Jaji said:

>The url for the recipe is:
><http://brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/12_28.html>http://brewery.org/brewery/c
>m3/recs/12_28.html. I altered the quantities given to the following, and it
>worked:
>1 quart whole milk
>8oz. water
>1/4 cup brown sugar
>1/2 packet yeast (normal Red Star brand, cake yeast was hard to find)
>2 tsp. (mounded) lactose powder (found at health food/macrobiotic stores)
>I also visited my local discount store for a ceramic jar with a metal clamp and
>rubber seal. I used Grolsch bottles, but any bottle with the rubber
>washer/ceramic stopper/metal clamp combo should work. But the pressure is high,
>so treat it like champagne when opening.
>
I've used a very similar recipe from an early 20th century chemist's
publication called "Henley's Formulary" (it has everything from
bartender guidelines to how to mix baby formula). But I found the best
containers were the mylar bags from wine-in-boxes (the only disavantage
is the cheap wine you have to go through first...). I rinsed them
carefully (use white wines or you might get pink kumiss!) and did my
kumiss in gallon batches.

The advantage to the mylar bag is that you can both skae and burp it
easily (and you can even leave a toothpick stuck in the vent at night so
it won't explode). I left mine on the kitchen table and made everyone
who came in spend ten minutes shaking it (less shaking means clumpier
kumiss)--not exactly like having a leather kumiss bag hanging by the
door, but not far off. It tastes to me like a cross between buttermilk
and champagne and my houshold has come to like it over Frosted
Mini-wheats or with Nestle's Quik....

Chai

--
Jana Russ
Department of History
The University of Akron
Akron, OH 44325-1902
330-972-7006
jana@...
http://www.uakron.edu/worldciv/russ
http://www.uakron.edu/worldciv/china
http://www.uakron.edu/english/russ