Methods for storing birch sap. Drink preparation method

With the onset of spring warming, approximately from mid-March, they begin to collect birch sap. We especially need it fresh. From which birch trees to take juice and how to do it right?

It is difficult to find out the period of the greatest activity of sap flow from the outside, but this is the time before the formation of kidneys. It depends on the temperature of the air, on the intensity of sunlight.
Sap flow occurs during the day, in the evening its intensity decreases.

Fresh birch sap is transparent. While the sap is coming and the middle of April is decreasing, it changes color, becomes brownish. This juice is small, but it is delicious.

How to collect birch sap

Sap is taken from healthy birch trees with thick trunks (it is possible to take more juice from such trees, and they themselves suffer less from the loss of juice). It is necessary to collect birch sap only in ecologically clean forests, because the tree is able to absorb exhaust gases and harmful substances. In no case should you take from roadside birches.

Drill holes or make a deep incision in the bark should not be close to the soil, but higher, approximately at a height of 1 meter. If the hole made in the tree is higher, then the wood then heals faster. It is advisable to put the dishes on the ground and so that the hole is directly above it.

A tube or a wood groove is inserted into the hole made at a slight downward slope. On this groove, the juice will drip into drops attached to a tree or a dish installed nearby.

Juice flows out of the hole from time to time for a couple of days, later it is tightened. From one huge tree during this period of time it is possible to get from 10 to 40 liters of juice. You don’t need to make a huge hole, it’s scary for a birch, it can dry out.

While the secretion of juice decreases, the hole is clogged with a wooden (birch) peg and covered with wax or clay. If nothing like this is at hand, use forest moss.

It is useful to drink birch sap fresh, only collected. It is forbidden to store it for more than two or three days, otherwise the liquid drunk instead of healing features can cause a stomach disorder.
Be sure to cover the container with juice to prevent its oxidation, and put it in the refrigerator.

Why do you need birch sap?

Medical studies have shown that taking at least one glass a day for 2-3 weeks (optimally drinking three glasses a day half an hour before meals) will help the body with spring weakness, beriberi, absent-mindedness, depression and fatigue.

Birch sap is contraindicated for those who are allergic to birch pollen. A lot of birch sap is contraindicated for those who have kidney stones, and specifically oxalates. Since birch sap has a pronounced diuretic effect, it is able to push oxalate into the urinary tract.

Fresh birch sap heals duodenal and stomach ulcers, gallbladder, liver diseases, relieves headaches, treats scurvy, bronchitis, cough, and has a curative effect on rheumatism, sciatica, gout and arthritis. Also, birch sap is needed for skin diseases, it cleanses the blood, has a stimulating effect on metabolism, and flushes the kidneys.
It is useful to drink three glasses during the day, 30 minutes before meals.

Birch sap can be preserved and consumed throughout the year. Despite the fact that he loses his own healing features.

Birch sap storage recipes

How to cook birch kvass?

To preserve birch sap, kvass is prepared from it: heated to 35 degrees, 15-20 g of raisins and 3 yeast per 1 liter are added, lemon zest can be added to taste. Then the jar or bottle is well closed and left for 10-15 days. It will turn out to be a very tasty, carbonated, invigorating drink!

The second recipe for kvass from birch sap: to 10 liters of birch sap add the juice of 4 lemons, 50 g of yeast, 30 g of honey or sugar, raisins at the rate of 2-3 things per bottle. Pour into bottles and keep 1-2 seven days in a black cool place.

How to preserve birch sap.

The easiest way is to pour the juice into enameled or stainless steel dishes and heat up to 80-90 degrees, pour into glass jars and roll up. Cover the jars with a thick cloth and leave overnight.

You can also use this recipe. Add sugar (to taste) and citric acid to a saucepan with juice. Heat to a boil to completely dissolve the sugar. Warm juice is poured into jars. Jars sealed with sterilized lids are kept for additional pasteurization in water at a temperature of 90 degrees for 15 minutes.

Birch sap is preserved with pine needles. Take fresh summer shoots of pine needles. They are washed well, scalded with boiling water to wash off the wax coating, and washed again, first with hot, and then with cold water. In a vessel with a capacity of 50 liters, put 2.5-3 kilograms of such needles. Strain fresh birch sap, heat it up to 80 ° C and fill it with needles to the top. Infuse juice with needles for 6-7 hours. Then drain the juice, strain, add 5 percent sugar and 0.1-0.2 percent citric acid. Pour the juice into jars and, after corking with sterilized lids, pasteurize at 90-95°C for 25 minutes.

