EthanoloHolic.

com Presents

Ethanol Basics How to Distill Ethanol from Grains and Plant Materials, and How to Build an Ethanol Still
If you decide to build a still like this or make your own ethanol, you will be on your own. The information contained herein is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Published: 2006 EthanoloHolic.com http://www.EthanoloHolic.com

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Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Introduction Regulations on Home Distillation What is Ethanol? Ethanol as an Automotive Fuel Alternative Distillation Materials and Alcohol Yield Mash and Enzymes Yeasts and Fermentation Distillation Building Your Own Still Tools and Supplies Internal Reflux Still Reflux Still Top and Condenser Reflux Still Top and Boiler Attachment Safety and Initial Startup and Use 10. 11. 12. 13. Dehydration of Ethanol Denaturing Ethanol Ethanol from Wood Appendix - Suggested Reading and Resources 3 5 7 9 12 14 17 19 20 20 24 26 33 41 43 45 46 48

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Chapter 1
Introduction
The process of converting organic matter into alcohol isnt a terribly complicated process. The chemistry and the practical issues are simple enough for pretty much everyone to understand. However, to distill your own alcohols means that you will need to do a lot of reading and make sure you understand both the process as well as the mechanics of how to get to the end result. If you were baking a cake for the first time, you could make some pretty serious errors and still end up with either something you could still eat or at worst something you had to throw out. Making alcohol means you are dealing with items that are both heated and under pressure. This means that at the best result you get great, pure, alcohols. At the worst you could get burned or blow something up! When distilling your own alcohol you want to take care to understand thoroughly what you are doing and why things are happening the way that they are. I am not trying to scare you, or make you think this process is not practical or viable for you. I simply want you to take care and understand the distillation process is only dangerous if you do not understand it or give it the respect it requires. People on earth have been distilling alcohol for many thousands of years. Moonshine stills have been around and making alcohols for human consumption since people figured out the process and the effects of alcohol on the human body. Over the years the chemistry hasnt changed. However, the methods and options for equipment have. There are as many ways to distill your own alcohols as there are people doing it. You can buy a still, you can build a still, and there are large corporations out there with industrial plant sized operations. Each is a variation on the same theme. The important thing to remember is that you want to learn and understand the process fully and then decide which option works best for your own unique situation. While the process varies depending on if you are converting a fruit, grain, plant or tree, the same basic steps are involved. First you need to prepare the ingredient for fermentation. To do this you will need to prepare your chosen main ingredient to a state where it can be fermented. If it is a grain you grind it up, if it is a fruit you squish it up, if it is a tree you first make it into sawdust. To this ground up product you will add water and enzymes. The enzymes will take the starch in your base ingredient and convert it to simple sugars. This is now your mash. To the mash you will add yeast. The yeast will convert the simple sugars in your mash to alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide can be safely released into the atmosphere and the alcohol distilled out becomes your end product. The left over mash in the pot is now a combination of the ingredient Page 3

you started with and some residual yeast. This can be used as livestock feed or processed in many other ways for use. Ethanol is an attractive fuel alternative in much of the world because it does not depend on fossil fuels. This means that it both burns cleaner than traditional gasoline does, and more importantly it leaves the option open to power a vehicle or other machinery with ingredients grown in any country in the world. If you can burn ethanol in your vehicle, and it does not depend on foreign old import, this means that you can decrease or eliminate the reliance on that foreign oil and bring your reliance back to your home country. Self-reliance helps to insulate you and your country from the politics of a global economy and the wars around the world. This can be an attractive alternative at any reasonable cost. Another benefit which makes ethanol an attractive fuel alternative is that it is a 100% renewable resource and does not hurt the environment in the way drilling for oil and refining oil does. Ethanol can be distilled out of plant matter which can be planted and grown again. Also, while petroleum based products are harmful to nature, ethanol mixes and dilutes in water, making it much less harmful to the environment in the case of a spill. This eBook is meant to be an overview for you of the process of distilling your own alcohol and contains many options, suggestions and links for future reading. It is very important that you do the necessary investigation before beginning on your quest to distill your own ethanol. If you are in the US or Canada you will need to obtain the necessary government permits and make sure you adhere to all of the laws in place which regulate home distillation. My hope is that you will find all of the information, contained here in this eBook helpful to you on your quest to learn and to distill your own ethanol.

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Chapter 2
Regulations on Home Distillation
Distilling alcohol of any kind in the United States and Canada requires that you obtain a permit from the federal government. While it can be legal to distill your own ethanol, if you do not first obtain the proper permits you can land in some serious hot water with the officials. Distilling alcohol without a permit is a federal crime and you could be charged with a felony if you are caught. It is perfectly legal to buy materials for building a still and reading materials on the process required to distill (such as this eBook). However, to actually make the leap into building or using a still you must first obtain the permission from your government. Please be smart and keep your distilling operation legal!

United States Regulations on Home Distillation

To distill your own ethanol at home you must first obtain a federal Alcohol Fuel Plant (AFP) permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). For more information please see their website: www.ttb.gov or contact them by phone at their National Revenue Center at 513-684-3334. The form you will need to submit to apply for a permit can be printed from the TTB website at this URL: http://ttb.gov/forms/f511074.pdf. Failure to obtain an AFP permit from the TTB is a federal crime. In addition to the required AFP permit, each state has other regulations on distilling, storing, and transporting ethanol. An organization called The American Coalition on Ethanol has recently produced a wonderful and complete manual on their website which allows you to look at regulations by state. This manual can be found at: http://www.ethanol.org/EthanolHandbook2006.pdf.pdf In addition to the permit issues, in the U.S. manufacturers of ethanol must also add some gasoline or methanol to the ethanol to insure it will not be used for human consumption. This is called denaturing. If this denaturing step is not taken then the manufacturer is responsible for paying a liquor tax of $20 per gallon on the ethanol they have produced. It is also interesting to note that if you purchase a still in the U.S. the seller of the still must report your contact information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and will do so without a warrant. They are required by law to do this! Please do not

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think you can purchase a still and use it without anyone finding out. The seller of your still has likely reported your purchase to the TTB, and you could very easily be caught!

Canadian Regulations on Home Distillation

A license to distill your own ethanol is also required in Canada. Information and forms can be obtained by contacting the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency or by going to their website at: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-e.html. The information is available under the Excise Tax section. In Canada it is a federal offense to build any type of still without first obtaining a permit. As an added inconvenience, you may not use or open your still without an Excise Tax Officer present.

Global Regulations on Home Distillation

It is interesting to note that in countries such as New Zealand and Brazil it is legal to distill your own ethanol and there is no permit process. These countries are actually encouraging of home distillation and using ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels. There is much information on the internet about regulations and manufacture of ethanol in other parts of the globe. A simple internet search with your favorite search engine will net you the information on just about any country of interest.

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Chapter 3
What is Ethanol?
Ethanol is an alcohol. Alcohols are characterized by the fact that they contain a carbonyl group in their molecular make-up. A carbonyl group contains carbon, oxygen and hydrogen molecules, C-O-H. The chemical molecule of ethanol looks like the following: H H | | H-C-C-O-H | | H H

Alternatively written as C2H5OH

It is the addition of the extra carbon atom which makes this molecule ethanol rather than another type of alcohol. Ethanol is a stable liquid at room temperature. It is colorless, has a slight pleasant smell to it, is not acidic or basic with a neutral PH of 7, and boils at 1720 F. (78.50 C.) When ethanol is burned it burns clean and with a lot of energy. These characteristics make ethanol a good alternative choice for fuel to be used in small combustion engines, like those found in passenger cars. These characteristics also mean that ethanol is flammable and should be handled with care. Our interest in ethanol is as a fuel; however it is used all over the world in other applications as well. Ethanol is safe for human consumption as long as it has not been denatured. It has a very low freezing point and is used in low-temperature thermometers and antifreeze in automobiles. Ethanol is also a component used to help make many other chemicals for industrial uses. Ethanol will mix freely with water and is often used as a solvent. However, unlike traditional toxic solvents, because ethanol will mix freely with water an accidental spill of ethanol is much less tragic. Where gasoline and oil spills can be toxic and very damaging environmentally, ethanol will dilute in water and will not harm fish and wildlife to the same extent. Simply stated, ethanol is made by taking a high starch ingredient such as corn, grinding it up, adding enzymes to convert its starch molecules to simple sugars, fermenting those simple sugars with yeast, and as an end result you end up with ethanol and carbon dioxide. Below is a simple diagram showing how to convert a high starch ingredient into

