.
Useful properties of birch sap.
It would seem this simple forest drink at first glance, but how much useful it contains: it is rich in useful microelements, organic acids, enzymes, magnesium, calcium, iron salts and essential sugars. Effectively removes toxins and excess fluid from the body, has a positive effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, has a beneficial effect on cardiac activity, cleanses and strengthens the walls of blood vessels. For medicinal and preventive purposes, birch sap is used for vitamin deficiency, peptic ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract, liver and gallbladder diseases, colds, bronchitis and sore throat. It has been noted to have an effective effect on rheumatism, arthritis, radiculitis and even tuberculosis. So is it worth giving up this truly wonderful nectar of the Gods? Birch sap is consumed in its natural form, and it is also prepared for future use. You can imagine how on a hot day you can quench your thirst not with any of the store-bought drinks containing only dyes and flavors, but with delicious and healthy kvass made from birch sap. I propose to start preparing various kvass now. Moreover, from all the recipes collected on the Internet, you can choose the most acceptable one.
And so, what recipes for making kvass from birch sap are offered:
Kvass with dried apples and pears.
10 liters of birch sap, 1-2 handfuls of dried apples and pears. Place in a dark place for 20-30 days at a temperature of +18. The fermentation time depends on the temperature. Cover all dishes with future kvass with clean gauze or linen so that the kvass can breathe. If the neck of the vessel is narrow, then fermentation takes longer. When the kvass has fermented, it needs to be strained through clean gauze (note that a film of mold may form on top of the kvass; carefully remove it), pour into bottles and jars. Do not screw the lids on the dishes, just tie them with gauze. Place in a cool place -8-10 degrees for storage. In this state, kvass can be stored for a very long time. Before use, if you like it sweeter, you can add honey to taste.
Kvass with raisins.
For 10 liters of birch sap, add 0.5 kg of sugar, add 50 washed and dried raisins. Stir the drink until the sugar dissolves and leave to ferment for 3 days in a warm place. Strain, pour into bottles and close with lids. The drink is stored in a dark place for about 4 months.
For 3 liters of birch sap, add 20 dark raisins, cover with a lid and take it to the cellar until summer.
Strain birch sap brought from the forest through cheesecloth to remove debris. Add raisins and sugar and leave to ferment. It is recommended to forget about it for a while. Then strain and bottle. Seal it well and take it to the cellar for storage. They promise excellent kvass, which you can drink and even cook excellent okroshka with. I think it's really tasty and healthy.
Kvass with yeast.
3 liters of birch sap, 45-60 grams of yeast. The juice is heated to 35 degrees, yeast is added and left to ferment for 3 days. The finished kvass is poured into bottles and covered with lids. This kvass is stored in the cellar.
Kvass with rose hips.
3 liters of birch sap, a handful of rose hips, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 120 raisins and a slice of lemon.
Kvass with currant branch.
3 liters of birch sap, 4 tablespoons of sugar, a handful of raisins, a little citric acid and a few currant branches.
Kvass with lemon and orange slices.
3 liters of birch sap, half a glass of sugar, 2-3 slices of lemon and 2-3 slices of orange with peel, plus 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid.
Kvass with Borodino bread.
20 liters of birch sap, 0.5 loaves of fried Borodino bread crackers, bring to a boil. Add a glass of sugar and let it ferment. Pour the finished kvass into bottles and store in a cool place.
Place crusts of well-fried bread and a handful of raisins in a jar of birch sap.
Intoxicating kvass with beer aroma.
Pour 250 grams of beer into a one and a half liter bottle of beer or sparkling water, fill it with birch sap up to the shoulders of the bottle. All! We put it in a cool place and after 2 months you get a light, intoxicating drink with the aroma of beer. Kvass is drunk to relieve thirst, or okroshka is prepared with it.
How many countries and states are there on our planet, how many provinces, regions, states, cantons there are in them, how many cities there are in them - that’s exactly how many there are varieties and varieties of the favorite drink of many - beer. For many beer lovers, the process of making their iconic drink remains an incomprehensible mystery, while others know absolutely everything about their favorite beer, right down to the recipe and temperature conditions prevailing in beer production.
But if you are a true beer lover, at least once in your life the idea of independent, "home" brewing of beer, which you can make yourself and amaze all your friends with a signature drink with your own name on the label, also made by yourself. So, if you still pluck up the courage and want to experience the unique taste and aroma of this drink, try brewing it yourself.
To begin with, a little education based on repeating the above. You already know that beer is prepared using the process of alcoholic fermentation, which occurs in wort - beer starter. Wort, in turn, may consist of a mixture of the following components: barley malt, hops and water. All of the above beer components are basic, basic, on the basis of which you can fantasize and experiment further, which is what our Russian brewers, offering to our judgment more and more new varieties of this amber drink.
Depending on the quantity, quality and type of beer components, the quality, taste, aroma, color, consistency and other parameters of beer can vary over a wide range. For example, in order for beer to acquire certain qualities, when making some types of beer, barley malt can be replaced with rice, corn or barley flour. Sometimes ordinary sugar is used instead of malt or flour.
