Any thoughts on this for production of high concentrations of ethanol? I recently got one of the last bottles of Everclear from a local liquor store but I think most of them are long since gone. My understanding is that grain fermentation of grains only yields about 12% alcohol by volume. Without a distillation column the first condensation of alcohol would be around 18%. With a proper column one could get higher concentrations and I would want at least 80% so this involves either building a proper distillation column or doing backyard distillation of a fermented grain solution and then do something inside with a more proper laboratory setup. What do yāall think?
Donāt even know what the recipe is? What sort of yeast? Corn (deers corn? How much corn / water? Boil it first? ) Bakerās yeast vs natural yeast like with sour dough?
Home distillation is illegal, fyi.
You donāt need a column, just re-distill the condensate until you get to the desired proof. Thereās tons of moonshine guides online, none of which I can access on my computer right now (what the heck, they donāt want us reading up on making a batch at work or something). If itās not for consumption you donāt have to be as careful about throwing out the heads and tails either.
Butā¦ distilling alcohol is probably illegal even if youāre only making hand sanitizerā¦
If you do this you will be making moonshine. It is illegal, probably because of the high temperature flammable gasses, and the poisons that are distilled in the first runnings of most batches. Really best left to experts.
The mash is more complex than corn and instant yeast. If that kind of thing interests you, try doing some batches of homebrew beer and you can learn more about the enzymatic actions that allow you to ferment grain and how the yeast strain and care affect the maximum alcohol percentage you can extract from wort.
What is insane the US is awash in ethanol. We could make hand sanitizers by rail cars. There is no shortage. Example: when you fill car vehicle with say 10 gallons of E10 or E15, youāve got about 1-1.5 gallons of ethanol.
Instead of mandating the mixing with gasoline, at least for right now, divert production for sanitizer use. There surely there has to be some denaturing additive they can add so itās not used for consumption and compatible for sanitizer use.
Edit Update: The US in 2016 produced over 14 billion gallons of ethanol - last yea I could find a number. Thatās 42.5 gallons at 95% concentration (itās reagent anhydrous grade) every person in the us. CDC recommends 60%+, letās go with 70% in sanitizer, so approximately 55 gallons of sanitizer if we decide during the priority is human lives verses gasoline until the epidemic is over ā¦ there should be no shortages in the US.
Step 1: Boil E85 vehicle fuel at 180 degrees C and distill the ethanol vapor.
Step 2: Boom
Photomancer - The best idea so far!!
Yeah, itās illegal, thanks.
So is Baylor University Medical Center threatening to fire anyone who complains about no PPE and no sanitizer.
Gives me an idea . . . is there a source anywhere for E100 fuel? Probably would not be 100% but anything better than 15% would be a start, like E50?
Iām sure they āpoisonā it so people donāt drink it but pure ethanol for fuel would probably work either for sanitation or for re-distillation for topical use. There are chemicals they put into lab ethanol so people donāt consume. They make it taste terrible but are otherwise non-toxic.
You can use just sugar, yeast and waterā¦ Or at least Iāve done that in an undergrad lab class. I think we were able to distill to around 95%. I think its at least a weekās wait for the fermentation. But the internet has plenty of resources.
Thereās gas stations with E85. Problem is the 15% is gasolineā¦
Ethanol is made in incredibly large quantities. For example itās in all the gas at the pumps in any urban areas. Literally billions of gallons of the stuff. It can be redirected to other things like hand sanitizer. Itāll take a little bit for supply chains and manufacturers to adjust but itāll happen. I donāt think thereās a need for people to do this at home.
There you go, itās a win-win. Nobody is driving so thereās both a need and an incentive for fuel ethanol producers to do this.
https://www.ft.com/content/3aea9764-6e0c-11ea-89df-41bea055720b
If you donāt care if itās drinkable, corn meal, water and instant yeast can work Just Fine. I made āquick meadā once and we just used bread yeast. Sure, it smells bread-y, but that was acceptable. Although, I think bread yeast tops out at a lower % alcohol than some of the more specialty yeasts.
One could also do āfreeze distillationā, but that requires enough freezing capacity for whatever volume youāve got. The time I made Wild Plum Brandy, I was only freezing a 2-liter bottle of the original wine.
Thanks, Lukeā¦
BTW, here is a pretty good overview of a fairly simple process using sugar, grain, yeast. Indeed, he does not need a column. He notes that he uses a āchampaignā yeast that will tolerate high EtOH levels.
I would need to review the theory behind column distillation but I think it has to do with this curve. I believe that a given mix of EtOH and water has a particular vapor pressure and mixture that comes off first. In a proper column, this mix then condenses and re-vaporizes to the next level and the final product is the azeotrope of 95% Ethanol and water.
In the video, he comments that, indeed, some nasty stuff comes off first, notably MeOH and acetone. I guess thatās how you get poisoned making your own liquor. I have no interest in drinking any of this BTW.
I am surprised that he throws out most of the grain product and keeps the liquid. I would think that would have plenty of fermentable material that could eventually be eaten up.
Iām not sure precisely why one drains the liquid off of the mash, but itās traditional.
Also traditional ā making a 2nd batch off the mash, normally called āsmall beerā. Not as many carbs left, so a less alcoholic product.
And then, you fed the mash to your farm animals.
I assume you had to mash that firstā¦ Corn or corn meal donāt have much sugar until you do the conversion, thatās what I was referring to.
I have actually made alcohol out of deer corn but it required additional enzymes during the starch convervsion and we used champagne yeast for itās specially high alcohol resistance.
That is true ā youād want to cook it first. Boiling it not only releases the carbs into the water, it kills off the unwanted yeasts/molds/bacteria. Yeast goes in after cool-down (for those non-brewers/vintners reading along).
You keep the solids out so they donāt settle to the bottom, insulate the heated bottom from the batch, and scorch, causing all sorts of unwanted flavor.
Roughly, his formula:
- mixes āsweet feedā from the feed store (grain plus molasses) (4" in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket) - cook this for an hour, pour off and keep the liquid
- 5# of white sugar
- one packet champaign yeast
Ferments this in a 5 gal water container x 1 week with a fermentation trap until the bubbling stops
Boil at 180F into a condenser at a few drops per second until the temp reaches 190F
Throw out the first 50cc MeOH and acetone or just use that for cleaning
Keep the what comes after 190F to throw back into the next batch - has EtOH and other products and more water.
But you canāt quite boil it. Youāre looking for certain enzymes present to convert the starch into sugars. Those enzymes are most obvious in non-roasted malted barley (the base of most beer, and what we mixed into our corn during the mash). And the enzymes are most active from approx 145-165F, so holding the corn/barley/water mixture there for 60 minutes will allow the conversion to take place, the mixture will become very sweet, boiling then can sanitize the solution and ready it for yeast. Most brewing yeast require those simple sugars for conversion and wonāt work well with the complex carbs present before the conversion.
Starting with sugar letās you skip the conversion process.