Birch sap on mint.

For 50 liters of juice, take 70-100 grams of dry mint, pour it with juice and leave for 5-6 hours. Canned in the same way as birch sap with pine needles.

Very tasty and necessary birch sap with honey, decoction of wild rose, hawthorn, lemon balm.

Good day, friends! Do you know that birch sap is very useful and is used in cosmetology and for weight loss? It was my favorite drink as a child. They begin to collect it in the spring and close it in jars.

In this regard, many are interested in what is its use, how to collect and how much birch sap is stored in the refrigerator. Let's try to find out the answer to this question in more detail.

First, let's find out what the benefits of this drink are. Due to the excellent vitamin content and high energy value, jays are recommended for use in children's and preschool institutions.

The product contains sugar, ash, essential oils, saponin, vitamins of the group and B 6, as well as water.

It is worth noting the following useful properties of the drink:

1. In diseases of the throat, it is recommended to take it with milk.
2. For digestive problems, you can add a little lemon to the juice. This drink is effective for constipation.
3. This product is recommended for various inflammatory processes.
4. Used for disorders of the renal system.

Interestingly, in recent years this drink has become especially popular in America and England. But remember that birch water can also cause some harm.

It should not be drunk for people with chronic diseases of the stomach, as well as in the presence of allergies.

Juice is also used in cosmetology. It is effective, so it is rubbed into the skin and then the hair is washed with water.

Hair will be less greasy and grow faster.
If there is acne, then birch water can wipe the skin of the face. To do this, you can use frozen juice in ice cubes.

As a result, the skin will become more elastic.

Properly collected juice is obtained from an incised tree trunk and from broken branches. Under the pressure of the root pressure, the liquid comes out.

From one tree you can get up to a day 2-3 liters.

How to store birch sap

Now we will find out how you can store birch sap at home. First of all, only glass containers are suitable for storage.

For two or three days, the drink retains all its useful properties, and then it deteriorates without a refrigerator.

It may be in the refrigerator. no more than 7 days.

After this time, birch water becomes not so pleasant to the taste.

To increase the shelf life of the drink in the refrigerator up to 3 weeks, you can add sugar and citric acid to it.

At the same time, half a teaspoon of citric acid and 100 grams of sugar are taken per liter of drink.

All ingredients are mixed, and the composition is sent to a cold place. It does not require sterilization.
Also, the juice can be stored frozen in special bags, and an excellent cider is made from the fermented product.

In a cold cellar or in the snow near the house, the product can be stored for two weeks.

But at the same time, the sun's rays should not fall on the container.

How to determine the condition of the product

If you decide to put the juice in storage, then you will definitely need knowledge of how to determine the condition of the product.

Since even a frozen drink can go bad if the freezer malfunctions.

It is especially necessary to track the condition of the product when stored in a refrigerator or in a cellar.

Here are the typical signs of a poor-quality drink:

1. Weigh. If the sediment is at the bottom, then this is normal for good juice. And if it is distributed throughout the container, then this is a sign of fermentation. If the lid is swollen, then you can not drink the drink.
2. Mold. If mold has appeared, then the juice is unfit for consumption. Even a small amount of it in a drink indicates the presence of harmful toxins.
3. presence of vinegar. Transparency is not always an indication of the good condition of the product. The solution can become transparent even at the stage of vinegar formation.

In order for the product to be stored in the refrigerator for a long time, you need to know how conservation is done.

Freeze usage

To preserve the juice, a method such as freezing is used. Even after the freezer, the drink retains its medicinal and taste qualities. Freezing should be done in small batches.

After defrosting, the product must be used immediately, as thawed products lose their healing properties very quickly and deteriorate.

A thawed drink can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.
To freeze, do the following. Pour the prepared product into bags and place in the freezer.

Follow these rules:

1. Packages must be tight. You can insert one into the other.
2. Each container should contain no more than 0.5 liters of drink.
3. Tie tightly so that there is no leakage.
4. You need to place it so that the juice can fill the widest part of the bag with a thin layer.

