Raisin jack

[KG4CGC]

http://www.fugly.com/flash/214/axe_feather.html

[n2ize]

The Fonz.

Naw... da Fonz uses old fashioned greasy kid stuff. Vitalis was not greasy. Vitalis was for the man who liked the dry look. And in those "good ol' years" chicks really dug guys who sported the long haired dry look, shaved with Noxema shave cream and smoked Tiparillo's.

Don't forget to use some Hi Karate after shave. Cool chicks dug guys who wore Hi Karate.

Those were the days when it was cool for a guy to tell people that he is the sort of man who READS Playboy.

[W3MIV]

Those were the days when it was cool for a guy to tell people that he is the sort of man who READS Playboy.

Nobody believed it then. And they still don't.

[NQ6U]

Those were the days when it was cool for a guy to tell people that he is the sort of man who READS Playboy.

I only read it for the pictures.

[W1GUH]

Nobody believed it then. And they still don't.

With all the porn anyone could ever want to see on the internet, it's more believable now.

[KC2UGV]

So, John, what was the recipe you used? I assume it wasn't the prison-stock recipe, since I've heard Pruno tastes like a Vomit-flavored wine cooler.

[n2ize]

So, John, what was the recipe you used? I assume it wasn't the prison-stock recipe, since I've heard Pruno tastes like a Vomit-flavored wine cooler.

This is not "Pruno" which is basically anything goes, i.e. syrupy fruit, ketchup, vegetables, etc. This is "Raisin Jack". I start off with 5 or 6 boxed (or bags) of raisins... sometimes I use even more.. I dump them in a huge pot of boiling hot water and let it cook slowly for an hour or two. Then I let it cool. Once it's cool I dump it into a 5 gallon plastic water cooler jug.. Then I add some warm water and dump in as much white sugar as I can, a bag or two and I add several packets of Fliechman's baking yiest. I shake the whole mess to try and dissolve as much of the sugar as I can and to mix and disperse the yeast among the raisins. Then I top the jug off with warm water to a few inches from the top. After that I plug the top of the jug with a large rubber stopper which has a tube in the middle and an airtight seal between the jug, the stopper and the hose. The other end of the hose is submerged in a jar of water. As it ferments you'll see bubbles coming from the end of the tube. When the fermentation is really going full blast it bubbles like mad. I sometimes shake it a bit but not until the bubbles have pretty much stopped. When the bubbling stops the fermentation is done. At that point I shake it to chase out as much dissolved CO2 as I can. I consider it "ready to drink" at that point. Usually I run it through a strainer, but if you don;t mind peices of fermented raisin you can drink it unfiltered.

The recipe is anything but exact. Sometimes I use more sugar, less raisins, sometimes less sugar more raisins, sometime more of both. Often I'll make 2 5 gallon jugs of the stuff but sometimes only one depending on the amount of ingredients I have.

Note... some people put it into barrels at this point and age it for a few months. I don't have time for that. But anyone cares to try it and let me know how it comes out.

One year I made it without the raisins, in which case I named it "jack". I just used sugar, water, and yeast. It tasted nasty. The raisins give it some body and a sweeter and more fruity taste. I have heard of people putting other fruits into it, i.e. ornanges, orange peel, lemon, berries, peaches, etc. But then its more like "pruno". It;s all a matter of preference and taste. I always wondered what the stuff would taste like distilled.

I mainly do it because it;s become a yearly tradition for me. We started it for the first time when i was in high school. So I decided to keep it going. Otherwise I could just as well go out and buy a few bottles of wine, or a bottle of rum, gin, etc.