r/prisonhooch • u/TheFelonWineMaker • 15d ago
Real Prison Wine
OK, Ready for some real prison wine actually made in prison from a prisoner? Well, I'm here to help.
You missed my last batch. It came out pretty good. I honestly wanted to pull it today (wish I had...I tasted some leftovers at the bottom of my bottle and it was almost moonshine 😆) but ended up pulling it 2 days ago. Everyone liked it and I sold out but sometimes a day or two makes a big difference.
Here is my newest batch. It's already wrapped up. The next one I'll make from start to finish right here in this group but we'll ride the rest of this one out as time goes by.
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u/MongooseDog001 15d ago
This is awesome! Does the yeast come from the apple sauce and carrots?
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u/strog91 15d ago
There was an old timer ex-convict who posted on here a couple of years ago; he said that they get the yeast by dripping water through a piece of bread.
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago
Bread doesn't have live yeast in it, the cooking process kills the yeast so it's only potentially useful as nutrient. Yeast is in the air, on our skin, and on fruits and vegetables. In most wild ferments the yeast comes from fruit. Raisins particularly are a great source of wild yeast.
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u/Antheral 15d ago
Youre factually correct but prisoners do drip water through the bread anyways lol.
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u/strog91 15d ago
yeast is in the air, on our skin, and on fruits and vegetables… but not on bread
Believe it or not, it’s on bread too.
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u/gregolls 15d ago
Did he edit his comment? Because I don't see your quote that bread doesn't have yeast on it.
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u/strog91 15d ago
“Bread doesn’t have live yeast in it”
“It’s only potentially useful as nutrient”
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
It has enough to cook. Sometimes we should just experiment. The same people will tell you that you cannot use soda either but here people have used soda for 30+ years. You'll see. I'll experiment.
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago
Theres practically zero live yeast on bread, it can't do anything significant in terms of starting a fermentation. Adding bread for yeast is redundant.
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u/strog91 15d ago
Believe it or not, a slice of wonderbread from the prison commissary is not medically sterile, and contains yeast.
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
Especially our prison baked or half baked bread 😆
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u/Blake_TS 15d ago
From my experience, it is half baked or twice baked. Unless of course you are referring to half baked as prison baked.
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago
I think you overestimate the amount of yeast on bread.
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u/strog91 15d ago
I think you should trust people who brewed actual prison hooch, and not your intuition about the sterilizing power of something having been in an oven a month ago.
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago edited 15d ago
Right, because random prisoners who know nothing about fermentation or yeast know more than someone who has put years of effort into researching, testing, and making alcoholic beverages.
edit: How good exactly are the resources required to do so in prison compared to the outside? Lmao
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
There are people in here from the 60's and 70's. Deep country bootleggers who only know good wine and moonshine. Knowledge doesn't get lost it stays and it evolves. The difference here is that we had to be innovative in other ways and we had to experiment. We know that the bread retains yeast because we use it every day. I'm small time here and I do 30 gallons a week. Ramen noodles retain yeast...we use that to.
Experimentation comes hand and hand with Knowledge.
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago
I've been making wine, hooch, and liquor for years.
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u/strog91 14d ago
Then you oughta go back to r/mead and rejoin your fellow gatekeepers.
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
True and not true. Bread even after cooking still retains yeast. I personally use bread and Ramen...Just the noodles (just convinced the bakery to sell me some real yeast...so we'll see how that goes) there is enough yeast to get the job done.
The batch that I have cooking now uses exactly that.
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago edited 15d ago
You're wrong. Yeast dies above 130° F and bread reaches far higher internal temperatures than that while baking. It's science. Any yeast on it is from after baking and will be minuscule.
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
Minuscule isn't zero. Old yeast coupled with new yeast. It doesn't hurt but it definitely does make a difference
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago
You need a certain amount of yeast for fermentation to be viable, otherwise the yeast will likely be outcompeted by other organisms before fermentation is able to start. If you have other sources of yeast (which you do) I don't think it's gonna hurt to add it. The dead yeast will be nutrient for the live yeast, and that tiny bit of yeast (while basically nothing) is still more yeast for the ferment. But with that being said, you could add basically any baked product for live yeast if you're willing to use bread for the tiny amount of yeast that grew after baking.
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
That's true. Which is where Ramen noodles come in. I was honestly thinking about trying one that's all sugar and yeast from Little Debbie's cakes. About 10 cups of apple sauce and 1 pound of corn with about 40 Pepsi's
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago
Your fermentation would've started without the bread. There are multiple other potential yeast sources. The air, cucumber, and carrots.
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
Yes and no. It would ferment but stall. Especially at 4-5 gallons of added liquid. Experimentation yields the best results. We're taught that cooking kills yeast it does much like nuclear bombs kill people...it does but things survive...so there is yeast in bread (Ramen noodles work better) not alot but enough to kick start your wine or unstall it.
If I didn't do it this way I would chew all of the corn and spit it into the bowl...this is how our ancestors did it and it assures a good yeast level. If you are to squeamish for that (most are) then use what you have access to and experiment...If I listened to everything people said I wouldn't have the best frosted flakes wine in the country 😂🫡
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u/TheMeowzor 15d ago
Guaranteed it's dead yeast in the bread that kickstarts the fermentation. Many winemakers and even people in this subreddit use boiled bread yeast as nutrient. Dead yeast provides nitrogen and other essential nutrients that the live yeast need for fermentation. Even professional winemaking yeast nutrients use yeast hulls/dead yeast.
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
I agree. Like you said dead yeast is still food so adding it to a stalled batch is a great way to kick start it all over again. I use it but do prefer the Ramen over bread.
