Pruno

For other uses, see Pruno (disambiguation).

Pruno, or prison wine, is an alcoholic liquid variously made from apples, oranges, fruit cocktail, ketchup, sugar, and possibly other ingredients, including crumbled bread. Bread supposedly provides the yeast for the pruno to ferment. Pruno originated in (and remains largely confined to) prisons and jails, where it can be produced cheaply, easily, and discreetly. The concoction can be made using only a plastic bag, hot running water, and a towel or sock to conceal the pulp during fermentation. The end result has been colorfully described as a "vomit-flavored wine-cooler", although flavor is often not the primary objective. Depending on the time spent fermenting, the sugar content, and the quality of the ingredients and preparation, pruno's alcohol content by volume can range from as low as 2% (equivalent to a very weak beer) to as high as 14% (equivalent to a strong wine).

Description

Typically, the fermenting mass of fruit — called the motor in prison parlance (from "promoter") - is retained from batch to batch to make the fermentation start faster. The more sugar that is added, the greater the potential for a higher alcohol content — to a point. Beyond this point, the waste products of fermentation cause the motor to die when the yeasts outgrow their food supply. This also causes the taste of the end product to suffer. Ascorbic acid or Vitamin C powder is sometimes used to stop the fermentation at a certain point, which, combined with the tartness of the added acid, somewhat enhances the taste by reducing the cloyingly sweet flavor associated with pruno.

Inmates are not permitted to have alcoholic beverages, and prison authorities confiscate pruno whenever they find it. In an effort to eradicate pruno, some wardens have gone as far as banning all fresh fruit from prison cafeterias. But even this is not always enough; there are pruno varieties made almost entirely from sauerkraut and orange juice. Food hoarding in the inmate cells in both prisons and jails allows the inmates to acquire ingredients and produce pruno. Some jails and prisons toss the inmate cells to remove excessive food items and hopefully halt the production of pruno. Pruno is hidden under bunks, inside toilets, inside walls, in the shower area and anywhere an inmate feels is safe to brew their pruno away from the prying eyes of prison guards and jailers.

A variety of other prison-made alcoholic potables are known to exist. These include crude wines, famously fermented in toilet tanks. Sugary beverages like orange drink may also be fermented and distilled using a radiator or other available heat source. Though popularized in prison fiction, these techniques are slow and laborious, and generally result in a low alcohol content.

The classic recipe for pruno has been attributed to Jarvis Masters, a death-row inmate at San Quentin, in his poem, "Recipe for Prison Pruno."

In 2004 at the American Homebrewer's Association's National Homebrew Conference in Las Vegas, a pruno competition and judging was held.

See also

Bum wine Changaa Drinking culture Jenkem Kilju

Moonshine Bootlegging Tepache Tharra White Lightning

External links

• Jailhouse Hooch: How to Get Liquored Up While Locked Down from Modern Drunkard Magazine
• Blacktable.com - a complete pruno recipe, including detailed instructions and frequent disclaimers.
• The Sneeze, "Steve Don't Eat It, Vol. 8: Prison Wine" - extensive, humorous account of preparation and tasting, with photographs.
• "Recipe for Prison Pruno" by Jarvis Jay Masters.