This method is suitable for long-term storage of perishable products. Frozen products with high-quality tightness can be stored for 3 to 5 years.

conservation methods

Now let's figure out how to close a canned product.

Here are the main ways to preserve delicious wood liquid:

1. Fermentation. This recipe with raisins is made from three liters of juice, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a handful of raisins. First sterilize the jar, then pour the juice into it, add sugar and put the washed raisins. Cover the jar with a plastic lid. Put the container in a warm place, and after three days the mixture will ferment. You can store such a drink for 10-15 days.
2. Pasteurization. First, heat the drink in a saucepan to 80 degrees. Pour it into hot and sterilized jars. Cover with lids and place in a water bath. Pasteurization should last 30 minutes. Then the jars are closed with lids, and after they have cooled, they are placed in the cellar.
3. Kvass with yeast. Per liter you need to take 15 grams of yeast and 5 raisins. Heat the drink in a saucepan to 40 degrees. Then add raisins and yeast to the drink. Pour into jars and store in a cool place. This juice can be stored for up to six months.
4. Russian balm. For adults, you can prepare an intoxicating drink. 10 liters of juice need to be heated, and then pour 3 kg of sugar and 2 liters of dry wine into it. Lemons are cut along with the peel and added to the mixture. The vessel must be closed with gauze and put in the refrigerator for 60 days. The liquid is then filtered and bottled. After 20 days the product is ready.

Consider another juice preservation option:

1. First, a concentrate is made. To do this, the liquid must be heated and evaporated 75% of the total volume.
2. The hot concentrate is poured into jars, which are sterilized in a water bath for 30 minutes.

Such preservation is stored even at room temperature.

Popular Recipes

The effectiveness of birch sap increases when combined with other products.

Consider some recipes:

1. You can add lingonberries to the juice. To do this, juice is squeezed out of 150 g of berries and boiled in a water bath for about 5 minutes. A birch drink is added to the strained broth. You can make it with honey.
2. Birch water with the addition of mountain ash has a diuretic and laxative effect. It also helps with rheumatism and kidney stones. To make the drink even more healthy, add lemon juice to it.
3. Here is another recipe for a healing drink. Grind 6 lemons through a meat grinder and add a liter of juice to them. The composition should stand for 2 days in the refrigerator. Then boil it until the volume is reduced by 2 times.
4. To prepare a refreshing drink, you need to put 1 kg of sugar on a bucket of juice. Then add dried pears and apples to the juice, which should be tied in gauze. The container must be placed in the cellar for maturation.
5. Roasted golden barley is also added to the juice. 2 spoons per liter of juice. The composition is placed in the cellar for a month.

Now you know all the secrets of storing this miraculous drink and you can enjoy its amazing taste for a long time.

If you want to supplement the information with interesting facts or useful tips - write in the comments.

Drink to your health and see you soon!

• Shelf life: 7 days
• Best before date: 7 days
• Shelf life in the refrigerator: 5 days
• Freezer time: 60 days

Storage conditions:
In a cool and dark place at a temperature not exceeding +12 ° C

At the beginning of spring, when the snow just begins to melt in the forest and the first “glades” appear on the ground, all nature comes to life. And life-giving moisture begins to flow along the birches - birch sap, a liquid that contains a lot of vitamins and nutrients.

It can be easily collected in order to nourish your body with energy and improve it, but not everyone knows how to store birch sap at home so that it not only does not lose its beneficial properties, but also does not deteriorate. That is what we will be talking about today.

How to store birch sap at home

It is not difficult to store birch sap, but it all depends on what kind of product is in your department. If it is birch sap bought in a store, then it is usually sold in 3-liter jars and hermetically sealed. Its shelf life is 2 years, as well as all other canned foods. The production time and expiration date can be found on the product label.

Another thing is if you are planning to collect or have already collected natural birch sap, and are thinking about how to store it so that it does not lose its beneficial qualities. How to store birch sap at home? This will take a little work, but first consider the useful qualities of this product:

• Birch sap has an excellent tonic effect;
• Excellent effect on the functioning of the bronchi and lungs;
• The liquid contains a very high content of calcium and magnesium, sodium and fluorine, and many other minerals necessary for a person.

In central Russia, in just 2 weeks, you can collect healthy birch sap to enjoy its healing taste.

