Make Ethanol At Home

[brahmburgers]

A possible gig for a resident farang or entrepreneural Thai for this region.

There's a commercial product being tested for the marketplace by a small beer brewery from northern California. They're using the left-over dregs from beer making. Other ag products could be used. I'm not posting this as an advert for them, but rather as a way to seed the idea for some entrepreneur in Thailand - as a viable way to make money, while helping people break away from dependence on big gas/petrol/oil companies.

This fridge sized item retails for $10,000 and is supposed to make ethenol for less than 30 baht per gallon (how much per liter? you figure it out). Called a 'portable ethanol micro-refinery' it works by combining yeast, water and sugar to the 250-gallon tank. After a fermentation and distillation process... you've got ethanol. Claims to produce up to 35 gallons of ethanol per week.

link 1

link 2

[WatersEdge]

Hi brahmburgers

There's no way to say this gently enough

while still making the central point,

so here goes...no offense to you intended

just neutral harmless facts.

I know the Ethanol process inside & out front to back

This is Total Nonsense.

It's a scam even though they say they aren't a scam.

I'm not a scam...

OK, well then, you certainly aren't a scam, are you?

What's the first thing you assume

when a man takes the trouble to tell you he's not a liar?

Only a Liar thinks that line is a good idea.

Ethanol brewing does not leave any fuel in the "dregs".

Definition of terms...Dregs are the residual solids

mainly the bodies of dead yeast.

Ask any Aussie / Kiwi for a sample of Vegamite or Marmite.

It's the bodies of dead yeast which happen to be very good for you.

They won't want to part with it,

you won't want to try it,

but at least you'll know what it is.

Stillage is the brew water (Beer) that contains Ethanol

Liquor and Fuel Brewers boil Ethanol all out,

as Ethanol boils at 78C while

Water boils at 100C.

There is increasingly more water vapor which comes off the still

at the end of the Ethanol boil,

because it's a balance of the two partial vapor pressures

but there is absolutely no point in stopping Distillation with 5-7% Ethanol remaining.

That would be just plain stupid.

When the Boiling Temperature stabilizes at slightly above 100C,

you have finished all Ethanol.

Ethanol kills the yeast in the brew at

11% Weight basis

14% Volume basis.

Next you boil the brew until the Ethanol has all left.

You initially add a large quantity of water to the fermentation tank

so that fermentation continues at a rapid rate

to the complete conversion of sugar with yeast still alive.

It's a calculated trade off, speed of reaction to the very end vs. more water in the brew.

So you would seldom actually achieve 11% Ethanol mixture.

Anyone can see it all happen at home.

Fuel Ethanol of course,

don't you dare drink a drop without first paying all applicable taxes.

Dissolve 1 kg Sugar in 5 liters water.

Best to boil the water sterile first but not essential

The big water bottles work great.

If you want a megabatch,

4 kg Sugar in the big 20 liter Water jugs.

Add a teaspoon of bread yeast,

it's the same animal as brewer's yeast.

Set it in a warm place for three days,

being certain to not tighten the cap.

In very short time bubbles will appear,

CO2 gas as Yeast breaks Sugar to Ethanol.

When you thump the jug on the floor and no bubbles shake loose,

the brew is complete.

Optimal fermentation temperature is 50C,

so setting it out in the hot sun is ideal

Put this mix in your car tank only if you are too drunk to drive.

If you are sober, it still needs to be distilled.

From another angle,

This is ridiculous because in order to get the supposed Ethanol from the weak stillage,

you'd first have to transport huge water weight to your location,

then put a whole lot of heat into the entire thing,

to get the 5-7% Ethanol that supposedly is left.

You'd then have to separate the water from the ethanol,

either by distillation tower or molecular sieve.

Then you'd have to dispose of the stillage,

preferably as suggested in the website,

let Dairy cows drink it.

They drink a lot of water, and they need a lot of protein.

Most Ethanol brewers completely dehydrate half the stillage

with the other half backfed to the next batch

The combined product,

with remaining raw stock solids, and solubles from dehydrated stillage,

is called DDGS Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles

With the dramatic increase in Corn to Ethanol

it's become an abundant animal feed

at 26% Protein and 13% Fat, if Corn Oil is not extracted

People would do well to eat it as well, it just hasn't hit the grocery shelf.

Different CoProduct remaining for other raw feedstocks.

[glomp]

This device costs $10 per month in fees. $0,24 per pumped gallon additional fees.

0-4 gallons of water per gallon produced.