In the very brewing process Several main, mandatory stages can be distinguished: the production of barley malt, the production of beer wort and its fermentation with brewer’s yeast, maturation or “fermentation,” filtration and bottling. These stages beer making It is quite possible to do it at home, without the use of the latest modern technologies and sophisticated equipment.
The starch contained in grain products must first be converted into sugar, which is what malt is used for. Malt has the ability to convert starch and some other substances contained in grains into a soluble state, and this occurs under the influence of malt enzymes. Production of special barley beer malt, which is the main raw material in the production of beer, includes the following stages: cleaning barley, sorting it, soaking, germination or malting, drying the sprouted malt and cleaning it from the green sprouts that have appeared, and finally, tracking the malt. In other words, brewing barley malt is nothing more than sprouted and dried malt.
At home, cereal grains are soaked in large-diameter enamel containers. Rye should be soaked for 25-30 hours, barley - 50-60, and the water should be changed every 6-7 hours. When changing water, it is sometimes recommended to leave the grain without water for about 2-3 hours, since the oxygen present in the air is simply necessary to activate the vital processes of grain activity. After finishing the soaking, the grains are germinated in the same container or in several low pans or trays at once.
The duration of grain germination at room temperature is as follows: rye - 3-4 days, barley - 6-7 days. In this case, the grain should be periodically sprinkled with water to moisten and stirred. Sprouts should appear approximately a day or two after the start of germination, and by the end of germination, the length of the barley sprout should be 1.5-2 times the length of the grain itself. The storage duration of finished fresh malt should not exceed 2-3 days.
The finished dried malt has a sweetish taste and a characteristic aroma. Not only the most important beer characteristics, but also the very color of the future beer depend on the type, properties and quality of malt. Yes, for making light beer Light malt is used, and for dark malt, dark, caramel malt is used. In fact, all available beers are divided into light and dark, not only depending on the properties of the malt, but also on the methods used to process the beer components, as a result of which the beer acquires a light or dark shade.
Before obtaining beer wort directly, the prepared malt must undergo additional processing. To do this, it is polished, crushed and mixed with water.
The mixture of crushed malt with water in brewing is called mash, and the process of mixing small particles of malt with specially prepared water is called mashing. In the resulting mixture, which at this point in time is the future beer wort, many enzymatic processes occur while maintaining a certain temperature regime. As a result, the starch contained in the malt is saccharified, and at the end of this process, the production of wort proceeds to the next stage, in which it is fermented with the help of hops and brewer's yeast.
Next beer wort strained, filtered, as a result of which the beer wort becomes transparent. To flavor and clarify the finished wort, it is boiled together with hops, which are subsequently removed from it. After this, the finished wort is cooled.
The next stage is wort fermentation, which occurs using specially grown brewer's yeast. This process takes approximately a week. There is such a pattern: the longer the fermentation of sweet beer wort occurs, the less sugar remains in it and the more alcohol is formed in it. During this very fermentation, carbon dioxide and alcohol are formed in beer. But that's not all.
Received "young" beer it needs to be fermented, for which it is placed in special vessels. The fermentation process lasts longer - from 20 to 90 days, and it is at this stage that beer becomes beer in the full sense of the word. It acquires its indescribable taste and aroma, carbon dioxide accumulates in it, and it is finally clarified. In industrial, factory, and beer production, continuous and accelerated production methods are sometimes used, in which the fermentation and post-fermentation periods of beer are extremely compressed. But often this negatively affects the quality of the drink itself and its main characteristics, and only a few large beer producers manage to avoid this or somehow neutralize the resulting deviations in the properties of the drink.
After the post-fermentation process, the beer is freed from the yeast in it using filtration, and only after this can the beer be considered completely ready for consumption.
Achieving absolute compliance with standards and beer divisions is simply impossible, and there’s no point in doing so. Many beer producers, on the contrary, they strive to give their product a specific taste or aroma that would distinguish it from others and be remembered by the consumer, becoming a kind of brand name for this variety. Therefore, you are both full and complete beer producer Having already proven yourself and your homemade products among friends, relatives, acquaintances and neighbors, you can, through certain operations or small changes in the recipe of the drink, give it an interesting flavor. Perhaps it is you, thanks to the innovation you introduced into the brewing process or as a result of numerous experiments with beer components and the introduction of unexpected components, who will forever remain in the history of brewing and in the memory of beer lovers.
You already know that dark or light beer has certain strength indicators. Beer strength depends on the duration of the above-described process of fermentation of beer wort, that is, aging: the longer it is, the stronger the beer drink will be. Remember that any beer must be transparent - this is the first check for quality and correctness of all recipe and technological processes.
So now you're a little enlightened about basic technological processes of beer production, so you can begin to prepare to open your own mini-factory, built from improvised means, and, using a simplified technology of your own, begin to produce your own brand of beer.