How to store birch sap in the refrigerator

In fact, real forest birch sap is stored for a very short time, so you should immediately drink it to increase your immunity. But there are special methods to extend the life of a vitamin drink for a short time, but no more than 2-4 days. This can be done if you immediately pour the drink into clean glass jars and put them in the refrigerator for storage.

How to store birch sap for the winter

Without freezing or preserving the drink, this is almost impossible. But even in conditions of clean containers and special refrigerator conditions, long-term storage of birch sap can become dangerous, and it loses its beneficial properties.

To begin with, pathogenic microbes that live even in the cleanest refrigerator can penetrate into it, which will lead to spoilage of the juice. In addition, when in contact with air, the juice begins to oxidize, and this leads to the fact that toxic substances, free radicals, begin to be released from it. Therefore, in order to properly preserve the forest gift in the form of birch sap, it must be conserved.

How to store birch sap for future use

If there is too much birch sap, then simple fermentation will help to keep it. To do this, strained juice is poured into a clean container (glass), which was previously sterilized with boiling water or steam. For each liter of liquid, add half a teaspoon (it is recommended to use cane or brown sugar for color and taste) and 5-7 pieces. Also, in some cases, for a spicy taste and aroma, they put the zest of citrus fruits (, lime, orange). Now the container can be closed with a tight lid, for reliability, so that the jar does not “explode”, it should be tightly tied with tape or wire and in 3-4 days you will get real birch kvass. And you should be careful with it, as alcohol may be present in it. This drink keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

How to store birch sap so that it does not turn sour

And of course, the simplest way to save the juice is to preserve the product. To do this, it is enough to heat the strained drink without adding sugar to 80 degrees, pour it into prepared jars and roll it up in the usual way, you can use ordinary metal lids. To prevent air from entering the product, you can additionally resin the place where the lid and container come into contact. After that, the sealed jars must be sterilized at a temperature of 75-80C for 15 minutes. You can store this product up to six months, in a cool and dark place.

How to store birch sap in the freezer

How to store birch sap in a plastic bottle? If space in the freezer allows, it is fashionable to pour birch sap filtered from debris and small chips into clean plastic bottles and freeze. You can choose the container according to your preferences from 0.5 liters to 2.5.

It is important to screw the cap on the bottle tightly enough and not pour the full volume of juice into the container - when frozen, it will “inflate” a little and it can simply explode. Therefore, it is better to underfill 100-150 ml of birch sap.

Defrost such a product in the refrigerator, and its shelf life is 8 months.

How to store birch sap at room temperature

If the collected product is not stored in a cool place, then for about 2-3 days the juice will begin to become cloudy and then ferment. While refrigerated at a low temperature, it will not lose its flavor or change its consistency up to 5 days.

How to store birch sap in the cellar

If a container with juice is “digged” in the snow, in the shade of a house, or, for example, in a cold cellar so that direct sunlight does not fall on it, then the product can be stored up to 2 weeks. But it is worth noting that with such a long storage, the drink will lose its original taste, it will be sweeter and at the same time bland in taste. Then the juice will turn sour, and then ferment, and a pronounced taste of vinegar will appear.

How to store birch sap without sterilization

Among other things, on the basis of birch sap, with its ability to ferment, you can prepare natural homemade alcoholic drinks. For example, you need 5 liters of juice, 1.5 kg. Sugar and a bottle of fortified. It is advisable to add zest taken from a couple of lemons or. All ingredients are mixed, aged for a day at room temperature, and then 2 months in the refrigerator.

The taste of the drink is very well revealed after 80-90 days, and it can be stored for up to 3 months.

Remember that natural birch sap is an excellent immunostimulant, but despite its natural naturalness, it should not be consumed in unlimited quantities. It will perfectly help to saturate the weakened body with vitamins, protect it from inflammatory processes and infections, and restore strength after diseases.

Alternative storage of birch sap, without canning

In addition to canning, a drink can be preserved in another way - by evaporation. As a result, you get a thick syrup, saturated with minerals and vitamins, which is enough to quench your thirst with ordinary drinking water. In addition, it is very good to add it to the dough, and flavor homemade confectionery or pastries.

The only thing is that, due to the fact that there is little sugar in the drink, the process can take quite a long time. You can try, of course, and if the result is satisfactory for you, prepare birch sap in this way. Moreover, in culinary publications there is information that some managed to bring the juice to a concentration with a sugar content of 70%, which means it is possible - but laborious.

