Distilling alcohol

[spaceman]

so i got this little water distiller, and decided to try and make a bit of alcohol, so i bought 1.5 L of wine around 12% so i am think around 200ml of alcohol should be the end process.
This thread may take some time, as what i did today i thinking of building a still from a smaller hot water heater with a few adjustments.
So today i wanted to get a little familiar with the process, after the first batch came off i double distilled it again in a pot on the stove quite simple, i have never done this but it was quite easy, and know i have abit of a feel for what happening here.....
my friend who was helping ended up spilling our finished product but we did a hill billy spoon test and had a nice blue flame no yellow...
careful with corn grain and too much heat.

[memyselfandi]

my family makes "aguardente de medronho" for many generations
http://lendasetradicoes.blogs.sapo.pt/8875.html

we used to use an traditional cooper distiller but my uncle got fed up with the damn thing and invented an simpler method.

we use a pressure cooker take the valve off connect it to a silicone hose , the hose gives lots of turns inside a bucket with icy cool water, and that it, works.

the first batch we don't but any water and use it to clean any stuff the in pressure cooker or the hose and the end result is a very powerful alcohol that we use to cook chouriço

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbi659zeJ2E

[Harvester]

I have had some wonderful rum made using feed-grade molasses and cane sugar.

The most important part of distilling alcohol is monitoring the output. The poisons come out at the very beginning...and at the very end... so always discard the first bit to come out and stop the process once the alcohol percentage begins to drop because thats when the temp starts to rise and pick up other nasties...

After that...charcoal filtration... has to be diluted to 50%(100 proof) first...

I don't prefer "moonshine" type stuff... 100 proof for mixing or 80 proof for sipping is good. Good Rum is good to sip on and the complexities of the sugar can be tasted...cheap rum is bitter and nasty. The difference for the home-distiller is that a far less efficient still brings through more flavor... I could go on and on, lol.

I havn't been privy to any good home-made whiskeys... the still that I "know about" has electric elements and would burn a whiskey mash...

H

[Harvester]

I should add...learning about how to properly distill alcohol will make you realize how much poison there can be in many bottled products...cheap wine...cheap distilled alcohol...

H

[Green Supreme]

Not so sure he is making it to get drunk on. Looks like fun Vapor. Good luck. Peace GS

[c-ray]

my family makes "aguardente de medronho" for many generations
http://lendasetradicoes.blogs.sapo.pt/8875.html


do you add any sugar to that?

[spaceman]

thanks for sharing, i am going to make alcohol not for drinking but for a solvent to make cannabis oil, just seems like the next step, and it is a good one to have in the end of the world kit......
something like this
http://homedistiller.org/photos-alex.htm

[spaceman]

yes but you guys are right there is a whole bunch of terms when distilling that need to be learned
http://www.homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11640

[spaceman]

liked this one too
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11265

[Harvester]

distilling to make a solvent is where you will want a very high efficiency distillation tower. Lean your research towards making vodka and vehicle fuel.

H

[Harvester]

thinking of this aspect of distillation is new to me...I see where it could go. for a 5 lb bag of sugar, you could do a single pass strip on a hell of a lot of herb.... hmmm...
well, look at the various beer-keg setups with 1500w water heater elements. Last time I was looking a few years back it was on ebay...all the money goes into the head though. I buiult one myself out of copper but it is intentionally inefficient in order to leave flavor escenses behind in the end product....not the proper setup for solvent stripping. Having someone who can weld stainless with nickel-rod would be nice... I'm lucky that way.

H

[memyselfandi]

do you add any sugar to that?

No, we just put the fruit in a large bowl for a week cover with a towel, if you taste the fermented fruit you will notice the alcool in it, you can even get drunk just by eating the fermented fruit. the bush is very common in the south of Portugal.

[Lungus]

My friend's Ukrainian grandma always had a crock with fermented fruit in the kitchen to make friendship cake and other goodies with.

[spaceman]

here we are just getting started, i will post some pics as we go along in the two different modes of the extractor. here we have some turbo yeast {18 day} possibly 20 % if everything goes right, so maybe we will have around 8 liters of 95% ethanol when we are done. the cooling tubes are off at the moment, we will get going here soon. peace

[spaceman]

"This is the real way to solve the ethyl acetate problem – not by pouring your (mostly ethanol) heads down the drain. You get to recover all the ethanol that the ethyl acetate had spoiled and (the really elegant part) some of the ethyl acetate is actually turned back into ethanol. The point to remember is the same process will reduce all ester-related flavors, and not just ethyl acetate, including the ones that exist in immeasurable, but still detectable quantities. You don't even need to know what esters they are!! They all breakdown into different components, which you may not particularly want either but will all have less impact on overall flavor than the original ester.