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ethanol. This is a very simplified view of what happens but is meant to help in your understanding of the basic process. The distillation process is actually a very complex chemical process and while we focus on the basics there are other chemical products that can and generally are created along the way. Yeast cultures tend to not be 100% pure and this leads to other substances being created during the fermentation process. These substances can be things such as fusil oils, glycerin and organic acids. When ethanol is being produced for human consumption it is these impurities that give the varying liquids their unique flavors. If you are after 200 proof ethanol and not interested in flavor, then the fusil oils, glycerin and any organic acids produced can be safely disposed of down your drain or in your trash

Overview of The Chemical Process Resulting in Ethanol

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Chapter 4
Ethanol as an Automotive Fuel Alternative
One of the most attractive uses for ethanol is as an automotive fuel. The main reason for this is because it is clean burning and does not pollute the environment the way traditional fossil fuel based gasoline does. Another attractive reason for using ethanol versus gasoline is that it can be created from just about any fruit, grain, plant material or even trees. Ethanol is 100% renewable because it does not rely on fossil fuel deposits for its manufacture. This means that countries with no natural fossil fuel deposits can become self-reliant in making their own fuels based on the resources available to them in their climates. When you can create your own fuels you are less at the mercy of the oil producing countries. The political stability of the world does not affect your home economy quite as much. Vehicles will get the same gas mileage on ethanol and ethanol-gas mixtures as with traditional gasoline. However, the ethanol is converted into water and CO2 when burned in a combustion engine, rather than hydrocarbons and other toxic fumes from gasoline. Ethanol burns 300% cleaner than traditional gasoline mixtures because it is chemically made up of approximately 35% oxygen. Ethanol burns clean and does not leave behind the carbon residue seen with traditional gasoline. Not only will it reduce carbon build-up in your vehicles engine, but as an added plus it will help clean out the carbon that gasoline has left behind! Newer vehicles can tolerate ethanol well because they are designed to deal with it being added currently as a gasoline additive. For this reason the problems seen with older vehicles (Pre-1990s) and erosion of their rubber and cork parts, fuel systems, gas tanks, etc are no longer as much of an issue.

How Much Does It Cost To Make?

The question everyone wants an answer to is if ethanol can be made a home and can be made more inexpensively than buying gasoline. The answer to this question is simply that it depends. The answer depends on the cost of gasoline on the market. It also depends on the materials available to you and the volume of it you are able to distill. If you have a low cost source of grain and a decent sized farm still then you can probably make ethanol and save yourself money. If you have livestock of your own or are able to sell the resulting feed to recoup the cost this will make your ethanol production costs even lower. If you have to buy your materials in a lower quantity and use a smaller purchased still then the answer is likely no. Page 9

The one thing you can try to do is lower your costs of production in any way you possibly can. You can accomplish this by recycling items to build your still with, burning free gathered wood for your cook fire, buying your yeasts, enzymes and ingredients in the largest bulk quantities possible, etc If you build your still from recycled parts and are able to purchase what you need at from an inexpensive supplier then your cost of production will be much lower than if you have to go out and buy a ready-made still. To determine your cost per gallon you will need to look at all the costs involved with building your still, gathering your ingredients, the energy it took to process them, and the containers you store the finished denatured ethanol in. Divide that total by the number of gallons you have produced and you will get the cost per gallon. Even with the cost considerations you need to consider why you want to distill ethanol and then you can decide for yourself if it is worth the costs involved or not.

What is E85?
Recently in the United States we have been introduced to a fuel alternative called E85. E85 is a denatured mixture of ethanol and often referred to as gasohol. E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline in the summer time. In the winter E85 is a mixture of 70% ethanol and 30% gasoline. E85 burns cleaner than traditional gasoline and with a standard octane rating range of 102 to105. In vehicles where a high octane rating makes them run better, this is a win-win situation. Your car runs better and you help to save the environment at the same time. Not all vehicles can run on E85 however. To power your vehicle on E85 it needs to be rated as a flexible fuel vehicle, also known as a FFV. FFVs are designed to run alternative fuels, as well as gasoline. without any issues or modifications. It is very important to understand whether your vehicle can tolerate E85 or not. Using E85 in a vehicle not equipped to handle it could seriously damage your vehicle. To determine if your vehicle can run safely on E85 please go to this website run by The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) which will lead you through the determination process: http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/flexfuelvehicles.php As more vehicles come off the assembly line with the ability to run E85, more and more gas stations are installing E85 pumps and making the fuel available. It is interesting to note that if it is sealed in a container ethanol will not degrade the way gasoline does. If it is left open to the air it will however absorb water. If you are interested in a wonderful

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resource on storing and handling E85 the NEVC has a booklet on their website here which may be of interest to you: http://www.e85fuel.com/pdf/e85_technical_booklet.pdf

What is E10?
Similar to E85 is E10. E10 is a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline. The ethanol is an additive into the gasoline to improve its performance in your vehicle, to boost the octane rating of the gasoline, and make the fuel burn cleaner than traditional gasoline. While not all vehicles can run on E85, any vehicle can safely run on E10 without any modification.

Home Distilled Ethanol as Fuel in Your Vehicle

To make the modifications to run your vehicle on home distilled ethanol requires a few mechanical changes. These changes are with the carburetor and the timing and have nominal costs associated with implementing them. Since I am not a mechanic I will refer you to a wonderful article written by the Mother Earth News which can be found here: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me2.html The above referenced document explains in great detail how to modify your carb and idle to help your vehicle run efficiently on ethanol mixtures. Author Roger Lippman has another great manual describing in detail how to modify your vehicle. His online book can be purchased for $12 from his website at: http://terrasol.home.igc.org/alky/alky.htm

I highly suggest that before you ever attempt to run any alternative fuel in you vehicle that you do all of the necessary research to make sure you do not do any harm to it!

Is Ethanol Replacing Gasoline?

In the immediate future I do not believe ethanol will replace traditional fossil fuel based gasoline. However, it is a great additive and good renewable alternative for the longterm. For this reason it is being researched and improved upon daily. This will help drive down the costs of its manufacture and maybe someday it will be a practical alternative to gasoline.

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Chapter 5
Distillation Materials and Alcohol Yield
Ethanol for fuel can be made from virtually any tree, plant, fruit or grain that is high in starch. The most common main ingredient used is wheat or corn because they are about 70% starch, cheap, and readily available. One hundred pounds of corn will get you about two gallons of 180-190 proof ethanol. Some other common ingredients used are; barley, oats, Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, sugar beets, rotten apples, grape skins, and molasses. (See table below.) It is important to note, however, that ethanol competes with the food supply for materials. While some ingredients like corn make good ethanol, they also make a good food choice for people and their livestock. This is a major consideration all over the world where ethanol is produced for fuel. The main ingredient you should use depends a lot on how much ethanol you want to distill and what you have available to you in large quantity for a low price. If you have to buy your corn from a feed store that might not be your most cost effective option over the long-term. If you have access to grape skins being thrown away from a winery then that would be a great option. It all really depends on your individual situation. (It is suggested you start with corn or wheat and then explore your options once you thoroughly understand the process. While tree and plant materials are able to be converted into ethanol, the process is not as quick, easy, nor nearly as efficient as using grains or root vegetables. For your information I have included the process here in this eBook in Chapter 12 Ethanol From Wood. However, it is advised that if you are going to try and distill ethanol at home for fuel that you first try using a grain then work your way up to the trickier cellulose ingredients which require you to use a strong acid, and at the same time do not convert as well to ethanol and result in lower outputs. To determine the starch content in popular distillation ingredients please see the table on the next page.

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The table below shows the amount of alcohol you can expect, ideally, from a ton of material. This table also shows you which ingredients tend to be higher in starch.

Alcohol Yield

* Probable yield from a short ton of the raw material, calculated from the average fermentable content. ** Jacobs, P. B., and H. P. Newton, U. S. Dept. Agr, Misc. Pub. 327, December, 1938. *** USDA, Ag. Stat., 1978. **** Estimate for three harvests of heads per year.

