Thread: How to make ethanol

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Originally Posted by Oldf100fordman

Chevydriving, I think you read the "what's that post supposed to mean" in the wrong context. I was quoting Mopar360. He asked that originally. Believe me I know all to well about the ATF. But we do have all sorts of legal ethanol plants all over Iowa and they're building many more.

Guess I did respond incorrectly, sorry. I was interested in making my own still untill I saw an article about how illegal it was and that if you were caught with a still you would be in big trouble. Interesting to see the comments on loopholes to brew your own. Will have to recheck into it.

what that post to mean?

Originally Posted by MOPAR 360

what that post to mean?

Well on a certain date things change on stuff like this

actually I wanted to make it and run it in my gokart. If it will work in my gokart than I want to try running it in my pick me up truck.

Viking I did that when I was 15 and living in Vermont. Made a homemade still and got the clearest looking moonshine you ever saw. Just like water, but 200 proof. About 6 of us decide to try it and it didn't take more than a couple ounces each to make us pretty drunk. Guess that was the beginning of my drinking days. Kept it up until I was 43 and haven't had more than 2 beer/week since.

If u break down,there would be a easy way to pass the time,just fill up a glass outa the electric pump and off you go!!The car may not be movin ,but you shure will be!!Honest osifficcor I waited till after I broke down to start drinkin me fuel!!

my dad runs off a batch every now and then, his puts out about 70% t0 80% on the first run, never have tried to put it through again as it had all the kick it needed at that. my uncle likes it when he has a cold.
we use crabapples and sugar to make a mash,let brew fo a couple of weeks and "bobs your uncle"
and my bothers a mountie ha ha

I found this site while looking for alternative fuel info.

http://www.ethanolstill.com/making-your-own-E-85.html

It looks like they have plans/kits for efficient stills made out of large diameter copper tubing. They also talk about the problem of getting the last 3% of the water out using zeolite which has small pores in it to absorb water. The zeolite is a mineral which can be heated to drive out the water and be reused.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Lindsay's got alot of cool reads, not overly priced either, imo
heres one for fuel production.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/still/index.html

When I was young and foolish (as opposed to now being old and foolish), I used to make a little "shine". I found that you could set a mash on Sunday afternoon, let it ferment all week, run off a batch in the still on Saturday morning, cut it 50 percent with water, get raging, puking drunk on Saturday night, then start a new batch on Sunday afternoon, after your head had returned to normal size.----I had built a "regular" still, with a copper boiler, a copper coil and a cold water condenser. I had a friend who made small batches on a "stove-top" still. He had a large pot about 13 or 14" in diameter like you would use to cook corn on the cob. He would put his fermented mash in that, on top of the kitchen stove, on low heat. He would float a round cake tin with sides about 1" high on top of the mash. He had an old Dodge wheel-disc that was kind of "pointy" at the center, and about 15" diameter. He would set it on top of the big pot, pointy side down, and fill the wheel disc with crushed ice. As the alcohol in the mash evaporated, it would rise up untill it contacted the cold wheel-disc, then condense and run down to the center where it would drip off into the floating cake tin. It worked good for small batches of shine, and if the cops showed up at the door it could be quickly dismantled and dumped---all you had to tell the officer was that you were cleaning the wheel disc in the sink, and "what funny smell officer??? Gee, I don't smell anything!!!!"