BEER ORIGINAL VINTAGE
Stage one: preparation of raw materials for the preparation of beer malt. First you need to get some malt flour. To do this, you will need grains of wheat, barley or corn, as a last resort. By the way, it has been noted that beer becomes tastier if you take not only one type of specific grain for malt, but prepare a mixture of several different components. For example, you can make a mixture of corn, barley and wheat in the following proportions: corn - 1 part, barley or wheat (optional) - 1 part. You can use another version of the proportions: corn - 1 part, barley or wheat - 1.5 parts.
The selected grains or their mixture must be carefully sorted and soaked in water at room temperature so that the water is poured above the level of the grains by about 3-4 cm. The poured grain should be left for about a day so that it swells properly. The next day, drain the water and place the swollen grains in a box or trough, where you compress them a little and press them to the bottom and walls. Cover the trough tightly so that it becomes warm inside, and stir occasionally, after which the grain should be slightly compressed again.
When the grains germinate, they should be separated from each other and dried by air drying, that is, in a way that is closest to natural. Although instead of air drying, you can use a stove for this purpose. Grind the properly dried sprouted grains into flour.
The next stage is the immediate beer wort preparation. The recipe is as follows: for every 10 liters of water you will need 4 kg of finished malt, hops to taste, 50 g of yeast, 100 g of sugar.
Heat the water to about 30 °C and carefully, gradually add malt flour into it. You need to try to avoid lumps, so constantly stir the resulting slurry with a wooden spoon or a special stirrer. Gradually raise the temperature of the malt slurry until it reaches 70°C and keep it at that temperature for one hour. After this, bring the malt mixture to a boil.
Sift some of the malt flour in advance and fry until dark brown in a frying pan or on a baking sheet in the oven. Pour the fried flour into the mixture boiling over the fire and mix well so that flour lumps do not form. After this, the malt mass should boil for another 5-6 minutes. The main thing in this process is not to digest this mass, otherwise your work will go down the drain and you will have to do everything again. To check the condition of the malt mass and whether it should still be brewed, lift a wooden spoon from it so that the malt liquid flows from it in a trickle. So, if this stream is transparent, everything is fine, but if not, it is quite possible that you overcooked it a little.
The next stage is straining and filtration of finished malt. To successfully complete this process, you will need a special device that you will need to make yourself - this is a kind of environmentally friendly portable strainer. It can be a basket woven from small, thin, and most importantly, clean twigs. Cover the bottom and walls with ordinary wheat straw, which must first be thoroughly rinsed under running water and then boiled.
Next, you will need a vat, a cauldron or a large saucepan, where, in fact, this divine drink will be brewed. In addition to this kitchen utensil, you will need another saucepan or food container, which should be larger in size than the wicker basket, since it (the basket) will have to be inserted into this container. Another little thing - the container into which the basket will be inserted must be absolutely clean and have a hole. If you can’t figure out why there are so many pots and what to put where, we explain: the first, lowest level is a vat or boiler where beer will be brewed, the second, that is, the one that is higher, is a vessel with a hole from which the strained malt mass will flow out, and the third is a wicker basket inserted into a vessel with a hole. Thus, you will have a tower with which you will be able to strain the finished malt.
Insert a basket lined with almost sterile straw into a trough or pan with a hole and strain the malt broth. By transferring the decoction into the basket in small portions, you will see that the pure malt liquid from the basket flows to the hole and flows out of it into the vat below. From the container where the malt was brewed, use a ladle to scoop out the malt grounds and place them in a basket, where the grounds should be slightly leveled so that the straining process occurs faster. This way, in small portions, you will scoop out the entire contents of the pan. If you do not have a suitable vat for brewing beer, you can strain the malt into any other container of suitable size that will accommodate the entire malt mass, and then pour the already strained liquid back into the kettle where it was brewed previously. Just don’t forget to rinse this vessel thoroughly before reusing it so as not to spoil the strained and clean malt.
Place the strained malt broth over high heat, wait until it boils, and then cook for 1-1.5 hours from the moment it boils. After this time, add hops to the malt broth and cook everything for another hour. After this, remove the cauldron from the heat and place it aside to allow the contents to cool properly to approximately 20-25 °C. Next, strain the broth through a sieve and pour it into a container in which it will ferment.
For fermentation it is necessary to prepare in advance sourdough, which will consist of sugar and yeast. Dilute the yeast with a small amount of warm malt-hop broth, add sugar and let the yeast rise well. When the starter is ready, put it in the already cooled beer broth and mix everything thoroughly. After this, cover the boiler with the semi-finished beer product with warm material and place it in a warm place for fermentation. All you have to do is wait until the beer is completely ready, and this process takes about 2-3 days. During fermentation, foam will appear on the surface of the beer, which must be removed. At the same time, do not forget to re-cover the beer with warm material each time. By the way, you don’t have to throw away the skimmed foam, since it can just as well be used the next time, when brewing beer again, as yeast.