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Chapter 6
Mash and Enzymes
To make a mash to ferment requires that you start with a high starch main ingredient. Your choice of ingredient will likely vary based on what you have available to you on the table found on the previous page. To find raw materials at the best price you should ask around and talk to the farmers in your area. If you do not know any farmers, or do not live in a particularly rural area, try asking the staff at a local feed store to refer you to someone. My experience has been that the feed store folks pretty much know all of the farmers in the area and what they produce. If you are just doing a trial run of your new still, or distilling on a very small scale, you can easily and cheaply purchase corn meal from your local feed store. In my area I can get it from the feed store in a 50 pound sack for about $7.00. To make a mash with corn you will need to either purchase it already milled into a meal or grind it up into one yourself. The corn needs to be ground-up enough to allow the starch granules to enter into the solution of water. However, you do not want it ground into flour which will break up the starch granules and leave you with a lumpy, pasty, mess in your mash pot. You want the consistency of store-bought corn meal. If you are making your mash with potatoes, they will need to be thinly sliced but not ground up too small. To make a mash with something like sugar beets or sugar cane you would need to grind it up into a pulp consistency. However, you would also need to add an additional step of squeezing out the juices. For this reason it is much easier to start with something simple like corn or potatoes, especially if you do not have access to a lot of farm equipment to do the labor intensive work of grinding and squeezing for you. To make a mash from a wood product you would need to add the additional steps of grinding it up, squeezing it out, and adding an acid mixture to it. Again, its best to start with corn or potatoes and work your way up. (See Chapter 12 for information on using a wood or cellulose main ingredient.)

Is Malting Necessary?
Malting is a processed used to sprout your main grain ingredient (usually barley for beer production) before it is converted into sugars. Because we are after ethanol for fuel this is not a necessary step to do.

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Primary Conversion
For primary conversion you will first add water to your corn meal or sliced up potatoes in a mash tub. The most common mash tubs out there are 55 gallon drums. You will need to add 30 gallons of water per bushel of grain or root. (A bushel is about 50-60 pounds depending on the ingredient used.) You can find a handy table here: http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/crops/g04020.htm If you are using 100 pounds of corn you would add approximately 60 gallons of water. Stir around this mixture well to allow the first starch granules to float in the water. You do not want any lumps in your mash pot so make sure to stir it well. To the corn and water you will add three measuring spoons (spoon comes in the package) of Alpha Amylase Enzyme. First mix your enzyme with a bit of water and then add that into the mash pot, similar to how you would add flour or corn starch to gravy. The Alpha Amylase Enzymes function is to convert the starch granules floating in the water into large sugar molecules called dextrose. Heat the mash pot to 1700 F (770 C) over the same heat source you use for your still, while constantly stirring it around. You will want to let this cook at this temperature for about 15 minutes. This cook time will allow the enzyme time to work its magic. Once heated the Alpha Amylase Enzyme converts the starch granules into dextrose. Once you have allowed the enzyme to work at 1700 F for 15 minutes, then you need to raise the temperature until the mixture in the pot really boils at a hard boil. If you do not have enough water at this point to make a good boil, you will need to add some additional water. Allow the mixture in the pot to boil at a hard boil for about a half hour. Hard boiling the pot allows for more of the starch granules in the main ingredient to enter into the water. These granules were trapped before within the grain and boiling them sets them free into the solution. (If you are using potatoes as your main ingredient you will not need to do the hard boiling step.) Cool down your pot back to 1700 F. The mixture in the pot is now a combination of the main ingredient you started with (corn), dextrose and more starch granules in water like the ones we first had when we first mixed the water with the corn meal. You will now add in 3 more measuring spoons of the Alpha Amylase Enzyme. Stir the pot and keep the temperature steady at 1700 F for about half hour. This step turns the remaining starch granules in the water into dextrose. Once primary conversion is completed you are left with a pot which contains your main ingredient (corn), water and dextrose.

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Secondary Conversion Saccharification and Fermentation

To be able to ferment out the ethanol, you will need to convert the larger, complex dextrose molecules into smaller, simple sugar molecules called maltose and glucose. This secondary conversion is called saccharification. To convert the dextrose you will add six measuring spoons of Beta Glucoamylase Enzyme. You will need to wait until your solution lowers to about 850 F (290 C) before adding the Beta enzyme and yeast as to not kill them off before they can do their job. The Beta Glucoamylase Enzyme turns the dextrose molecules into maltose and glucose. The yeast serves to ferment your mash. The nice thing about the saccharification, or secondary conversion process, is you can add the Beta Glucoamylase Enzyme to the solution and then at the same time add the yeast to start the fermentation process.

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Chapter 7
Yeasts and Fermentation
Once you have prepared your mash and are ready to add yeast to ferment it, you have a couple options as to what yeast to use. For 100 pounds of corn you will need about 2 ounces of yeast. You can use bakers yeast, available at any supermarket, or the more attractive option is to use a distillers yeast. The distillers yeast is made especially for distilling out alcohol and will give you more ethanol yield than a bakers yeast will. There are many varieties of distillers yeast available. Many have been modified and claim to have higher tolerances for ethanol and the ability to ferment your batch to a higher than average alcohol proof. Some of these suppliers are listed below: Pot Distillers 18 Yeast is available from turboyeast.com here: http://www.turbo-yeast.com/potdistillers.html Turbo Yeast Varieties are also available from Northern Brewer here: http://www.northernbrewer.com/liqueur.html 22 Pounds of Distillers yeast for about $120 is available here: http://www.coppermoonshinestills.com/ Distillers yeast is also available from Brew Haus here: http://www.brewhaus.com/

Fermentation Process
Once you have added your yeast to your mash you will want to stir the pot up a bit and then cover it up and leave it alone to ferment. You want to have the yeast work in the absence of a lot of air. This causes the yeast to create more ethanol. If your mixture has too much air in it then you will get lower levels of ethanol.

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During the fermentation process the yeast converts the maltose and glucose (small sugar) molecules into ethanol, carbon dioxide and heat. The chemical reaction formula looks like this:

C6H1O6
Sugars

2C2HOH + 2CO2
Ethanol + Carbon Dioxide

In the fermentation process the yeast gives off ethanol and carbon dioxide as waste products. Once your batch reaches about 14% ethanol the ethanol starts to kill off the yeast. The yeast cannot live at higher concentrations of ethanol. When the yeast start to die off your fermentation stops; generally this takes about three to five days. To tell if the fermentation is complete you can see that there are no longer air bubbles raising to the surface and the solids have sunk down to the bottom of the pot. At this point in the process you will want to test your batch with a low proof hydrometer to see how much alcohol is in the batch. You should see between 10% and 15% ideally. A hydrometer is a simple instrument which measures the weight, or gravity, of a liquid in relation to the weight of plain water. Because the relation of the gravity to water is specified, the resulting measure is called the specific gravity. The hydrometer will float up higher in a heavy liquid and lower in a light liquid such as alcohol. There are many hydrometers available on the market today and they are readily available from wine and beer making suppliers. Generally hydrometers come in two forms lower gravity than water, and higher gravity than water. You will likely want one of each if you will be distilling your own ethanol and other alcohol products. You can get one which will measure both but they are more expensive. Hydrometers generally run below twenty dollars. Your batch is now ready to be distilled. Before transferring the liquid ethanol and water mixture into your still you will first want to filter out the solids from it. You can easily filter out the solids by using a screen or you can siphon off the liquid from the top of the pot. The remaining solids can be dried and safely fed to livestock, processed in other ways, or composted. If for some reason your fermentation didnt happen you could also add yeast again and re-ferment.

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Chapter 8
Distillation
Once the mashs sugar is fermented by yeast, then the fermented liquid product is put into a still where it is heated for distillation. Generally you would want to use a separate container for youre your mash than your still itself. This keeps your still from getting gunked-up with all of the solids and residues that will be in your mash pot. Distillation can happen because water boils at 100o C and ethanol boils at 78o C you are able to distill out the ethanol and leave most of the water behind. By using the distillation process of boiling out the ethanol, you are able to obtain a solution that is generally about 90-95% ethanol and 5-10%- water. This ethanol is referred to as being 180-190 proof respectively. To measure the proof you get you will need to test it with a high proof hydrometer. To bring your ethanol to 100% pure ethanol, 200 proof, you would need to use a dehydration process to remove any remaining water. What you would do is dehydrate the ethanol by one of a choice of solutions which include: azeotrophic dehydration, molecular sieve filtration, lyme dehydration, benzene absorption or rock salt absorption. The distillation process also leaves you with a non-fermentable byproduct. The byproduct is simply everything from the original substance you fermented minus the starch which is converted sugar and then to ethanol and carbon dioxide. The byproduct is completely determined by what you used to ferment. If you used corn, for example, you are left with corn oil, corn gluten meal, corn gluten feed, left over yeast, and carbon dioxide. The corn oil is fine for human consumption and the yeast containing corn meal and corn feed are generally fed to livestock or composted. The carbon dioxide is trapped in a commercial distillery and used for soft drinks or industrial uses. In a home still the carbon dioxide is safely released into the atmosphere. Once you have completed distilling out your ethanol, and drying it if necessary, you must then, by law, denature it by adding gasoline to it.