Once I learned this I changed my process to double distil everything. After the first distillation I throw in some sodium carbonate and aerate for a week before distilling again. I don't separate the heads from the second distillation because there's nothing to separate and the result doesn't need carbon filtration. More importantly, nothing I boil off ever goes down the drain - not a single drop. My end-to- end efficiency from sugar to drinkable spirit is 90% with the cost of consumables and wastage very low. Plenty depends on your ingredients, equipment and process, but you get the basic idea."
http://www.ethanol-still.us/additional_information.htm

If you are doing some distilling read this bit has some real good info.////

[spaceman]

just in case you were wondering...http://wiki.homedistiller.org/Legality#Canada

[spaceman]

26 or so hours and the first batch is cloudy and bubbles and i started another batch tonight and it is still clear . temps are27.5c and 26c...

[DOZEE]

really nice vape..

[spaceman]

temps leveled out to room temp after initial ferment

[c-ray]

http://www.glaciervodka.com/facts.html

[spaceman]

yes sir good link. i got my eye on one of these babies maybe Santa claws will bring me one!! i hear he like spirits!http://www.hillbillystills.com/Turn_Key_Vodka_and_Moonshine_Still_p/hbtkv.htm

[c-ray]

from http://www.angelfire.com/mi3/gmpr/alcohol1.htm

How to Make Alcohol from Jerusalem Artichoke Tubers

Every alcohol-producing raw material belongs to one of three groups: starches, sugars, or cellulose. The end product is always glucose (simple sugar), which yeast can convert to alcohol.

Sugar crops give a greater yield per acre than starch crops. Processing includes squeezing the juice out of stalks of plants, or leaching it from their tubers.

This syrup must be sterilized to discourage contamination. Before adding the yeast, you must adjust the sugar concentration to 18% (using a saccharometer).

Process


Prepare: Slice or crush; add 10 gallons water per 100 pounds, or as little as possible.
Cook: Raise temperature to 190°F for 20 minutes; agitate.
Culture: Reduce temperature to 90°F; add yeast; agitate 10 minutes; cover.


Results: 7% alcohol.

Note: yeast food added to the yeast increases alcohol content.



from http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/94-077.htm

Considerable interest has been expressed in converting the fructose in the tubers to ethyl alcohol. Preliminary research at Morden, Manitoba suggested that it was possible to extract more ethyl alcohol per unit volume of Jerusalem artichoke than can currently be extracted from sugar beets.

[spaceman]

very interesting, in vision the hippie mad max service station of the future....

[spaceman]

so we did a stripping run of the wash the other day we pulled 4600ml from 20 liters X2 of wash.The first 1000mls where 170 proof and each 1000 ml it went down the total was 55abv for 9200mls of {low wines}. we will keep collecting till we have 6 gallons of low wines and then we will reflux that for 95-96abv. so it takes about 3 hours total to do a stripping run probably faster i could. I am limited with my cooling water i have to use ice in a container of water so i usually run out of blocks near the end of the 2nd run in a day, if i could just run say out of a well probably cut 1hour or so off that time, i could run wide open eh. So i collected till 96c and or when my abv is 20% shut her down. Turned water flow to my condenser on 60c.I used raching rings{ceramic 6mm} in my wash to help with the heat{64000 btu propane}, will do another post when we reflux peace
ps add sodium carbonate to low wines 1 tsp per liter

[spaceman]

here is a real good one for ethanol
makes 80 liter of wash
60 liters of water
3 cups tomato paste
3 juiced lemons{just the juice}
18kg of sugar
225 grams of bakers yeast or brewers yeast{these yeast makes less volatile by products better for neutral spirit}
2 tblsp epsom salts

Mix 60 liters of hot water with sugar/ ingredients, pitch yeast at 30-35c
SG 1.09 start
SG .995 done ferment
keep wash at 30-35c i use aquarium heater in the middle of the fermenting container through the lid{make sure it is big enough to handle 80 liters}
Should produce a lot of co2 to keep out nasties lose lid is fine, covered but lose.
will work at lower temps may take longer to ferment. check SG daily and when ferment is done no need to clear wash.Rack into carboy if you need to wait to stripp.
ps thanks birdwatcher