After 2-3 days, which you spent in lust and impatience next to the treasured, but not yet quite ready beer, you can breathe a sigh of relief: finally, the divine beer drink is ready! Invite your friends to your house, gather your family and announce sensational news that has been kept secret for so long. Imagine how happy they all will be! And how proud they will be of you! You never even dreamed of such success, and all this thanks to beer alone. But before you start tasting homebrew beer, do not forget to strain it, preferably through a hair sieve, after which the beer should be briefly transferred to a cool place so that its temperature becomes suitable. Now it's ready, and you can start the beer festival. By the way, beer becomes tasty and aromatic when its temperature reaches 10 °C.
It has long been noticed and proven that it is at this temperature that beer most fully reveals its rich and unique taste, all its qualities and aroma are felt. Therefore, if you decide to go to the bitter end, do not be lazy to bring the finished drink to the desired temperature to be absolutely sure that the invited tasters will be amazed on the spot.
Every year, more and more achievements appear in the technology of making beer, including homemade beer, to which you can have a hand. Often, in the production of beer, various drugs and natural medicinal additives are used, as a result of which beer acquires an unusual taste and unexpected properties that can be used for medicinal or preventive purposes. The use of non-traditional raw materials in beer production technology is becoming a very interesting direction and a vast field of activity in brewing, and especially in home brewing. Therefore, dare and experiment, and you will definitely succeed. Moreover, by doing home brewing, you provide yourself with an environmentally friendly and natural product that does not contain any harmful impurities or preservatives.
HOMEMADE WHITE BEER
The next beer recipe for home production and consumption is white beer. Compared to the previous recipe, this beer is made in a very simple and cheap way.
First of all, you will need a wooden barrel with a capacity of about 6 buckets. To make beer, you will have to slightly alter the barrel: hammer a bushing on the side closer to the bottom of the barrel and make a hole for the future tap, and on the opposite, upper side of the bottom in the middle, make a hole that will be plugged with an ordinary bushing.
After all the preparatory work, you can safely proceed to the very first stage brewing beer. To do this, you will need a boiler in which to brew the beer. Pour 3 buckets of water into it, put it on the fire and bring to a boil. After this, put 300-400 g of good, selected hops into the water and bring the liquid to a boil again. Once boiling, allow the contents of the kettle to simmer for 5-6 minutes, then remove the kettle from the heat. Strain the resulting hop infusion through a canvas or thin wicker basket lined with washed and boiled wheat straw. Put about 6 kg of sugar, 2 tbsp. prepared brewer's yeast, then stir the broth thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour the beer broth into a barrel prepared in advance, which should be moved to a warm place in order for the fermentation process to begin. The sleeve should not be clogged.
You will notice that the liquid in the barrel begins to foam very much, but in just a few days the foam will subside. It is best to remove the remaining foam. If you decide brew beer in the summer, the fermentation process will last approximately 3-4 weeks, and in the last two weeks the sleeve will need to be plugged. And that's not all: every two days the sleeve should be opened and closed again.
Throughout this entire period, the taste of sugar should completely disappear from the liquid in the barrel, and if this does not happen, the fermentation process should be further extended. It is by this indicator - the presence or absence of a sugar taste - that you can determine whether the beer is sufficiently fermented or not. When the sugary aftertaste completely disappears, hammer the bushing firmly into the barrel and leave the beer alone for 4-5 days. After this time, the beer will be completely ready for consumption, but first it should be poured using the previously attached tap into separate bottles, which are tightly sealed. Beer should be poured to prevent it from spoiling.
Since this beer is called white, it can be consumed in this form without making any further transformations. But some will enjoy fussing with the preparation of beer, and therefore you can go further and, with the help of some manipulations, give the beer a shade that suits you. To do this, you can tint it with sugar coloring, which can be purchased at a pharmacy, or use a homemade dye, which can be burnt rye bread infusion.
HOMEMADE SUGAR BEER
This recipe will help you get a tasty and nutritious drink that you will never want to part with under any circumstances. This homemade beer just like the previous recipes, you can get it at home at any time of the year.
According to the recipe, you will need several buckets of boiled and settled water, for each bucket of water - approximately 1.2 kg of sugar, 1 cup of brewer's yeast. Pour hot water into a clean tub or barrel, add the required amount of sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved. In this case, the sugar solution should cool slightly to the temperature of fresh milk or to ambient temperature, if this happens in the summer. After the liquid has cooled slightly, add 1 cup of brewer's yeast and mix thoroughly.
This solution must be left alone for about 2-3 days for fermentation, during which foam will float to the surface of the beer liquid, and it must be removed. When fermentation is complete, which you can again determine by the presence or absence of a sugary aftertaste, the finished beer should be strained and poured into clean bottles. To add flavor to the beer, you can put lemon or orange peel in each bottle.
After bottling the beer, the bottles should be tightly corked, the corks should be tied well, and stored in a cold room or cellar, but at the same time, the beer should be constantly monitored so that it does not freeze - then it becomes unfit for consumption. That is, of course, you can drink it, but this drink can only be considered beer with a big stretch.