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Chapter 9
Building Your Own Still
Building your own still depends a lot on your handyman (handywoman) skills, the available resources in your area, and the cash you have available for the project. If you can solder and weld, then building your own entire set-up from the ground up might be the way to go. If you are not terribly mechanically inclined, then you might consider purchasing a still, or at least some of the major parts of one. At the end of this eBook you will find a listing of suppliers of distillation products, enzymes, yeasts, plans for building stills, and actual whole stills themselves, to help you in the decision making process. The one thing that is for certain is there are as many ways to build a still as there are ingredients you can convert to alcohols. It is a bit about chemistry and technology, but a lot about your personal preferences. You may want to look at the many other plan designs readily available for various types of stills, and then decide what will work best for your specific needs and desires. Your still type and size will also be determined by the amount of space that you have to accommodate it. If you live on a large farm then you can build a larger still. If you live in the suburbs you might want to stick to a smaller scale one. **A word of caution needs to be put here. Stills are under stress from both heat and pressure. This might not be a good test project to see if you can learn to solder and weld. Sure, its always good to learn new self-sufficiency skills, but your still needs to be done correctly and be soundly constructed for your own safety. Please be mindful of this when you consider its construction and use! Safety lecture over.

Materials and Suppliers

The materials you will use for your still depend a bit on your design and also on what is readily available in your local area. While medical grade stainless steel is great to use, it is also very cost prohibitive. Building a very expensive still sort of defeats the purpose of distilling your own ethanol by taking a very long time to recoup the cost of the still versus just purchasing traditional gasoline. For your stills cook pot you have an endless choice of materials to use, including metal cookware, automotive grade metal materials, and household pipes made of copper. (Do not try and use ABS or PVC pipe as they can explode and their chemical make-up will corrupt your process.)

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I would highly suggest looking in the following order for materials: Things around your home and farm Home Improvement or Hardware Store Automotive Supply Store Online Vendors Scientific Supply Store Medical Supply Store

Your actual costs for your still will vary. You can count on it costing you at least $600 and more likely about $1000.00 on up. Your actual costs will also vary based on the work you are able to do and those tasks you will need to have done for you.

Tools and Basic Building Procedures

This section discusses the tools and procedures that are required for the construction of the stills described in this guide. One of the primary goals of designing the stills discussed in this manual was to ensure that they could be built by a typical person using only common hand tools. Here's the list: Basic Tools Hacksaw Measuring Tape Electric Drill, Drill Bits Propane/Mapp Gas Hand Torch Saber Saw with Metal Cutting Blades Utility Knife 3-4" Bench Vice Cloth Backed Sandpaper or Steel Wool Lead free Solder Round File Nice to Have Tools Plumber's Pipe Cutters Drill Press - or Drill Guide*** Plumbers Torch or Brazing Torch Reciprocating Saw Gasket Cutter Punch Set

Die Grinder Hand Tubing Bender ** Thread Set Rivets and Setter * Bi-Metal Hole Saws

* Optional Tool for Keg Boiler ** Optional Tool for Valved Reflux *** Optional Tool for Internal Reflux model

Construction Overview

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Overall, the construction of this still is quite straightforward. First the top end tubing components should be cut to length. Then, if you're building the Internal Reflux model, the condenser shell caps should be drilled. All the top end parts should then be assembled with their fittings to check the fit. Finally, the column should be drilled to match and fit the upper and lower cooling tubes that supply coolant to the condenser shell. When all the dry fitting is complete, the parts should be dis-assembled and prepared for soldering.

Soldering the Fittings

Making a good sweated joint with copper tubing and fittings is the only real skill that is needed to build either of these stills. It is an easy skill to acquire, but it does take a little practice to get it right if you've never done it before. To do it right, the parts to be joined must be scrupulously clean. The clean up can be done with any appropriate tool such as sandpaper, wire brushing, or polishing with steel wool. When it's ready for soldering, the joints should have a bright, almost golden color. The joint should then be fluxed. When you buy the lead free solder for this project, make sure you get the proper fluxing compound to match. Spread the flux evenly over both joint surfaces with a small fluxing brush or similar applicator, and assemble the joint. The secret to sweat soldering is to make sure the entire joint is evenly heated to the point where it will melt the solder when you apply the solder to the joint. Sometimes this can be difficult with large diameter tubing (2-3") because the tubing draws a lot of heat away from the joint. Make sure your torch has enough capacity.

Turbo flame propane torch heads are the minimum you should consider for this purpose. They are available at most hardware stores. Once the joint is hot enough, the solder will run freely around the joint and will be sucked into the joint by capillary action. While keeping the heat at the bottom of the fitting (not on the joint) feed the solder wire around the joint until a small bead at the top of the joint appears. Then, with a shop rag (or leather gloved hand), wipe this bead of solder from the joint and remove the heat. This will provide an even tin finish to the joint.

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With a little practice, you will soon find you can even make the solder run uphill towards the heat source, and that you can solder the joint without re-positioning the assembly. Whenever possible during the soldering of the assembly, clean out the inside of the joint, after soldering, with a brush and solvent to remove any flux or oxidation debris before going on to the next joint. It will make your first batches taste a lot better.

Silver Soldering
There are really two kinds of soldering. The first, discussed above, is done at relatively low temperatures (below 800 F. and usually about 450 F.) and is widely used in the plumbing and electrical trades. The solder commonly used was a 50/50 mixture of lead and tin. The second type, long referred to as silver soldering, or silver brazing is done with a silver alloy that melts in the 1100 to 1600 F. range, depending on the amount of silver in the alloy. This commonly varies between 45% to 70%. Unfortunately, the advent of lead free soldering requirements for the low temperature applications, has resulted in some solder being marketed as "Silver Bearing" or "Silver Solder". These lead free solders contain only a fraction of a percent of silver and they melt at temperatures in the 430 F. range. They should not be confused with the solder used in the silver soldering or silver brazing process. This distinction is made at this point because, with one exception, all the fittings in the stills presented in this guide are all soldered with a low temperature lead free solder. The one exception is the joint in the reflux column flange adapter where a copper coupling is joined to the steel exhaust flange with a 45% silver alloy that melts at about 1370 F. This temperature is below the melting point of either the copper coupling or the mild steel flange, and the parts can be attached with a propane/Mapp gas hand torch. Now that we've got all the generalities out of the way, it's now time to begin the actual construction of your still. The various parts of your internal reflux still can be purchased or made yourself. **Whatever still option you choose to build it is always a smart idea to test it with water first. Once you can confirm that it is safely working correctly then attempt to distill your alcohol.

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The Internal Reflux Still

Below is a very crude, basic diagram of the internal reflux still we are building: (Sorry for my drawing, but you get the point.) Notice that this still has a burner, boiler, internal reflux top, two hose connections and a container for ethanol collection.

Thermometer goes here

Batch Distillation vs- Continuous Distillation

The still we are building, like most homemade stills, is designed for batch distillation. Batch distillation is where you take your fermented batch and distill it and then go on to another batch at some point. Its a stop and start again type system.

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Continuous distillation is used in large scale ethanol production operations and is a method where the distillation process is constantly ongoing. This isnt generally a practical set-up to use for home distillation.

The Boiler
The base of your still will be the boiler or cook pot. There are many options out there as to what you can use. It is highly advised that you use something made from a fairly heavy metal, preferably stainless steel, and that you understand that it must be sealed tightly. The best suggestion I have as to what to use is a keg. They are made of stainless steel and are about the right size. They seal well and are the easiest to modify for use as a boiler. Kegs are not easy to clean but with some effort it can be done.