We are accustomed to the taste of semi-finished products, natural has long been “out of fashion” - products without bright labels have even become somehow “alarming”. And some people even began to wonder if it was dangerous to eat something that grew in the forest nearby and was put up for sale by some grandmother? The fact that you can go into the forest on your own and find something nutritious and healthy there does not even occur to a civilized inhabitant of a metropolis !!!

For example, we certainly know what birch is (such a tree with black and white bark), but sweet and sour liquid in a jar or package on a supermarket shelf is almost never associated with this tree. And no one thinks about extracting juice on their own. And then there is the collection of juice is possible only 15-20 days a year, its benefits for the human body are poorly covered in popular science magazines, and the method of its long-term storage at home generally remains a mystery. But were our ancestors really wrong when they called birch sap an elixir of life?! Let's figure it out!

Where does it come from, what is useful in it and how to assemble it yourself?

Birch roots, like any other tree, take water from the soil. Then it enters through the tree vessels into the trunk and kidneys, being enriched on the way with starch, microelements, vitamins, proteins and acids. At the same time, juice (about 80 liters from one) can be collected within a couple of weeks in the spring. With the advent of the first earrings, the birch stops "crying". At the same time, birch "water" is useful not only for the tree itself, but also for the human body. Unlike ordinary water, which can only be rich in minerals, it contains enzymes, vitamins, phytoncides, tannins, fructose, essential oils and organic acids, etc., which is why our ancestors loved it so much.

It is best to choose birches with a trunk diameter of more than 20 cm. To collect, a small hole is made in the trunk and a groove is inserted, under which a container for juice is placed. After the “procedure”, the hole is treated with a special medicine and covered with moss. At the same time, you need to know that for harvesting juice in unspecified places you can get a fine of up to 700 thousand rubles, so it’s better to first contact the forestry for clarification.

Can birch sap harm? Harm

But before you head to the nearest forestry, let's see if the sap of this tree can harm your body. To begin with, we note that there are only two categories of people who are not destined to improve their health with its help:

People allergic to birch catkin pollen;
Breastfed children.

For everyone else, it can only help remove toxins, trans fats and salts.

Who will benefit from birch sap? Benefit

The most useful is raw birch sap, which has been stored for no more than two days; when frozen, it retains fewer nutrients. As for store-bought juice, it all depends on the manufacturer's technologies. In any case, birch sap is useful for those who have one of the following diseases:

Arthritis, sciatica, rheumatism, gout;
Stones in the urinary and gallbladder, kidneys (but be sure to consult a doctor);
Problems with the liver, kidneys and other internal organs, the gastrointestinal tract;
Diseases of the cardiovascular system;
Runny nose (including chronic), tonsillitis, cough, acute respiratory infections and acute respiratory viral infections, tuberculosis, bronchitis and pneumonia;
Oncology;
Intoxication;
Inflammatory processes in the genitourinary system;
Chronic fatigue and drowsiness.

How to store birch sap at home? Can it be stored until winter?

As we have already mentioned, fresh juice can be stored without compromising its quality in a cellar or refrigerator for two days. After this time, he quickly begins to turn sour. A freezer will help keep it until winter. But you only need to freeze it very quickly so that there is no loss of nutrients.

You can also "close" birch sap in glass jars. They need to be heated to 80 degrees and rolled up with tin lids. After that, the juice in jars is kept in hot water for 15 minutes, and then cooled at room temperature.

Another way to preserve is the production of birch concentrate. To do this, you need to bring fresh juice to a 60-degree temperature and evaporate 3/4 of its original volume. The remaining quarter is poured into jars and, as in the previous method, they are rolled up with lids. In winter, before use, such a concentrate is mixed with water.

Delicious and very useful!

As you, I hope, have already seen, birch sap can and should be collected on your own in early spring, because it is a real elixir of vitality and health for a person, helping the body cope with many diseases. Its long-term storage at home is also quite possible. And to make the drink even tastier, you need to show quite a bit of imagination.

* If you add raisins and sugar to the juice (about 2 tsp per liter), then in a few days you will get kvass, which you can drink right away or store for several months. Instead of raisins, you can add rye breadcrumbs, but then you will have to wait about two weeks for readiness.