[spaceman]

so here we be i got enough low wines to charge the boiler with 21 liters of 55%abv.
We pre treated the low wines with sodium carbonate at the rate of 1 tsp per liter, we let it sit for a day or two but there is not need the reaction is pretty fast eh.
Bring still up to around 70c with full cooling to the reflux and just a turn on the condenser{no vapor}. methanol comes off around 65c so we let the still sit at 70c or so for about and hour and everything that comes out is tossed. Then we turn the cooling to the reflux down, just a touch and watch the temp rise in the column, we get to just below 78c and we take the heads{250ml i discard} for about and hour{methyl acetate}. Methyl acetate boils at 77.1C and ethanol (the good shit) boils at 78.4c, so at 78C we will be getting a mix of both. after the hour for the heads{throw out or use in shop} we turn our cooling down to the reflux again and the temp rises to 79.5c we hold the column steady at this temp and collect the ethanol, never get above 80c adjust your cooling the column to hit the desired temps once you are up to heat. When my ABV drop to 60% we are getting into the tails. at this point you can turn up the heat and collect till 20% keep them separate and add them to the next run. could take 12 hours to run but you with reflux it is like \doing multiple pot still runs so things get clean fast. this is my first run with reflux and i think i got a good handle on what is happening but i am sure i can make some adjustments and get my abv abit higher/learn more, those last few points are tough but important i am thinking i may insulate my column and boiler{halfway} so i can keep equilibrium better. peace
pps i am no expert so if anyone sees anything i can do, please do help eh!

[c-ray]

I like the fancy thermometer hanger

[spaceman]

It is hemp eh

[Alchemist]

Awesome thread!
Thanks for posting!

[spaceman]

just waiting on a vacuum pump to arrive. so we did a run wanted to show the the color before and after so this is after the initial extraction. There is a couple options at this point, we don't want chlorophyll in our final product, so we can either freeze it and clear the solution or we can crack the lid and put it in the sun{turns red or gold, could use hps if raining} for an hour and it will break the chlorophyll down. i will post a pics when it changes....

[spaceman]

here we go about 50 mins later, you can see the change aswell the container part filled is more concentrated so looks abit darker.. science......

[Springs]

so very nice! big props for the diy route as well, sweet set up.

[spaceman]

the freezer drops more of the color out maybe cray will post a pic for us when he is done moseying........

[spaceman]

one thing about the needle valve it gives you the fine control so you can get real close to low 78 and purity goes up last night i did a run 93-94% and dropped to 90% till the finish, my first run was 89%...

[spaceman]

another bit i would like to try is dripping my ethanol stream through some zeolite, as per absolute alcohol....

[c-ray]

we put the jars above in the freezer overniight ^ then strained through coffee filters, lots of frozen gunk got caught in the filter, got about 10 coffee filters like the one in the first pic

second pic is with just a bit of alcohol and some water left over from the original alcohol (90%), which we removed most of using a hairdryer on cool setting and directing the water up the sides of the bowl to evaporate.. a tip I just learned today from a local oldtimer.. dude also recommended putting the alcohol in the fridge for 2 days or more (ideally) and shorter contact times like 1 or 2 minutes.. we're pretty happy with the results, still a little more water to come out but the end is near

the dish sat nicely in an old crock pot doing a water bath.. apparently the old crock pots from the 80s and 70s ran much cooler, the new ones will boil on high (no good :()

dude also recommended adding a few drops of water at the end, for a water purge of the last alcohol, but since we started with 90% alcohol we had water there already at the end.. also dude recommended using an vegetable oil bath instead of a water bath for some reason I cannot recall, less humidity and evaporation at these low temps I think

[c-ray]

an interesting thread about 91% vs 99% alcohol
https://tokecity.com/forums/showthread.php4?t=34285

[spaceman]

maybe the same idea as why they add water to ethanol fuel and make 85%, to cool down the reaction, interesting will give it a read......

[spaceman]

ps did your oil turn hard at room temp?

[c-ray]

a big thread on purging
https://tokecity.com/forums/showthread.php4?t=35829

[c-ray]

it's not hard as glass hard but fairly hard and sticky, I think there are terpenes in there still keeping it tacky.. the alcohol smell is long gone.. I'm reading that glass with no bubbles = overpurged, and hardness can be strain and grow dependant

I smoked some, it's good :aok:

[spaceman]

Interesting thread but i think from what i read it is alot of jibber jabber, i have made my fair share of oil all kinds and ethanol is the only one i will smoke in my older age, sorry but even the purged butane oil, even vacuum purged i still can taste the solvents either at the end or all the way through, same with all the other solvents like naptha hexane yada yada yada.
so i think some of those folks i am reading in that thread have a skewed view of sudo hipi science , it must be this or it must be that with no proof of links to articles, sorry i am not buying it i know it is all the rage but i will no longer smoke butane or any solvent that is not water or ethanol i have made myself. peace

[spaceman]

http://gillesenergies.webs.com/dehydration.htm
here is some good points for getting those last bits of water out of your ethanol.
Rock salt seems about the cheapest and easiest, the salt can be recharged over and over again at 300f for 1 hour.