Stainless Steel Beer Kegs

Stainless steel beer kegs provide an excellent alternative, and are much more available. The major drawback is that, without modification, they cannot easily be cleaned, charged, or inspected internally. Another issue is the capacities that they are manufactured in. Beer kegs are commonly available in the U.S. in half keg (15.5 gallon) and quarter keg (8.25 gallons) capacities. For home distillation, the most practical batches consist of about 25 liters (6.6 US gallons) of wash. The fermentation vessels and prepared packages of yeast for these size batches are readily available at most brew shops. And while both keg sizes will suffice for the task, there are a number of advantages in using the half keg size. The first is a matter of stability. The stills described in this manual contain columns that stand almost three feet over the top of the boiler. That allows them to be easily tipped over when a small base is used. Also the quarter keg size is made with an egg shell shape. This also makes the base even less stable. Secondly, the quarter keg has a smaller diameter, and less free space over the liquid when filled with a 25 liter charge. Both the small diameter and free space above the liquid surface can cause instabilities in the vapor flow up the column during operation. Also, the quarter keg size has no convenient handle grips with which the keg can be easily moved about. Finally, the half keg size has built in handles in the rim. This is considered an overwhelming advantage, particularly when a single batch weighs almost 50 pounds. Page 25

If you are a good metal fabricator then you can use things such as stainless steel cookware, metal milk containers, etc But they do require more modification. You will need to seal their top and allow for a hole through which your internal reflux still top unit will fit. Its important to note that if your boiler leaks the distillation process will not happen and you could be in danger of burns or possible explosion. Choose your materials wisely. To build your boiler you can use a keg and attach a stainless steel metal bowl at the top. Into what was the bottom of this bowl, you cut a hole to insert in the reflux still top. These things will all be welded together.

Heat Source for Your Boiler

To heat your boiler you have a few options. You can use a wood fire, electricity, or a liquid fuel like propane. A wood fire is virtually free except for the material you burn. However, it is hard to regulate temperatures using an open flame and a heavy, non-movable still. It is also a safety issue because the fire will be near ethanol, which is flammable. The second option would be an electrical burner. It is difficult to regulate temperature with electricity because once your burner is hot, and you turn it down, it will take time to cool. This is probably not a cheap or terribly portable option either, but is an option to consider. The third, and probably best option, is to use liquid propane. Propane burners are easier to regulate temperatures compared to a wood fire or electrical burner. Propane is easily obtained and relatively cheap. Propane makes your still portable because if it is hooked to a 5 gallon propane tank you could use it just about anywhere. A propane burner has an open flame so you will need to be mindful of the alcohol catching fire. The easiest way to set up a still to use propane is to set your boiler on some concrete cinder blocks so that it is near the flame, like a pot on a gas stove, but not sitting directly on the burner. **An added note about gas heat sources is that they create carbon monoxide when they burn. If you use gas heat please do so outdoors to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.

Reflux Still Top

Rather than build the still of the old days with the long, long, long curly copper cooling pipes sticking out of it, we are building what is referred to as an internal reflux still. The basic principle behind the internal reflux still is that you boil the liquid in your fermented batch, the ethanol evaporates at 1780 F, climbs up the packed reflux column, cools and

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condenses back into liquid, travels back down towards the pot and is vaporized again. This process insures that the distilled liquid has a higher purity because by the time it reaches the condenser and is condensed back to a liquid it has gone through the evaporation process multiple times.

Packed reflux column with internally controlled reflux

This model provides the reflux control by regulation of cooling tubes within the column. This model is referred to as the Internal Reflux model. So how you build the top end reflux model will probably come down to what is available where you live. If you live in the US, and you want to build a still at home, most likely plain old copper tubing will be your best choice. Its easy to cut, silver braze, and solder. There are an endless number of standard fittings available at plumbing supply distributors, a wide variety of tubing sizes, it is quite inexpensive (around $1.00-$3.00/ft.) and it really looks beautiful when polished. The rest of this guide will focus on building a hybrid still with two choices of stainless steel boilers, and two choices of copper tubing top ends. You can mix and match any of the combinations to suit your needs.

Construction of the Internal Reflux still condenser assembly

In the context of a still, the condenser is a device that cools down whatever hot vapors that flow through it to the point where the vapors condense into a liquid. The condenser in this model is the most important part of the assembly because it controls the internal re-distillation process and the separation of the final output. Depending on the still design, the condenser may be located at different positions to provide different functionality in the still operations. The still we are building in this section, has no condenser or reflux holding tank at the top, and no valves to control the reflux flow. Instead, the reflux is produced inside the column by cooling tubes that pass through it.

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In this model, both the distillate output and the reflux flow are controlled by the amount of water that is circulated through the condenser shell and the cooling tubes that pass through the column. Condensers can be designed in many ways, but for a lot of reasons, as youll see in the next paragraphs, a jacketed core condenser is particularly well suited for this still. With jacketed condensers, a circulating and cooling water supply runs between the jacket and the core. This condenses the liquids contained in the hot vapors coming from the column and going through the core. Heres a sketch of what the insides of the condenser look like:

Condenser Assembly

Simple as it might seem, there are a lot of considerations behind making a proper condenser for the kind of column we want to build. Most low capacity distillation devices use a small capacity condenser. This is because they are designed for only one purpose: to drop the temperature of the distillation vapor to the point where the liquid separates out of the vapor. That usually does not require a great deal of cooling. Pot stills sometimes just use a coil of tubing that cools the vapor by just exposing it to the surrounding air temperature. But keep in mind we are building a reflux still. That is a more sophisticated design. In the course of its operation, the reflux still produces a much higher quality of distillate than the pot stills because it effectively re-distills the mixture many times before it is drawn off from the still. That of course, requires much more cooling and much better temperature control than the simpler pot stills. So, to accommodate these needs, weve designed this still with a much larger cooling capacity incorporated into the condenser. Weve done that because we need not only the cooling required to condense the distillate vapors, but also to carefully regulate and control the temperatures inside the reflux tower. To properly utilize the extra cooling capacity, weve made the water supply and drain lines from " copper pipe and run these cooling lines through the reflux column as part of the normal cooling circulation. The primary purpose of these lines is to control the amount of re-distillation (reflux) that occurs inside of the column.

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Here is a diagram of the reflux still top. A close-up of the condenser assembly is below.

Since the cooling is so important to the operation of this still, it might be in order to touch on just how this is done. In the sketch (above) you can see that the input cooling water is circulated first through the bottom of the column, then through the condenser, and finally back through the top of the column again. The rather large surface area of the copper jacket of this condenser acts as a radiator. It dissipates the heat conducted both by the lower input cooling pipe and the heat absorbed from the column vapors by the water as it passes through the column on its way to the condenser. This is why the big, jacketed condenser we are going to build for this job is better. Its also happens to be easier to fabricate and more efficient than those condensers which use a coiled tube contained within the distillate output pipe. The first step in building the condenser is to fabricate the core assembly. The condenser core is the innermost tube that runs inside the water jacket of the condenser. Its made from a piece of 1" tubing and two copper fittings. To make the core you begin by soldering together a 1" X 1" reducing coupling to a 23" length of 1" pipe. Be sure to clean the fittings and pipe with sandpaper or a stiff wire brush so it shines.

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Then brush on some flux to both pieces before soldering, and use lead-free solder on all joints. When you heat the joint enough with a torch, the solder will be sucked up into the joint. While the solder is still runny looking and shiny, wipe the joint with a clean rag. Makes a nice finish on the joint. Then solder a 1" X " reducing coupling on the other end in the same way. When you get done, itll look like this:

This is a good time to run a brush or wet cloth through the core to clean up any flux that may have run into the tubing and fittings. The next step is to build a jacket that fits closely around the core. That will allow a thin, fast moving, layer of water with a lot of surface area to circulate around the core and quickly absorb the heat. In turn, it also allows the condensation rate (both internal and external) to react as quickly as possible to changes in the water flow. Since the column output is made of 1 " piping, we have to reduce this down to 1" piping for the core, and then make the jacket out of 1 " pipe. That will leave a " space surrounding the core for the water to circulate. To do this, we have to do some strange things to the end caps of the jacket so that it will match the underlying core plumbing. Heres whats involved:

The hardest part is to cut the right size holes in the caps so they will fit nicely with the core. One cap has a 1 1/8" hole drilled in the end, the other cap, a 5/8" hole. Cutting such large holes in the caps is difficult if you don't have soft metal hole cutters of the right size. In that case you'll need to use a small drill bit to drill around a

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circle of the right size. The ragged edges can be smoothed with a rat tail file or a die grinder tool. When the caps are done, you have to cut two nipples of 1 " pipe each 2 " long, and a piece 17 " long for the main jacket. When you assemble the jacket, the " reducing tee outlets should be 18 " on center. Later on you will see that it is important to insure that the cooling tube holes in the reflux column match this dimension.