* You can also prepare a healing birch-lingonberry drink. To do this, you need to squeeze 300 grams of lingonberries and mix them with two liters of birch sap. Add a little honey to the mixture, and then drink and recharge with health. Instead of lingonberries, you can use any other berries, oranges, lemons, dried fruits that you like!

Natural juices have one drawback - they quickly deteriorate. The longer fresh birch sap is stored, the less useful substances remain in it. Even with proper storage, after 2 days, the fermentation process begins. Therefore, in order to keep it as long as possible, you should find out what drinks can be made from it, and what methods exist to prevent the loss of its beneficial properties.

In fresh form, it is much more useful than after boiling. Taking 1-2 glasses a day will allow you to eliminate insomnia within two weeks, overcome weakness of the body, beriberi, absent-mindedness, depression, fatigue. In addition, birch sap has a healing effect: it is prescribed in the treatment of duodenal ulcers, liver diseases, sciatica and rheumatism. However, you should remember about contraindications: allergies, kidney stones.

It is better to extract birch sap on your own. However, not everyone has access to an ecologically clean birch grove. Therefore, most people buy such juice in cans. It is easy to determine its quality. It is enough to take a few sips and appreciate the taste. Due to the 2% sugar content, it has a sweetish taste. It lacks bitterness and tastes like spring water.

What should be done to keep the juice for a long time

By learning how to store birch sap, you can enjoy its taste for a long time. There are two options:

• deep freeze;
• conservation.

Like any vegetables, fruits and herbs, such juice will be stored for a long time if it is frozen immediately after collection. To do this, just put it in plastic bottles in the freezer. Remove one bottle at a time and thaw at room temperature as needed. However, remember that thawed juice, like fresh juice, is stored for only two days.

It should be borne in mind that this method is not suitable for everyone, but only for those who have a device with a deep freeze function. Not every refrigerator has this feature. In order for the freezing to be carried out correctly, you need to use a freezer in which the liquid instantly turns into a block of ice.

The second way is preservation. Knowing some recipes, you can extend the shelf life for a long time by preparing a tincture. Each of the recipes involves the addition of other ingredients. Therefore, the taste of the resulting drink will be different. But at the same time, the beneficial properties of the drink will be preserved.

Preservation Recipes for the Winter

The easiest way to increase the shelf life of the preservation method is as follows. Pour the juice into a steel or enamel container, heat to 75-80 degrees, then pour into jars and roll up the lids. Cover the jars with a thick cloth and leave overnight.

The most popular method of conservation using pine needles. To prepare a drink you will need:

• 50 liter capacity;
• 3 kg of shoots of pine needles;
• birch sap (40 l);
• sugar (half a cup);
• 1 tsp citric acid.

Rinse the shoots of needles thoroughly and scald with boiling water. This will help eliminate wax deposits. Then scald again with boiling water, then rinse them with cold water. First strain the birch sap, then heat it to a temperature of 80 degrees. Then fill them with shoots folded into a prepared container. Let the drink brew for 7 hours. After that, drain the tincture, strain, add sugar and citric acid. Sterilize glass jars first, then pour juice into them. Pasteurize for 20-25 minutes at a temperature of 90 degrees, then close the jars with sterilized lids.

There is another good mint drink recipe. For cooking you will need:

1. 50 liters of juice.
2. 80-100 g dry mint (stems and leaves).
3. Capacity 50 l.
4. Banks and lids for preservation.

Pour mint juice over and let it brew for 6 hours. Then pour into jars. Further actions are similar to the recipe with pine needles.

Beverages

You can increase the shelf life of birch sap by making kvass from it. There are several recipes. You can choose the one you like the most.

Dissolve 50 g of yeast in birch sap (10 l) in a barrel or flask (made of aluminum). First you need to boil the juice and cool it to room temperature. Leave the contents of the barrel for 4 days in order for the fermentation process to begin. After that, pour the kvass into bottles, close tightly with corks and place in a cool dark place.

Another recipe involves the use of an oak barrel. Place fresh birch sap in it. Tie a cotton bag filled with rye bread crusts with a string. After two days, the fermentation process will begin in the barrel. When this happens, add oak bark to the drink. If desired, you can also add cherry leaves, dill, berries. Leave the barrel for 2 weeks, after which the kvass will be ready to drink.