With a large amount of sugar or sweet molasses, beer acquires a sweet taste and foams heavily due to the fact that the content of alcohol and carbonic acid in sweeter beer also increases. Therefore, you can independently vary not only the taste of the future beer, but also its strength, color and alcohol content.
RASPBERRY BEER
To prepare this beer, you will need a large vat or pan in which to brew the beer, the larger the container, the better. Pour several buckets of water into the cauldron and boil. The water should settle and cool slightly.
Cook the raspberry syrup with sugar in advance. Sort out the ripe raspberries and rinse well in cold water, then crush with a wooden spoon or rub through a sieve. Sprinkle the pureed raspberry mass with granulated sugar in a ratio of 1.2 kg of sugar per 1 kg of raspberries, and then add water - 0.6 l - and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add raspberry syrup to a boiler with hot water in the following ratio: for each bucket of water, as much syrup as is obtained from 1 kg of raspberries. By the way, you don’t have to strain the raspberry syrup, but pour it in with them, so that later, when infused, the berries will give even more raspberry flavor and aroma. When you have poured the syrup into the boiler, mix its contents thoroughly and add ready-made brewer's yeast at the rate of approximately 2/3 cup of yeast for each bucket of liquid. Leave the cauldron with the solution and yeast alone for several days (23 days will be enough). During this entire time, fermentation will occur, resulting in foam appearing on the surface of the beer. Don't forget to take it off.
After the beer has sufficiently fermented, strain it from the remaining raspberries and pour into separate bottles, which are tightly corked and stored in a cool place.
CHERRY BEER
Rinse ripe cherries with cold water, pour into an enamel bowl and fill with water at the rate of 2 liters of water for each kilogram of cherries. When the cherries begin to boil, do not reduce the heat and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Strain the resulting cherry juice and filter through a linen bag, mixing it with the remaining juice squeezed from boiled cherries. Then add sugar to the cherry juice at the rate of 60 g of sugar for each liter of juice.
Next, cool the cherry juice slightly (to about 25 °C) and dilute the yeast in it in an amount of 2-3 tbsp. l., which must first be soaked in a small amount of warm water. When the wort has fermented, it should be shaken every day and any foam that appears should be skimmed off. After a week, strain the beer, pour into bottles, seal and store in a cool, dark room.
BEREZOVOE
To make this beer you will need fresh birch sap, which is best collected in March, when the birch leaves have not yet unfolded and the sap inside the tree begins to rise upward. The sap is extracted from cuts on the surface of the birch, but you need to try to ensure that there are not many of them on one tree and that they are not located too close to each other. It is advisable to collect birch sap from several trees at the same time; in addition, to prepare this type of beer you will need a huge amount of it - several buckets. If you managed to collect 3-4 buckets of birch sap, this amount will be quite enough. When collecting juice into a container, immediately seal it tightly.
Pour the birch sap into a large vat or saucepan, place over high heat and bring to a boil, then let it simmer. At this time, foam will appear on the surface of the juice, which must be removed. During cooking, gradually add sugar at the rate of 2 kg of sugar for every 8 liters of birch sap. To add a special aroma, add a little chopped lemon zest to the birch liquid. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat under the boiler and let the juice settle and cool a little, then carefully dilute half a glass of yeast in the boiled birch sap.
After this, the birch beer must ferment for 5-6 days in a warm place, during which it is necessary to constantly remove the foam protruding on the surface of the liquid, and also frequently shake the contents of the container in which it ferments. It is best if birch beer ferments in a wooden container: a tub or barrel. When fermentation is over, strain the finished beer, bottle it and seal tightly.
MAPLE BEER
Unlike birch sap, maple sap is much sweeter and has a pleasant specific taste and aroma. Maple sap should be collected in the same way as birch sap, only beer should be made on the exact day on which it was collected so that it does not have time to deteriorate and lose its properties. To make beer from maple sap, you will need a large amount of maple sap - about four buckets.
Assembled maple with ok, pour into a large cauldron and bring to a boil over high heat, then gradually add 3-4 kg of sugar. When it is completely dissolved, remove the pot from the heat. During cooking, do not forget to remove any foam that appears on the surface of the liquid.
Pour the boiled juice into a wooden barrel or tub and let it cool to 20 °C, then dilute 2 tbsp. l. yeast. The beer must ferment in a warm place for 4 days, for which the barrel must be covered with warm material. Don't forget to skim off any excess foam. After this time, when the beer is fermenting, do not completely seal the sleeve on the barrel and transfer it to the cellar or any other cold place for 4 weeks. As a result, you will get simply magnificent and very tasty beer, which will need to be strained, poured into bottles and sealed well.
ANCIENT RUSSIAN HONEY BEER
The recipe for this old beer has somehow survived to this day, to our great happiness. After all, who these days will be able to enjoy a real ancient drink, the preparation technology of which involves the most natural processes. It is noteworthy that the preparation of this beer does not require any tricks or the use of boiling or even heating, so the technology for its preparation is so simple and understandable that even a non-professional can do it. This natural drink is not only incredibly tasty, but also very useful from a medical point of view, so it would be a shame not to prepare it.