[spaceman]

I would recommend this book to all those wanting to learn about alcohol distillation.

http://www.amphora-society.com/The-Compleat-Distiller-2nd-Edition--by-Nixon-and-McCaw_p_1.html

[c-ray]

but is ethanol extract as good as budderking budder?


Budderking Budder ($90/gram) Very potent extract made through isopropyl extraction. Extremely potent. Budderking is known for purity and potency of his products.

from http://cannabisdispensary.ca/node/13

[spaceman]

budder from what i understand is oil that has gone past the point of no return??

We can dream....

[c-ray]

that reminds of a joe rogan podcast I was listening to recently and someone offers joey diaz a hit of budder, and joey diaz is like it better not be butane 'cause I hate that shit

[spaceman]

so for this ferment, we used the birdwatcher recipe with a wee twist we boiled{inverted} out sugar for 20 mins before adding it to the ferment vessel, the point of this is to bring our ferment time down to 3-7 days we will see how it works peace.
ps this wash gives a much nicer neutral product then the turbos did.....

[spaceman]

here is the ferment with boiled sugar 1 hour after pitching the yeast.set heater temp to 32c.We are going to try and reuse our yeast this time, from what i have read 3 or 4 times before unwanted mutations...
ps smells like bread yummy! much nicer then rotting fruit or champagne....

[spaceman]

a few hours later things have started to shift gears.........
specific gravity 1.83

[memyselfandi]

Brainsssssss :)

[spaceman]

here is what it is doing today....

[spaceman]

made a few mods to the unit i got a top bit tig wielded to the top so i could get rid of the rubber stopper,and have a thermo well, know it is all stainless or copper.The other thing i did was change the controls i split them and added a nice ball valve for the condenser and a needle valve for the reflux. seems to get me 94/95% which is good i can only get to 96% so i may insulate it. As well i replaced the chemical resistant hose with copper and a compression union.

[DOZEE]

so very nice...

[memyselfandi]

wow impressed

[Graywolf]

Good thread! I'm in the process of building a compound fractionating still adaptor to the Lil Terp passive butane exctraction and recovery system. It uses the butane recovery tank and the lid from the extraction tank, coupled with a 1 1/2" adaptor, and a 36" stainless column, packed with stainless pot scrubbers.

There is a cross at the top for the thermometer, the Alhin refluxing condenser, and a product bleed with product condenser.

This adaptation keeps the boiler under one gallon, but in locals where it is legal, the refluxing column should handle up to about 2kw.

I picked up most of the parts at Glacier Tank, using sanitary triclamp components, and the pot scrubbers at Hongs Restaurant Supply. I am ready to test, as soon as I get the mountings for the condensers and thermometer finished.

[Green Supreme]

:worthy:

Lookin forward to seeing whatcha come up with. Peace GS

[spaceman]

i see a project on the horizon much thanks!

[spaceman]

Mpg9Ej1iO6I


have been doing some looking into getting the last bits of water from my alcohol. Got me a new batch brewin so.
Options i have zeolite{3a} may build a tower.
but the the rate of absorption looks better with tapioca
http://phys.org/news/2011-09-effective-ethanol.html
will do some more looking and see how to apply.....

[spaceman]

www.journal.kmutnb.ac.th/journal/47318255312551.pdf

[spaceman]

getting close another run come///
PDjCOho_sKw

not much of a drinker, they do how ever leave a indelible mark. some akin to the cannabis ways of life cat and mouse with the law....

[spaceman]

stripping stripping...... so much nicer with a big full well and no buckets of ice!

[spaceman]

rgliqaU9FyE

going to try and make some videos of the process as we run this time peace

[c-ray]

I knew scabtree before he was famous

[spaceman]

MCh2NWKhsPo

[spaceman]

So I put in a long day on the still a few daze ago and i can report, that taking your finger and testing the ethanol can get you drunk way faster then you expect! me and the liqour do not get along that well these daze///////////

[c-ray]

that's a good thing! I don't think I could handle a drunken scabtree..