Brewing in Prison. London UK

[john west]

A little while ago i was watching a documentary about our prisons. (I am
in London,UK).
Inmates were making an alcoholic brew in plastic bags, just using all
their old fruit peelings and some bread yeast.
Seeing how much we 'waste' old fruit peelings at home, i just thought i
would try this out as an experiment.
My question is: are there any fruit peelings that i should *not* use,
like banana skins or orange peel, etc ? Or are there any vegetable
peelings that i could also use, that would not give an undue bad taste?

[Joerg]

Post by john west
A little while ago i was watching a documentary about our prisons. (I am
in London,UK).
Inmates were making an alcoholic brew in plastic bags, just using all
their old fruit peelings and some bread yeast.
Seeing how much we 'waste' old fruit peelings at home, i just thought i
would try this out as an experiment.
My question is: are there any fruit peelings that i should *not* use,
like banana skins or orange peel, etc ? Or are there any vegetable
peelings that i could also use, that would not give an undue bad taste?

Be careful. Peelings in our "modern" world can contain all sorts of
pesticide. When you drink this stuff you might expose your body to a
high concentration of those.

Personally I would never do this.

[T.J. Higgins]

Post by Joerg

Post by john west
A little while ago i was watching a documentary about our prisons. (I am
in London,UK).
Inmates were making an alcoholic brew in plastic bags, just using all
their old fruit peelings and some bread yeast.
Seeing how much we 'waste' old fruit peelings at home, i just thought i
would try this out as an experiment.
My question is: are there any fruit peelings that i should *not* use,
like banana skins or orange peel, etc ? Or are there any vegetable
peelings that i could also use, that would not give an undue bad taste?

Be careful. Peelings in our "modern" world can contain all sorts of
pesticide. When you drink this stuff you might expose your body to a
high concentration of those.

The solution to that problem is to use only organic fruits and
vegetables.

To the OP: here in the States, prison wine is called "pruno."
Lots of info about it online.

I've never tried it, but my guess is that potato peels would be
useful in such an experiment. Millions of vodka drinkers can't
be wrong.

The guy I bought my house from was a prison guard. He said they
keep their yeast locked up, using the same security measures they
use for the drugs in the infirmary. The prisoners love getting
their hands on real yeast.

[baloonon]

Post by T.J. Higgins

Post by Joerg

Post by john west
A little while ago i was watching a documentary about our prisons.
(I am in London,UK).
Inmates were making an alcoholic brew in plastic bags, just using
all their old fruit peelings and some bread yeast.
Seeing how much we 'waste' old fruit peelings at home, i just
thought i would try this out as an experiment.
My question is: are there any fruit peelings that i should *not*
use, like banana skins or orange peel, etc ? Or are there any
vegetable peelings that i could also use, that would not give an
undue bad taste?

Be careful. Peelings in our "modern" world can contain all sorts of
pesticide. When you drink this stuff you might expose your body to a
high concentration of those.

The solution to that problem is to use only organic fruits and
vegetables.

Home grown will work too if you know what you've been using and can
verify that it's safe.

Post by T.J. Higgins
To the OP: here in the States, prison wine is called "pruno."
Lots of info about it online.
I've never tried it, but my guess is that potato peels would be
useful in such an experiment. Millions of vodka drinkers can't
be wrong.

You would need something to convert the starch in potatoes to
fermentable sugar.

South Americans manage this with plants like yucca by chewing it and
then spitting it into a container. Enzymes in saliva make it happen. The
drink is called Chicha, but to be honest it sounds very much like an
acquired taste.

Crushed apple peels from a safe source should ferment on their own,
although it's a bit of a crap shoot whether it's a wild yeast that
produces good flavors that dominates fermentation, or if it's either a
bad yeast or bacteria that ends up running the show. You would need a
lot of apple peels, though. It takes quite a few pounds of apples to
produce just a quart of cider.

Post by T.J. Higgins
The guy I bought my house from was a prison guard. He said they
keep their yeast locked up, using the same security measures they
use for the drugs in the infirmary. The prisoners love getting
their hands on real yeast.

Prison fermentation was described in The Autobiography of Malcolm X too.
I seem to remember him describing kitchen jobs being really prized
during his stint in prison in the 1940s because of the access to sugar,
fruit juice and yeast.