Get ready because you may lose your breakfast/lunch/dinner on this one.
My "business partner" and I were on our third brew of our brewing portfolio, and decided that to be different we would brew a Kvass. This roughly translates to "ACID" and originates from Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. The base of this science experiment was to use a whole loaf or two of rye bread when brewing instead of the usual Malts.
The Kvass is then bottled in 2 liter coke bottles with a few raisins to know when it is ready to drink.
We follow all the directions precisely as usual, but something goes terribly wrong...
After our *counts on hands* probably sixth or seventh beer we are ready to toss the mixture into bottles to ferment.
Side Note: Kvass is also known as Russian peasant beer, because it is simple to brew using baking yeast and bread.
We say out loud (because we have to reassure each other that we are not being idiotic) "Hey, I bet Russian peasants didn't sanitize their bottle before they bottle... they're peasants!"
Another Side Note: Sanitation is probably the most important step in brewing... ever.
We should have bitten our tongues. After two weeks of bottle fermentation we cracked open a 2 liter bottle to enjoy our Kvass.
What follows is something that could only come from the deepest depths of hell.
A fountain of foul rotten stank came from the bottle. It shot at least six feet into the air and left its sulfur and decaying organic matter odor burning in our noses. Being the brave or stupid person I am I consumed a glass of our rotten concoction to make myself feel better about wasting money. Besides a bit of dysentery the next day, we learned for the first time what CANNIBALISTIC YEAST tastes like.
Moral of the story?
NEVER SKIP SANITATION.
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