The more important dimension is the overall jacket length. When the core is placed inside the assembly, it should fit snugly at both the top and bottom caps. You can adjust the length of either one of the nipple fittings (before you solder them) to make any fine adjustments. Now you can complete the assembly by putting the core assembly through the holes in the jacket end caps, making sure the Tees are centered along the length. The core and jacket should look like this just before putting them together.

When you're satisfied that they fit snugly, solder the jacket tees and tubing together, again making certain that the tee fittings are lined up in a straight line along the tubing center line. Then put the end caps on, and install the core. You can adjust the end caps to fit snugly on the core. When everything fits right, solder it together. Then put it aside until we finish the reflux column assembly.

The Top End

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The reflux column for this still is made from 2" copper tubing. It is three feet long, and has a thermometer mounted in the column cap. It is packed with Raschig rings (described later) to provide a large area condensation surface inside the column, and it has two cooling tubes that pass water through the vapors that rise through the column from the boiler. A Tee connector just under the cap provides a reduction to 1 1/2" tubing and an elbow connection to the condenser assembly. The lower end of the column, internal to the boiler cap, is covered by a screen to retain the packing.

The Column Head

The uppermost part of the column is called the column head. It consists of a cap, a thermometer, a 3" long nipple, and a 2 x 2 x 1 " tee. It also includes a connection to the condenser assembly with two 1 " x 2 " nipples and a 1 x 1 " elbow. A drawing of the assembly is shown below: The cap is drilled in the center with a 3/8" hole to fit a rubber grommet and the thermometer stem. Not all stems have the same diameter, so you should make sure the hole fits your thermometer. The cap is not soldered to the column. This is to allow the column and packing to be back flushed and cleaned out by simply taking off the cap and hosing down the column.

The Column Body

The column body is made of a 3 foot section of 2" copper pipe. It attaches to the 2 x 2 x 1" Column Head Tee on the top, and to the boiler (or flange) on the bottom end. Two 5/8" holes are drilled on the center line of the column pipe, through both sides of of the tube. The two holes should

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be about 18 1/2" O.C., but more importantly, they should match the upper and lower cooling tubes attached to the condenser. You should use a drill guide (or drill press) to insure that the holes are squarely in the center of the tube, and on the same line along its length. When the holes have been drilled, clean up the top end and solder the Tee fitting, nipple, and the middle section together. Then install the 1 " nipples and elbow to the tee connection. Do not solder these yet. They must be loose to allow final fitting to the column.

Final Top End Assembly

Line up the two 1 X 1 X " tees on the condenser with the cooling tube holes in the column body, and install two 7" lengths of " tubing through the column and into the condenser tees. You should have a tower assembly now that looks like this.

Make sure everything fits OK and aligns well. When youre satisfied, remove the cooling tubes and condenser. Clean up and solder the 1 " elbow and nipples to the column tee. Finally, re-install the cooling pipes to the condenser to assure its alignment, and solder the remaining joints. Since the cooling tubes will be clamp attached to a section of garden hose, you may want to relieve the strain imposed by the right angle direction change on the hose by soldering an elbow and short nipple to the end of each cooling tube. This will allow the hose to feed into the still vertically.

The next section covers how the column is attached to the boiler.
At the point at which the packed reflux column joins the boiler you will need a screen. This screen will keep the packing in the column inside it without allowing it to travel down and end up in your boiler. At the point at which you see the reflux column vapor output (on Page 28) you will want to have a thermometer. This will be how you gauge the temperature of your vapor to insure you are only distilling off the ethanol, and not also boiling out the water. The packed reflux column will need to be welded on to the boiler and packed with a nonconductive, non-corrosive, material with a lot of surface area. The common suggestions are to use glass beads, ceramic marbles, stainless steel beads, rashing rings, or something

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simple like SOS Pads. The SOS Pads (pot scrubbing pads) should be either stainless steel or copper and please make sure you thoroughly boil them before packing the column (more about this later).

Stainless Steel Beer Kegs

As it stands, the biggest problem with the stainless half keg is that it doesn't have a good fitting to attach the reflux column to, and it is very difficult to clean and fill it without brewery filling and steam cleaning equipment. At the very least, the ball valve assembly must be removed before the 2" reflux column can be attached. But even if this is done, it is difficult to attach the column with a flange fitting because of the curved top of the barrel. Furthermore, simply having a 2" opening at the top when the flange is removed will not be enough to allow the boiler to be cleaned well.

Modifying the Stainless Half Keg

We've found the best way to overcome these limitations is to start out by cutting out a large circle in the top of the keg so that a separate cover can be attached. We found that an 8" stainless steel mixing bowl with a 1/4" rimmed flange made a good cover. To prepare for the cut you might find it easier to make a paper template by tracing and cutting out a circle inscribed around the rim of the mixing bowl as it is inverted over the paper.

The template center can then be found by using an ordinary compass. After the center is marked, draw another concentric inner circle 1/2" inside the first . Then cut the template around the inner circle line. The template will now be the correct size for cutting the hole. To center the template on the top of the keg, you might find it easier to cut an X with about 3" legs through the center of the template. This will allow you to fit the paper over the ball valve on the top of the keg and then center the template. When the template is centered, scribe a mark around it with a felt tipped pen. This will mark the top of the keg with the cutting line. The hole can be cut with an ordinary saber saw, but the cutting will go much faster if you have a larger reciprocating saw for this

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job. In either case, you will need to drill a pilot starting hole just inside the cutting line circle to start the cut. When you've finished cutting the hole, use a round file or a die grinder to remove the burrs and smooth out the inside edges of the cut.

Anchoring the Cover

The mixing bowl cover is anchored to the keg by four 1/4" bolts. Since the metal on the top of the still is too thin to hold a thread, four 3/8" holes were drilled around the outside rim of the bowl flange to accommodate the insertion of threaded fastener nuts. .

. The bolts are inserted through 1 1/2" fender washers which clamp down on the outside rim of the mixing bowl cover. Because the top of the keg is domed, the washers were bent almost in half to compensate for the drop in elevation on each side of the bolt.

Building the Column Adapter

To allow fitting the still column to the keg cover, an adapter is made from a 2" automobile exhaust flange and a 2" copper coupling and bolted to the bottom of the bowl. And while these dimensions sound correct, they are unfortunately inside dimensions. That means that neither the column tubing nor the coupler can pass through the 2" hole in the exhaust flange. Worse, the flanges are not made with 2 1/2" holes. To avoid the expense of boring out the flange, it was decided that the coupling would be placed on top of the flange, rather than passing through it, and then silver soldered in place. The consequences of that decision meant that the column tube would fit up to the coupling restriction on the top, but a connection to that

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coupling from the underside of the keg cover would not be able to pass through the flange opening of 2". A connection from the underside of the coupler is needed, because the column is packed with Raschig rings or other distillation packing. The connection will allow the column and cover to be removed from the keg as a unit. With that in mind, you need to make up a collar of the right diameter and length to pass through the keg cover, and then seat into the coupling and flange from the underside. This is best done by cutting a 5" nipple from 2" stock, and then making a hacksaw cut along its length. In that way you will be able to overlap the cut joint and reduce the diameter enough to pass through the cover, flange, and seat in the underside of the coupling. Notice how this appears in the photo at left. The bottom end of this collar should pass through the flange and cover for about 3 inches. This will allow a covering of brass screen to be attached to the bottom end with a stainless steel clamp and ensure that the column packing will remain intact when the keg cover and column are disconnected.