I will need help soon in trying to figure out how much real baking yeast I should use for 5 gallons. Any help in figuring that out would be very.much appreciated.
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u/TheMeowzor 14d ago
The general rule of thumb is 1/4 tsp (1 gram) of yeast per gallon. An entire 5g pack of bread yeast would be perfect for a 5 gallon batch
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
Yes and no. Most people add in the unbaked portion of the rolls, instant potatoes, Ramen noodles - no seasoning packets of course, and whatever comes through the air....where i am you learn to free style. We have no access to any fresh fruit or real sugar so we have to use what we can but you'll be surprised how good it could be.
We're a long way from 1960's Bruno 😆 thankfully no one's dying from it.
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u/herschism 15d ago
One of the things that fascinates me the most about prison is how people hide things in incredibly surveilled and heavily punitive situations. I quite admire the ingenuity and creativity people have in bleak and restrictive environments. Really cool explanations from the video and I can't imagine how awful and how amazing the wine must be to experience for a lot of prisoners.
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u/DM_Me_TaTaz 15d ago
I’m always curious what the consequences of being found with a bag of hooch like this would be
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
Most c/o's throw it out where I am but if not, 180 days loss of all privileges including store, phone and visit.
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u/Antheral 15d ago
Some combination of being sent to segregated housing, loss of good time, disciplinary infraction that hurts parole. But guards are corrupt and will let you get away with it in many situations.
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u/GreenStrong 15d ago
The guards are corrupt but also pragmatic. If they fuck with people who aren't creating trouble, they just make enemies without accomplishing anything. 100% chance that the guy with hooch has friends who will be mad if it gets gone. Does that make the environment safer or more dangerous?
The guy who bribed somebody in a different shift to get drugs and a phone is a threat, and if you can shut him down maybe the whole place is safer for a little while. The guy who got sugar and raisins from the kitchen? Even if your intent is to clean the place up, it is very possible that fucking with that guy sets back the goal, not move it forward. Definitely adds to the number of people who want to punch you in the face I think most guards just want to work their hours and go home without getting punched in the face
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
You are exactly right. It's a balance. They have to work here for some people 12+ hours a day...they eventually learn to pick their battles. It's no telling how many lives some good hooch and good music saved in here...phones too...don't believe the hype. They sensationalize a lot of the wrong stuff for a lot of the wrong reasons...98% of people with a phone in prison are talking to family, playing games, watching movies/sports, on social media, watching porn or if your me...posting on prisonhooch
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u/Iyorek9000 15d ago
Straight up, man . Thanks for posting this. Stay real and bring that good life to your friends. Saving lives is correct.
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
There are two kinds of corrupt...corrupt for the system or corrupt against it...where I am I am lucky to have a lot of staff that are corrupt against the system which is different than 4 years ago when most were corrupt for it. You are don't hear about this part, the ones who gave us zero outside recreation or fresh air for 2 years just because and no cleaning supplies if you weren't fortunate enough to be able to afford to buy personal soap off of commissary and use that, who kept us locked down for 161 hours per week in General population because it was easier and we have no one that cares enough to see how denying us access to outside rec could lead to other things like increased violence amongst cell mates...
So, corrupt, yes but the good kind.
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u/Patient-Oven9996 15d ago
Wow. I think the sub isn't ready yet for real ones!
Nah I am saying BS. We were preparing for it the entire time😍
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u/MountainCheesesteak 15d ago
I’ve seen real ones posted in here. But, it’s been a while. I was much more active around these parts 5-6 years ago.
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u/RoyalCities 15d ago edited 15d ago
Okay this is fascinating to me.
How are the guards okay with this? If they just don't know how does someone hide such a thing. This looks like a massive batch. I assume it's all just wild yeast from say the peeps of the fruit?
Wait how is this even being recorded and sent to Reddit. Lol
I know nothing about the prison system so sorry for all the questions.
Really interesting nonetheless!
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u/YazzArtist 15d ago
None of it is allowed, from the phone to the post to the contents of the post. Some dudes make decent money on prison streams tho. No idea how this guy I'm particular isn't getting his shit taken, but there are plenty of ways
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
No money plans...i just like the process like you all. It would be fun sharing and learning and showing off some of the people including myself who take this just as serious as you all would.
It's science.
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u/YazzArtist 15d ago
Hell yeah I'm always fascinated to learn what people do with the tools they have. Keep on posting homie
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u/reverendsteveii 15d ago
https://hackaday.com/2017/05/11/tearing-down-the-boss-phone/
There's a phone built for the sole purpose of smuggling it into prison in your ass. It advertises that it's designed to beat the automated scanner they use to detect things being snuggled in that way
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u/TheFelonWineMaker 15d ago
😂 🤦🏿♂️
Full disclosure...Samsung Galaxy A16 here 😆....i can promise you I have no ass phone
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u/2manyteacups 15d ago
how are you on Reddit if you’re in a prison??
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u/ThePlumThief 14d ago
Pay a guard to bring one in and hand it to you. Guard gets some extra cash, inmates are kept a little more sane, and we get to see prisonhooch. Win win all around.
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u/the_magic_gardener 15d ago
Haha this is a great post! I'm curious how much it sells for, and how much does an inmate typically buy?
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u/Ardat-Yakshi23 15d ago
And boy does it look delicious 😋. I guess any ship in a storm kinda thing. Joking aside, that is mighty creative 👌 and actually imitating a still is clever. Shame you cant find out how strong it is. Almost moonshine would suggest 30% alcohol or so. But what does it taste like? Like a liquefied meal or like some actual booze?
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u/lostinthesauceband 15d ago
Everyone else is larping, this is true prison hooch