Take equal amounts of cherries and wild strawberries (you can use garden strawberries instead), sort and rinse thoroughly in cold water. Then mix the berries with the same amount of real bee honey. Dilute this honey-berry mixture with as much water as you think is sufficient. After this, add the last component to the mixture - this is a slice of rye bread, which has been soaked for a short time in good brewer's yeast. Please note that for 3 kg of berries and 3 liters of honey there are 15 liters of water, 200-250 g of brewer's yeast and 400 g of rye bread.
Leave this mixture alone for about 2-3 weeks, during which you stir it periodically. After this time, drain the liquid and pour it into a wooden barrel, which must be covered and placed in a warm place to complete fermentation. In a week or two this fabulous beer will be ready.
ORIGINAL HONEY BEER
Dilute 3.5 kg of light thick honey with 2 buckets of warm water and put on fire. Cook this mixture until it thickens, do not forget to skim off any foam that appears on the surface. The longer you cook the honey, the stronger your future beer will be. When you think it has cooked enough, remove the pot from the heat and let the honey cool slightly.
Pour it into a wooden barrel and dilute 200 g of dry yeast in it. After this, the fermentation process begins. In order to stop fermentation, after some time pour 1 glass of wine alcohol into the contents of the barrel. By the way, it will not only stop fermentation, but also cleanse the honey, make it transparent and strong.
If you wish, you can pour your favorite spices into it through the sleeve in the barrel while the honey is fermenting. Honey beer is considered fully ready only after 3 months of aging.
Drinks made from birch sap, the recipes of which have been known to winemakers for many centuries, are distinguished by their unique properties. The alcohol produced from this raw material has a mild taste. If you infuse it with brunka, it will retain many useful microelements contained in the sap of the white-trunked tree.
Collecting birch sap is a simple process, so any winemaker can stock up on this product in the required quantity. Intense sap flow in the birch begins during the period of swelling of the buds, 2 weeks before the leaves bloom. At a level of 60-80 cm from the ground, a small depression is made in the tree trunk, a tube is inserted into it and a container is attached to drain the liquid.
Birch should be chosen that is older (more than 20 cm in diameter), since young trees have little sap. The process should last no more than 2-3 hours, otherwise the birch may suffer greatly, being deprived of moisture. After the juice has been collected, be sure to cover the hole from which it flowed with earth, moss or wax. If this is not done, the tree may suffer from bacteria and subsequently die.
The sap obtained from birch is consumed fresh or used as a basis for kvass.
Alcoholic drinks from birch sap, the recipes of which are simple, you can make yourself,
The fermentation container should be made of wood. Beer will ferment on birch sap for at least 5-6 days. In this case, the container should be kept in a warm room. Any foam that appears on the surface must be removed. Once a day you should stir the contents of the container or shake it. When the liquid has fermented, it is filtered through a gauze filter, then poured into smaller bottles and tightly closed.
Do you like birch sap? This drink after winter is simply super necessary for all of us! Removes salts and all sorts of nasty things from the body. It saturates it with vitamins, etc., and if you prepare it according to the recipes below, then bye-bye pharmacy!, because kvass made from birch sap is simply incomparable. You will need fresh birch sap and one of the following recipes:
Recipe No. 1. For 10 liters of birch sap you will need 50 grams of yeast. Next: Boil the birch sap so that some of the water evaporates and the liquid becomes thicker. Cool, add yeast, let ferment. Then pour into bottles and refrigerate. The kvass is ready. Then pour the birch kvass into bottles, seal and store in a cool place.
Recipe No. 2. For 5 liters of birch sap, fry half a loaf of black bread in the oven, 5 tbsp. fry wheat or barley in a frying pan until dark brown, burn 1 glass of sugar until dark brown, bring the juice to a boil, then turn it off, mix all the ingredients, add three sprigs of black currant and leave in the room for three to four days, then the kvass is ready , strain and drink or put it in the refrigerator or basement.
This recipe can also be used in a simpler version FOR THE LAZY: don’t boil the juice, don’t fry the bread, but put the crusts more toasty, don’t burn the sugar, and instead of wheat put rice and 30 grams of yeast or don’t put in yeast, it will also work - all the options are very are good, you can also add raisins, rose hips and any ingredients from the recipes below - it all depends on your preferences.
Recipe No. 3. The collected juice is poured into plastic bottles, raisins, rose hips, sugar are added, closed and in the cellar for 1-2 months, if the bottles need to be checked longer, because burst from pressure. For a 1.5 liter bottle add 2 rose hips, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 5-10 raisins and maybe a slice of lemon.
Or you can limit yourself to one raisin or add some wheat grains to it. Screw on the lid tightly and place in a cool place. In a couple of days the kvass is ready.
