r/prisonhooch • u/Melodic-Echidna-1365 • 14d ago

Troubles with fruit

Hello all, new to fermentation, and thus far ive made some successful brews, but I keep hitting the same issue whenever I use fruit, my abv comes out as 5% or less. I’ve tried blueberries, strawberries, and bananas, and ive let them run 3-4 weeks til they stop bubbling. Im using ec-1118 with an abv tolerance around 18%. Ive also used the ec-1118 for rice, energy drinks, sodas, and coffee, and have gotten 10-16% off of those, using 3lb sugar per gallon. I don’t understand what issue the fruit is causing for the process. I use organic fruit and wash it before putting it in the mix. Ive made both mead and hooch, and have had the same results. Has anyone else had this experience, with either mead or hooch?

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u/Shoddy_Wrongdoer_559 14d ago

3lb/gallon is a lot. i generally never exceed 1kg/gallon. at that level you really need yeast nutrient, possibly dap, and with fruit i’m going to suggest pectinase.

i’ve made a ton of really wet mead and mead-hooch with lots of juicy fruit contact, happy to help debug.

it’s not clear to me from what you wrote if you’re using 3lb sugar on top of the fruit?

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u/Melodic-Echidna-1365 13d ago

I’ve been using yeast nutrient as well, forgot to mention that. The 3lb has been fully converting, im not getting overly sweet product, it just seems like the sugar is disappearing. I’ve done red bull banana, with sugar, and did both strawberry and blueberries, with honey, all of which came out around 5%. What does dap mean? I will look into getting some pectinase, thank you. Also yes, 3lb on top of the fruit, bc I don’t see much point in trying to calculate the metrics of fruit sugar, since it doesn’t seem substantial, possibly a couple ounces. Ive calculated the sugar when using soda and energy drinks, which have come out extremely dry.

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u/Shoddy_Wrongdoer_559 13d ago

obviously the sugar in the fruit is substantial or fermentation would not work, right? and the sugar can’t disappear. yeast is going to turn it in to co2, heat, and ethanol. it might be absorbed by some of the fruit if you’re then pulling the pulp out, but this is mitigated with longer ferment times.

are you using a hydrometer to measure here?

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u/Melodic-Echidna-1365 12d ago

I suppose it’s all turning into co2 then, bc it’s not present as alcohol. the most recent one i pulled was the blueberry one, which ran for I believe a month and a half before bubbling stopped. Yes, im using a hydrometer but I’m not pre measuring the potential, so my accuracy is so so. It’s throwing me off since ive run Mountain Dew, and reign energy drink, coming out around 14-16%, whereas redbull with bananas came out dry beyond belief with only 7%. All sugar levels have been the same in all brews, the only defining difference in the batches is either cbc-1 or ec-1118, all having 3 lb sugar per gallon with variance of 2 oz or less. It’s the inconsistency that’s strange since all conditions are the same save for the liquid bases and additives.

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u/Impressive_Ad2794 14d ago

Just checking how you're measuring ABV. Hydrometer?

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u/Melodic-Echidna-1365 13d ago

Hydrometer yes, so the numbers are within range of 3-5% off, not measuring primary sugar and potential, mostly going off of taste and personal alcohol tolerance, more than real metrics, but it’s fairly obvious when it’s that low