You don’t have to languish in jail to make Jailhouse Booze. It’s an easy, fun project you can make in your own kitchen, with fruit juice. Old-time jailbirds used to call it Pruno. We also have another, no-waste, alternative wine recipe: Pea Pod Wine.
It’s said that the merry prisoners used to save up their lunchtime fruit juice, float a slice of moldy bread on it (for yeast) and ferment it in a milk carton, or even a garbage bag. To hide it from the jailers, they’d stash it behind the toilet, and break it out at night for a soirée in the cell.
I doubt anyone makes Pruno anymore. Today’s jailers know all about it, and know where to find that milk carton or garbage bag bulging with illicit alcohol. But if you’d like to try, I recommend fermenting the juice in a clean glass or plastic jug. Stash it in a dark, cool place instead of in the bathroom.
To get that old-time feeling, keep it under the kitchen sink. Best, and most hygenically, make room in the pantry or garage for it.
Don’t make a lot. And don’t use moldy bread unless you’re willing to risk getting sick. (Or maybe inventing Penicillin.) Pruno’s pretty rough, and there’s no quality guarantee at all.
Pruno, Or Jailhouse Booze
Equipment
- A very clean plastic or glass jug of 7- cup capacity
A long-handled spoon - A funnel or large ladle
- A latex glove or a balloon, new out of the box
A rubber band
A saucer to put under the container in case of fermentation overflow
Ingredients
1-2/3 cup sugar
1 quart/ 4 cups/ 500 ml. fruit juice, any kind, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon baker’s yeast
1 small handful raisins or grapes
Dissolve the sugar in the juice, stirring well. Funnel or ladle the juice into the jug.
Add the yeast and raisins or grapes.
Fit the glove or balloon over the mouth of the container.
Tie the rubber band around the glove or balloon: fermentation will make it swell and possibly pop off the container
With a pin or needle, poke a hole in the glove or balloon. This allows fermentation gases to escape while keeping bugs and dust out.
Set the container on top of the saucer and put that bad boy away in a cool, dark place.
The Pruno will be ready when the glove or balloon deflates.
Pour it off the sediment, chill it, and enjoy.
Recommended: play Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” as you sip.