Recipe No. 4. You can make something like this from birch sap. A 3-liter jar is filled with 2.5 liters of juice, half a glass of granulated sugar, a bunch of raisins, a bunch of roasted coffee beans and rye bread fried in a toaster. No yeast needed! They pull a rubber glove over the top and wait until it shows “HELLO!!!”, usually this happens on the second day, after which the juice needs to be strained, poured into plastic bottles and into the cellar or refrigerator, after 2 days it’s ready, you can consume it! Bon appetit!
Recipe No. 5. Very tasty kvass can be made from birch sap with honey and raisins.
To 10 liters of birch sap add the juice of 3 lemons, 50 g of yeast diluted in water, 200 g of honey. You can put 2-3 raisins in a bottle, then pour kvass into it. Seal the bottles and store the kvass from birch sap in a cool place for several days.
Recipe No. 6. Another very tasty version of honey kvass. FOR 10 liters of juice, 200-300 grams of honey and 200-300 grams of barley roasted until dark brown, close, let stand for 3-5 days at room temperature, pour into bottles and into the cellar. Kvass is ready.
Recipe No. 7. Add well-fried bread crusts and dark raisins to birch sap. Leave to ferment, hold for 1-2 days, strain, pour into plastic bottles to the very top, and into the basement. Do not add sugar to kvass, it will stretch. If you don’t have raisins on hand, you can do without them too). Bon appetit!!!
Recipe No. 8. For 20 liters of juice - fried crackers, 0.5 loaves of black bread, pour boiled juice - 2.5 liters and infuse for 5-6 hours. Dilute 20 grams of yeast with juice, add 20 tablespoons of kvass wort (sold in stores). Pour 1 kg of sugar into the juice and mix all the other ingredients (until the sugar dissolves), let it sit for 24 hours, pour it into bottles or jars, close it and put it in the cellar to refrigerate. We drink all summer!
Recipe No. 9. Add to birch sap: crusts of well-fried bread and dark raisins; Leave to ferment, after it has fermented, pour into bottles. Do not add sugar to kvass, it will stretch.
Recipe No. 10. YOU HAVEN'T TRIED THIS! SO WE PREPARE THE JUICE, AND CHOOSE THE FEMININE BIRCH (DARK) - THE JUICE IS SWEET. THEN FILL A 2-LITRE P/E BOTTLE WITH 250 GR OF BEER, FILL IT TO THE TOP WITH JUICE AND GO TO THE BASEMENT. AFTER 2 MONTHS WE RECEIVE A LIGHT HOP KVASS WITH THE AROMAT OF BEER AND A LARGE AMOUNT OF GAS. AND DRINK JUST LIKE THIS AND IT’S GOOD FOR OKROSHKA. Store in the basement for a year or more.
Rolled juice:
- The collected juice is heated to a boil, add 4 tbsp to a 3-liter jar. l. sugar, citric acid on the tip of a spoon. Closed under an iron lid.
- For 3l. juice, 3-4 mugs of orange, a pinch of raisins, 0.5 tsp lemon, sugar to taste, roll up. A scalded sprig of black currant is also placed in the jar.
- For 3 liters of juice, 5 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice - bring to a boil and add 1 Mint or Duchess caramel to the jar. Pour, roll up.
There was a song “Birch Sap” with the words “...and the Motherland generously gave me birch sap, birch sap.” Does anyone remember? This is not about singing together, but about urgently getting down to collecting birch sap, since nature’s annual time of generosity has arrived.
The recipes, of course (the theme of the site obliges) will be alcoholic, although you can get a variety of drinks from birch sap. We will get “with a degree”. However, I’ll give you a few “harmless” recipes – “to the heap”. :)
First a few words
about the benefits of birch sap.
It is not without reason that the birch is, to some extent, a symbol of the Slavs - one might say that the entire East Slavic culture grew right under the birch tree, infused with birch sap. Just think about it - they wrote on birch bark, they planed a torch from a birch log, they could not do without birch tar in the household, they steamed in the bathhouse and swept the house with a birch broom, they were treated with decoctions of birch buds. And they drank birch kvass - a simple drink or a low-alcohol drink - and berezovik - a stronger drink. Everything is made from birch sap. Song! It becomes clear why we have such a touching relationship with birch.
And indeed, this birch sap is a very, very useful product.
The benefit of birch sap is that it is able to dissolve urinary stones, at the same time removing all sorts of harmful substances from the body - one, it is useful for the prevention and treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - two, it has proven itself in the fight against pulmonary problems: cough, bronchitis, tuberculosis lungs - three.
In addition, with spring vitamin deficiency, what else can be consumed if not freshly collected birch sap for the benefit of the body? It stimulates metabolism (a dietary drink, by the way), regenerates tissue, and has a tonic effect, including when used externally, so to speak - that is, in cosmetology.
And why all? But because birch sap is rich in various useful substances: potassium, magnesium, calcium, organic acids - glutamic, nicotinic, malic.
Well, now that we’ve figured out the benefits of birch sap, let’s move on to the recipes.
Birch Recipes.