Making the gaskets

Cork gaskets are used on both the top and bottom of the keg cover. This material is generally available at auto parts stores in 10" wide rolls of 1/8" sheet cork. Once the gasket outline has been drawn, the gaskets can be easily cut out with scissors or a sharp utility knife. The job of cutting out the small bolt holes is made much easier if a hollow punch set is available. The rim of the keg cover is used to make the pattern for that gasket. Once the rim circle is traced on the cork sheet, draw a concentric inner circle so that a 1/2" wide circular gasket will be described. You may elect to use the pattern made for cutting the keg top for this. The adapter flange (without the collar) should be used as a template to scribe the bolt hole locations and the flange hole on the bottom of the mixing bowl. The flange is also used to draw the outline pattern on the cork gasket material. Use the big circular piece left over from cutting the rim gasket for this. A felt tip pen does a nice job on both these tasks.

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Finishing the Keg Cover

The keg cover will be completed by cutting a 2" hole in the bottom of the bowl so that the collar can pass through it and seat in the bottom half of the flange coupling. It should fit quite tightly in the cover and flange holes and does not need to be soldered or pinned with a set screw. The job of cutting the hole is made much easier if a bi-metallic hole saw is available. When this is finished, drill the marked flange bolt holes. When all the cover holes have been drilled, insert the split collar through the cover as shown, and slip the gasket in place. The flange assembly can then be installed. At this point the cover assembly can be bolted together and set aside until it's time to attach the column.

How-to and Material to Pack the Column

To wrap the construction phase up, the column has to be packed with something for the vapors to condense on as they pass up the tower from the boiler. There are a lot of things you can use to pack the tower. Recommendations range from marbles, glass beads, copper or stainless scrubbing pads, to broken automotive safety glass and others. Packing is a poor word to use for this material. It implies a dense filler. What we really want inside the column is something that wont pack, burn, melt, dissolve, or release impurities or poisons into the vapor in the column. We also want that material to have as large a surface area as possible, and at the same time offer as little resistance as possible to the gas and liquid flows inside the column. It should be easy to clean, and above all, it should not settle or pack down in the column. And while that is a pretty tall order, there is a product that satisfies all these requirements. The product is called Raschig Rings. They are hollow cylinders made of unglazed ceramic material. They are made in many sizes but the " diameter is perfect for this kind of column . They look like this: (From http://www.partyman.se Web Site)

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Finding a good Raschig ring source is sometimes difficult. A search of the Thomas Register of American Business turns up about 19 suppliers. But for the most part these suppliers are large companies, many of whom specialize in doing business with the big refineries and oil companies. As such, they really do not want to deal with a small laboratory or an individual distiller. Some of the prices for 6mm Raschig rings can be shocking: one company wants $80.40 USD for a liter quantity (youll need two liters), and requires a $300.00 minimum order. Another wants $24.90 for a box of 300 rings (there are 85,611 6mm rings in a cubic foot). Under the circumstances, if youve decided to use this packing you should check out Gert Strands Partyman website at http://www.partyman.se. He carries them and the prices there are a fraction of the larger companies on the Thomas Register. If you are located in the US, you can save some postage charges by contacting the Brew Haus at http://brewhaus.com/Store-USA/Web/. They currently are selling a liter of 6mm Raschig Rings for $15.95 USD. As a last resort, you might take the time to cut up a few thousand slices from some copper or stainless tubing if you have the scrap laying around and a lot of time. But if you have to buy it new even copper tubing costs about $0.40/ft USD, and its definitely not worth the time to cut it up. Probably the best alternative to Raschig Ring packing is stainless steel or copper pot scrubbers. You can get them at most local grocery stores. They come highly recommended from several sources, and while you may not get 95% purity, remember that you'll need to dilute the distillate anyway if you intend to drink it. Just be sure you clean them up by boiling them in water before you use them, and don't pack them too tightly in the column. No matter what packing you choose, fill up the tower to just above the top cooling tube. Put the cover cap on, and attach the cooling hose couplings with stainless hose clamps. You're almost ready to go!

Cooling Considerations
Next to heating, cooling the still is the most important operation. Both stills in this guide are cooled with a supply of running water. But because of their different approaches to controlling the reflux in each, they both have different cooling requirements, consume different amounts of water, and require somewhat different operating procedures.

Internal Reflux Still

Regulating the cooling supply in this model is critical. That's because this still relies on the cooling supply to control the amount of reflux that is circulated in the column. Having

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too much or too little cooling circulation will directly impact the purity of the distillate and the time required to produce it. Estimating the right amount of cooling is difficult because of the many factors involved. Working from actual distillation runs, it takes about six hours to distill about 5 liters of 190 proof ethanol from a 25 liter boiler charge. Six hours of running tap water through the still can amount to a lot of water. Perhaps enough to worry some country folks about running the well dry or filling up the septic tank, or even burning out the pump.

On the other hand, except for the water bill, the cooling supply and drain from the still is of little concern to those who have city water and sewage lines. Regardless of which situation you find yourself in, if you want to conserve water consumption, you may want to consider using a holding tank.

Holding Tanks
In this configuration, cooling water is contained in an intermediate tank or vessel, and then pumped through the still, with the discharge from the still directed back into the tank. There are a number of pumps that can be used for this purpose. The one shown on the left is a standard submersible sump pump. It pumps or circulates about 2,000 gallons/hour. When fitted with a "Y" valve at the pump outlet, it will allow you to direct the water flow to the still, or alternately, to pump the water in the holding tank to an outside drainage. In the course of a distillation run with this still, you will need to refresh the cooling water 3-4 times to

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keep it cool. A hose connection from the tap to the tank is convenient for this. The problem with using a holding tank is that the temperature of the water continually rises during the course of a distillation. As it rises, the condenser and internal cooling tubes become less efficient at condensing the vapors. To compensate for this you will need to either increase the cooling flow rate, or refill the tank with cooler water while the distillation is in process.

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Safety and Initial Use

Using this still involves working with heat, steam, electricity, gas, and possibly explosive vapors. You must take extreme care to prevent injury, fire, or explosion if you ever decide to use the device. Some view using it to distill alcohol as being akin to boiling gasoline on your home gas or electric stove. Over time more than one person has been maimed or killed in the explosions and fires resulting from these activities. You must be careful at every step in these procedures.

Initial Checkout
In this section we will be going over how to operate the still for the first time. Before you use the still for any purpose, test the apparatus by distilling a gallon or two of water. This preliminary run will verify that the joints don't leak, that there is sufficient heat input to do the job, and that there is enough cooling to control the distillation. It will also help clean up any remaining flux from the joints soldered during construction.

The Internal Reflux Still

To start the run, mount the boiler on top of the heat source, fill it with about a gallon of tap water, and attach the column to the boiler.. Then connect the cooling hoses on the column to the water supply and drain. Do not allow the cooling water to circulate through the apparatus at this time.

Initial Startup
Turn on the heat to its highest setting and insert the thermometer in the top of the column. The bulb should be seated to the level of the upper column tee connection (where the vapors flow to the condenser). In a short time (about 10 or 15 minutes depending on the heat source) the water should be boiling to the point where both vapor and liquid can be seen exiting the condenser. The thermometer should indicate that the boiling point temperature (100 C.) has been reached in the column. The next step should be to determine the maximum distillation rate of the still. To do this you will need to open the cooling flow to the maximum and increase the boiling rate to the point where the condenser can no longer condense all the vapor. It's easy to recognize this point because you'll be able to see a lot of steam mixed in with the distillate running from the still.

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When you've reached that point slowly back down the heat to the point where the vapors no longer exit the condenser. In doing this, be careful not to reduce the heat to the point that the thermometer drops below the boiling point (100 C.). You should now be at the maximum distillation rate settings for this still. When you have reached that point, measure the time needed to collect exactly 250 ml of distillate. Knowing the maximum distillation rate is important because it forms the basis for estimating the reflux flow. Recognize though, that in this exercise we are working with water. Different mixtures in the pot will have different distillation temperatures and different rates of distillate flow. You will need to redo this exercise to get the right basis figures for the distillation at hand. Before finishing up the initial run you might find it worthwhile to time and measure a few distillate volume readings at different cooling settings to get a feel for the control sensitivity and distillation rates. Finally distill about a gallon of water to finish cleaning out the still.

Shutdown
When it's time to shut the internal reflux system down you should always follow a set sequence of actions in order to avoid problems. The shutdown sequence is: 1. First remove the thermometer cap from the top of the column. Use gloves, it may be hot. 2. Next turn off the heat. 3. Finally shut off the cooling water circulation. This is important, because if you are using plastic tubing to collect the distillate from the condenser, it could get kinked or obstructed in some way. That would seal off the apparatus from the air. If this happened while it was cooling down, a vacuum would be formed within the still as the vapors inside condense, and the air pressure outside could crush the unit. When the unit has reached room temperature, disconnect the cooling hoses, and backflush the column with water. Then remove the cover and clean and flush the boiler.

