Q&A for How to Make Pruno

Fruit cocktail is used in pruno because it is readily available in prison. If you don't have any on hand, you can use equally quantities of mixed fruit and juice instead. Use about 3/4 cups of fruit, and fill the remaining 1/4 cup with orange, pear, apple, or some other juice.

No, you do not have to use oranges. The key is to use a fruit that has enough sugar content to feed the yeast, thus creating your alcohol content. Theoretically you could actually fill a container with water, add about a bag of sugar to it, and then combine your yeast and, with enough time (roughly 3-6 months), it will produce both ethanol (alcohol) and carbon dioxide. As a result of the chemical process that the yeast and possibly fermenting fruit, you must relieve the pressure built up every few days in the container or alternatively buy an airlock for the cap of the container if you are serious about producing your own alcohol.

Anything can be deadly if you consume too much. if you have a headache you can take a mild painkiller, but if you take 30 you will likely die. The same basic principle goes for pruno. Use your judgement.

You can use them. However, the taste will vary accordingly.

No, the artisan method includes boiling the ingredients, which kills bacteria present in the fruit. There is a risk of botulism with the minimalist method as it uses the naturally occurring bacteria for fermentation.

If everything is sanitary/clean it will be much better if you let it ferment longer than a week. If you only ferment for a week, it can give you gas and diarrhea from all the live yeast swimming around in it. If you leave it longer, the yeast will sink to the bottom, you can pour out the top liquid layer into clean bottles (that's your good wine).

Easy option: buy some yeast. Complicated option: If you create a starter - a sugary liquid - and leave it exposed to the open air for a few days, it will probably have natural airborne yeasts land on it and begin to ferment.

Then it isn't working. When yeast is working, it produces carbon dioxide. This, in a sealed environment, is like inflating a balloon. (Alternatively, if not in prison, there is no need to do this in a bag. A damp cloth over whatever container should work fine.) Solutions: Start a new yeast and sugary liquid mix - See when it starts to work, then add to the mix you've got.

Yeast feeds on sugars. Sugar doesn't have to come in cubes. Fruit juice is about right in terms of sugar content. Adding sugar to water is cheaper.

It depends on the amount of sugar in the mix. The maximum is going to be around 14% - because beyond that the amount of alcohol generated is poison to the yeast. So in effect, the yeast kills itself. The trick is to get the sugar content to start with just right.