An ancient alcoholic drink made from birch sap was called “berezovik”. And it was, as I understood, not so much tasty as simply intoxicating, which is what was required of it - to give it to the head. But this is not our way. Therefore, the birch bark recipes that are given here are somewhat, so to speak, “modernized” and simplified.
The first recipe for birch.
The resulting fresh juice in the amount of five liters, a bottle of port wine and a bottle of vodka are poured into a vessel (preferably an oak barrel, but you can also take a glass container), a kilogram of granulated sugar and half a kilo of raisins are added. All this is thoroughly mixed until the sugar dissolves. The vessel is tightly sealed and taken to a cold place. If you can put it on ice, that’s ideal. After two months, the finished drink from birch sap is poured into bottles, which are sealed even more carefully (the corks are best secured to the neck of the bottles with wire, as in champagne), taken to a cool place, where they are stored in a position lying on their side.
The second recipe for birch.
This method is more labor-intensive, but closer to the historical roots of making a drink from birch sap.
The calculation is again based on five liters of juice. We pour it into the basin in which we usually cook jam, add one and a half kilograms of granulated sugar and begin to heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. The foam that forms in this case must be removed. Cook, cook over low heat until about a third of the contents of our bowl has boiled down. Then remove from the heat, strain the syrup into the container that is intended for further preparation (again, a barrel is better, but a glass vessel will also work). We wait until it cools down to approximately body temperature. Now it’s time to pour in two previously diluted tablespoons of yeast and a bottle of vodka, and also throw in two lemons cut into slices - peeled but pitted. Make sure that the vessel is not filled to the very top - there should be room for fermentation. And the birch tree will ferment in a warm place for about twelve hours, after which it needs to be taken out into the cold for seven weeks. Then the drink should be strained, poured into champagne bottles (collected over these seven weeks :)), sealed with wire and stored in a cool place.
The third recipe for birch.
Five liters of birch sap, a liter of port wine, one and a half kilograms of sugar and two finely chopped lemons with peel but without seeds are mixed in a vessel, which is placed in a cold place for two months. Then the still unfinished alcoholic drink is bottled and sealed in a way already known to us. Take the bottles again to a cool room, where the birch tree will “reach” for another three weeks. The bottles should lie on their sides, preferably on the sand.
Recipes for alcoholic drinks made from birch sap.
These recipes call for the use of wine and more sugar, so what you get can no longer be called birch bark. What kind of alcoholic drink is this - think for yourself - maybe you will call it birch balsam, birch wine or birch liqueur. I like the last option.
The first recipe for a drink made from birch sap.
For four liters of juice, take half a liter of dry wine, a glass of vodka, half a kilo of sugar and four hundred grams of raisins, which we add after the granulated sugar has completely dissipated. We close the vessel tightly and place it on ice - or in a very cold place for about three months. Then we pour what we got into bottles, seal it and store it in sand, lying on its side.
The second recipe for a drink made from birch sap.
For the same four liters of birch sap you need a bottle of dry wine, eight hundred grams of granulated sugar, one crushed lemon. We keep the carefully closed mixture in the cold for two months, then bottle it, close it, and take the bottles to a cellar or cold basement, where they lie on their sides for another month. And then you can start tasting.
Beer made from birch sap.
Either beer or low-alcohol kvass is obtained. More likely the second than the first. A recipe that is simple to the point of primitiveness.
We pour out (in the sense of drinking) almost all the beer from a two-liter bottle, leaving a glass there, top it up with birch sap right up to the cap, screw the cap on and put it in a cold place - or in the refrigerator, if there is room - for two months. If you open it, be careful, enough gas will accumulate. By the way, in the summer heat, such kvass can be added to okroshka - tasty, refreshing and unusual.
Harmless recipes for making birch sap.
1) Birch sap syrup.
Fresh birch sap is evaporated for a long time and persistently over low heat in a container without a lid until it thickens. The sugar concentration in birch syrup is about 60 percent, the color is light yellow, even more likely light lemon, and the thickness of the syrup resembles honey. Store it in the refrigerator in a glass jar, adding it to various non-alcoholic and alcoholic cocktails. By the way, scientists have discovered that birch syrup can stop the development of caries! But it takes quite a long time to prepare and is expensive: think about how much gas you need to burn to evaporate water from birch sap!
2) My personal recipe
It was created according to the principle “I made you out of what I had,” but everyone at home really liked the result. We heat birch sap (which can begin to ferment) over low heat along with sugar (a three-liter glass), frozen red (or black, or a mixture of them) currants - half a glass and broken slices of dried apples - about ten. For color, you can throw in a little hibiscus. As soon as all the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat, strain, pour into bottles and put them in a cool place.
To prepare such birch kvass, you can use anything, in my opinion: something for sweetness (sugar, syrup, jam), something for sourness (citrus fruits, lemon, sour berries), something for color (hibiscus , black tea, again a bright berry). And, most importantly, your imagination!
And as a “snack” to these recipes, I can’t resist offering you another well-known soulful song and an equally touching slideshow.