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Chapter 10
Dehydration of Ethanol
Dehydration
Once you have distilled out your ethanol it will still contain some water. If you were able to distill out the optimum 190 proof ethanol, you have approximately 5% water still in the solution. You can use 190 proof ethanol as a fuel without any issues as long as you have either a FFV or modified vehicle. If you will be mixing your ethanol with gasoline, you will first have to dehydrate out the water. The residual water contained in the 190 proof ethanol will not mix with the gasoline. When the ethanol and gasoline mix together the water will settle out of the mixture. This separation of water is not compatible with your vehicles engine. There are a few ways you can easily deal with the residual water. These methods are; azeotrophic dehydration, molecular sieve filtration, drying with lyme, benzene absorption, or rock salt absorption. My own personal preference is to use rock salt. This is the cheapest and is the most environmentally friendly option available to you.

Azeotropic Dehydration
Large commercial ethanol plants use something called azeotropic dehydration. They mix a vapor form of trichlorethylene into a reflux column under pressure and when boiled it settles out the water. This is not a practical option in a home still because it is something done both under pressure, and heated with very volatile, dangerous and flammable substances.

Molecular Sieve
It is possible to purchase a molecular sieve to run your ethanol through. This sieve is like a filter which will filter out the ethanol molecules from the water molecules. The ethanol molecules are smaller than the water molecules. Sieves can be purchased from such sources as Kaltron: http://www.kaltron.com/molecular.asp

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or AGM at: http://www.agmcontainer.com

Drying with Lyme

The oldest method of dehydrating ethanol is by using lyme. The lyme reacts with the water and the ethanol will float on the top of the solution. The ethanol can then either be redistilled out or decanted off the top. For each gallon of water you need to remove, approximately 35 pounds of lyme will need to be used. This sounds like a lot of lyme but it is common in the U.S. and is relatively inexpensive.

Benzene Absorption
A simple way to dehydrate ethanol for mixture with gasoline is to mix it with benzene. The benzene keeps the water in solution and then it will not harm your engine. Benzene is not expensive and is also readily available. The cheapest grade of benzene is fine to use for this application. The mixture proportion for benzene is 2 gallons of benzene, 10 gallons of 190 proof ethanol and 88 gallons of gasoline. If water separates out then add more benzene.

Rock Salt Absorption

The simplest, cheapest, most environmentally friendly method of dehydration is to use rock salt. Rock salt is available for home use in water softeners and all that is required is to build either a bath or column of it and to pour your ethanol through it. You could either pack a large pipe and pour the ethanol through it or put it into a small tub with a drain at the bottom and pour it through that. The rock salt will absorb out all of the water and allow the pure ethanol to pass through it. Rock salt is not only the cheapest, easiest method, but it is also 100% renewable. Simply dry out the rock salt in the sun and use it again.

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Chapter 11
Denaturing Ethanol
Denaturing ethanol is simply adding toxic substances to it so that it cannot be consumed by people. Federal regulations require that you either denature your alcohol or pay a $20 per gallon tax on it. This regulation goes back to the times of prohibition and everyone pretty much agrees that the law is really out-dated and unnecessary. What you are basically doing is taking a substance that will not harm people or the environment and adding toxins into it. However, the law is the law and you are advised to follow it.

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Chapter 12
Ethanol from Wood, Sawdust and Stalks
The process used to distill alcohols from wood products is identical to that of grain or fruits. However, there is an additional step is required to create your mash. Wood and plant materials contain a lignocellulose material, which are lignin covered cellulose molecules. The lignin is simply a cover or sheath over the cellulose molecules, or starch, that you need to convert to sugar to ferment and distill. To distill ethanol from the lignin covered cellulose molecules requires that you first remove the lignin. Removal of the lignin is a simple process. However, it is important to note that just like in a grain-based mash, you need the materials ground up, but not too ground up to ruin the structure of the molecules, and you need to consider the material you are using and the yield you expect. Hard woods have lower lignin content and they have shorter cellulose molecules which convert to pentose sugars which cannot be as easily fermented. Softer woods have more lignin in them and they also contain the longer cellulose molecules. This makes soft wood products easier to convert to a fermentation friendly starch and less prone to conversion to a pentose sugar. To create your mash and ferment a substance like sawdust you need to place it in a simple, large, container such as a 55 gallon drum. Place the sawdust no more than a third of the way up the drum to allow for expansion through the various chemical reactions that will take place. To the sawdust you will need to add an acid to remove the lignin from the cellulose molecules. The most readily available will be sulfuric acid. You will need to use 100% or 18 Molar solution. Using a less concentrated acid will not remove all of the lignin and your batch will not ferment. The sulfuric acid reacts to remove the lignin and turns to a black tar type substance. The goop will likely bubble and become very hot. (Dont touch the acid or the mixture as both will burn you!) You should let this mixture sit as it is for about 48 hours to make sure the chemical process has completed. After 48 hours return to your drum of black goop and you will want to add yeast to it. You can add simple yeast from the grocery store or choose to add a distillers yeast. However, the sulfuric acid will kill any yeast you add if you first do not bring the PH of the mixture up to somewhere neutral. To do this you can add your mixture to water. If you live in an area with acidic water, you can also add a base chemical, such as sodium hydroxide, to the water. To easily test your mashs PC you can use a PH Test Kit designed for swimming pools which are cheap and readily available.

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It is important to note that you want to add your mixture to the water not the water to your mixture. Why? When the acid and the water meet there will be a strong reaction. There is a much more stable and slower reaction if you add the mixture to the water. (Please note that this reaction will also cause heat and you should not touch the drum as it will burn you!) Once you have diluted your mixture it is ready to have the yeast added to it. Add the yeast, stir the pot, and then leave the mixture to ferment completely on its own. The fermentation process is likely to take about three or four days. You will see bubbles at first and that is your clue that fermentation is happening. When the fermentation is done the bubbles will stop. To distill out the ethanol you are going to want to remove as much of the black lignin tar substance as possible. To do this you can pour your mixture through a series of screens or fabrics. The idea is that you want the yellow liquid to go into your still and not the black gunk. It will not be possible to remove it all but you should end up with most of it removed before you place the liquid into your still for distilling. What do you do with that black gunk? Glad you asked. The lignin substance will dry and can be safely burned. If you let it dry you can then burn it to power your still! Or it is 100% organic and harmless and can be composted or disposed of. From this point on you simply distill out the ethanol just as you did with corn. This process should produce a high-quality 190 proof ethanol just like the corn did.

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Appendix - Links
Additional Reading and Resources
Alternative Fuels Data Center United States Department of Energy http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/

Amazing Still http://www.amazingstill.com

Biofuels Marketplace http://www.ethanolmarketplace.com/

Brew Haus http://www.brewhaus.com/

Copper Moonshine Stills http://www.coppermoonshinestills.com/

Dogwood Energy, LLC 301 N. Jackson St. PO Box 875 Tullahoma, TN 37388 Phone: 931-563-2308 email: info@dogwoodenergy.com http://www.ethanolstill.com/

Ethanol Promotion and Information Council 17220 Wright Street, Suite 150 Omaha, NE 68130 p 402.932.0567 f 402.932.1752 e-mail info@drivingethanol.org http://www.drivingethanol.org/

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Ethanol Producer Magazines Website.

308 2nd Avenue North, Suite 304 Grand Forks, ND 58203 (701)746-8385 Fax:(701)746-5367

http://www.ethanolproducer.com/

Green Trust Organization http://www.green-trust.org/ethanol.htm

Homebrew Heaven 9109 Evergreen Way Everett, WA 98204 Toll Free Order line (800) 850-2739 e-mail: brewheaven@aol.com http://www.homebrewheaven.com/vHome.htm

Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol_link.html

Make Your Own Fuel Resources and Information http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/

National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition 3216 Emerald Lane, Suite C Jefferson City, MO 65109 (877) 485-8595 http://www.e85fuel.com/index.php

Northern Brewer http://www.northernbrewer.com/liqueur.html

Turbo Yeast http://www.turbo-yeast.com/potdistillers.html

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