3 kWh per gallon produced.

The advertisements for this assumes the feedstock is free. Also does not mention how the fuel is cleaned from contaminants. Also seems they allow water content in the fuel, does wonders for fuel injectors I have heard.

I can build a still in the garden that produces 100% free fuel if we assume the feedstock is free.....

[joe84330]

Hi brahmburgers

There's no way to say this gently enough

while still making the central point,

so here goes...no offense to you intended

just neutral harmless facts.

I know the Ethanol process inside & out front to back

This is Total Nonsense.

It's a scam even though they say they aren't a scam.

I'm not a scam...

OK, well then, you certainly aren't a scam, are you?

What's the first thing you assume

when a man takes the trouble to tell you he's not a liar?

Only a Liar thinks that line is a good idea.

Ethanol brewing does not leave any fuel in the "dregs".

Definition of terms...Dregs are the residual solids

mainly the bodies of dead yeast.

Ask any Aussie / Kiwi for a sample of Vegamite or Marmite.

It's the bodies of dead yeast which happen to be very good for you.

They won't want to part with it,

you won't want to try it,

but at least you'll know what it is.

Stillage is the brew water (Beer) that contains Ethanol

Liquor and Fuel Brewers boil Ethanol all out,

as Ethanol boils at 78C while

Water boils at 100C.

There is increasingly more water vapor which comes off the still

at the end of the Ethanol boil,

because it's a balance of the two partial vapor pressures

but there is absolutely no point in stopping Distillation with 5-7% Ethanol remaining.

That would be just plain stupid.

When the Boiling Temperature stabilizes at slightly above 100C,

you have finished all Ethanol.

Ethanol kills the yeast in the brew at

11% Weight basis

14% Volume basis.

Next you boil the brew until the Ethanol has all left.

You initially add a large quantity of water to the fermentation tank

so that fermentation continues at a rapid rate

to the complete conversion of sugar with yeast still alive.

It's a calculated trade off, speed of reaction to the very end vs. more water in the brew.

So you would seldom actually achieve 11% Ethanol mixture.

Anyone can see it all happen at home.

Fuel Ethanol of course,

don't you dare drink a drop without first paying all applicable taxes.

Dissolve 1 kg Sugar in 5 liters water.

Best to boil the water sterile first but not essential

The big water bottles work great.

If you want a megabatch,

4 kg Sugar in the big 20 liter Water jugs.

Add a teaspoon of bread yeast,

it's the same animal as brewer's yeast.

Set it in a warm place for three days,

being certain to not tighten the cap.

In very short time bubbles will appear,

CO2 gas as Yeast breaks Sugar to Ethanol.

When you thump the jug on the floor and no bubbles shake loose,

the brew is complete.

Optimal fermentation temperature is 50C,

so setting it out in the hot sun is ideal

Put this mix in your car tank only if you are too drunk to drive.

If you are sober, it still needs to be distilled.

From another angle,

This is ridiculous because in order to get the supposed Ethanol from the weak stillage,

you'd first have to transport huge water weight to your location,

then put a whole lot of heat into the entire thing,

to get the 5-7% Ethanol that supposedly is left.

You'd then have to separate the water from the ethanol,

either by distillation tower or molecular sieve.

Then you'd have to dispose of the stillage,

preferably as suggested in the website,

let Dairy cows drink it.

They drink a lot of water, and they need a lot of protein.

Most Ethanol brewers completely dehydrate half the stillage

with the other half backfed to the next batch

The combined product,

with remaining raw stock solids, and solubles from dehydrated stillage,

is called DDGS Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles

With the dramatic increase in Corn to Ethanol

it's become an abundant animal feed

at 26% Protein and 13% Fat, if Corn Oil is not extracted

People would do well to eat it as well, it just hasn't hit the grocery shelf.

Different CoProduct remaining for other raw feedstocks.

watersedge, if you ever make it down to samui i'll buy you a round or two. home brew (which i've done before, from wine to ale and lager and even mead) , jack daniels or even a chang.

[WatersEdge]

Hi joe84330,

Alright, it may take time to work through the whole menu in moderation!

Maybe I can do a tasting sample of each.

Can't say when I'd have occasion for such a visit,

so perhaps the offer will keep if properly refrigerated.

One curiosity, have you been able to source

alpha amylase to liquify the starch

and gluco amylase to convert starch to sugar

in Thailand?

Or do you just do it the time honored method of corn sprout mash?

From China in large quantity it's no problem, and the price is definitely right.