Still

[Bull]

Does anyone have plans on a still to make alcohol for fuel?

 

[Cain71]

To make fuel?

 

[Greg.B]

My thoughs exactly...

 

[shibumiseeker]

Yes. Yes I do. I spent 3 years in HS doing just that as research in the ethanol as a motor fuel.

There are several good alcohol fuel books out there that have excellent designs for distillation apparatus, and should you decide to drink it as well then there's good references out there for that as well. It should be noted of course that doing so with the government that exists today if one does not have the proper license and pay the proper taxes will land one in club fed.*




*I had a license when I did it in HS, or rather, the school had the license.

 

[42769vette]

i have alot of family that lives in the hills of kentucky. they are well known for there "fuel" producing stills

 

[eldirector]

I have a whole book on it. Haven't built one (yet), but good reading.

Amazon.com: Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century (9780979043772): David Blume, Michael Winks, R. Buckminster (FWS) Fuller: Books

 

[66chevelle]

i have alot of family that lives in the hills of kentucky. they are well known for there "fuel" producing stills

I will take a quart of "fuel" please and thank you. Let me know what I owe you and I will come pick it up.

 

[sloughfoot]

LMAO

 

[Indyrich]

So is everyone saying that making a still for ethanol/alcohol fuel is perfectly legal?

Also who knows what modifications have to be made to cars to run on this fuel?

Is there a difference between fuel injected/ electronic controlled cars vs carburated points cars like my 72 pickup?

 

[BigMatt]

I don't think just anyone can make fuel to use on the road. The government wants it's tax money. I know a guy in Nevada that got in trouble with the IRS for making fuel from cooking oil at Whole Foods.

After SHTF, you could probably do what you want.

 

[CountryBoy19]

So is everyone saying that making a still for ethanol/alcohol fuel is perfectly legal?

Also who knows what modifications have to be made to cars to run on this fuel?

Is there a difference between fuel injected/ electronic controlled cars vs carburated points cars like my 72 pickup?

Yes, it's perfectly legal if you have the proper licensing and you pay tax (if you're truly making fuel you need to pay road taxes on a per gallon basis, and if you're making alcohol for consumption you need to pay the appropriate taxes on that).

IIRC, most people find the licensing and tax hassles too much to justify home production. I know of a guy that got the licensing and then gave it up. I think it's around $3k/year maybe... not sure though.

 

[shibumiseeker]

So is everyone saying that making a still for ethanol/alcohol fuel is perfectly legal?

Also who knows what modifications have to be made to cars to run on this fuel?

Is there a difference between fuel injected/ electronic controlled cars vs carburated points cars like my 72 pickup?

I haven't kept current with licensing, but the BATFE website has the information. When I did it a quarter century ago they had a license for experimenters and you could make 1000 200 proof gallons or equivilant (2000 100 proof gallons) per year, it had to be denatured, and you didn't pay tax on the fuel itself, just for the license (which I think was a couple hundred bucks and was good for 2-3 years). The biggest hassle you may run into is that the BATFE will require approval of the local fire chief of your facilities before they issue a license.

For older cars without computers (I was convering small engines) all you needed to do was open up the carb jets about 30% and mess with the ignition dwell some. Also make sure none of your fuel system stuff was sensitive to ethanol. I converted a generator to run on ethanol, a lawnmower engine, and a garden tractor.

Some modern cars that can run on E85 can run on pure ethanol in warm weather but may require the E85 in the winter since ethanol has poorer starting characteristics. Modern gasoline is so much better tailored to local seasonal climates than it was a quarter century ago when it was pretty much the same year round.

 

[E5RANGER375]

just like everything else the govt wants to tax and opress the crap out of us.

be carefull not to wipe too many times or you might be taxed on that too.

 

[Keith_Indy]

I'm planning buying plans from this site. Make your own Fuel

 

[Bull]

My thoughts are to fuel my generator if for some reason gas can't be found in a shtf case. I was under the impression that you could make a small amount of alcohol for personal use without a permit but I will check into that. Thanks for the links.

 

[Eddie]

I've built a few over the years and picked up a few others. You have two components: a container to boil the mash and a condenser to cool and collect the alcohol. The boiler can be as simple as a pot with a lid on it. A traditional condenser is the copper curly cue thing that you see in the movies. You can make one by filling copper tubing with sand and carfully bending around a rolling pin or something else round. Older, commercially made condensers were galvanized buckets with the curly cue running around the inside. These could be hooked up to a water source to allow cool water to fill the bucket and circulate around the tubing. Modern glass condensers work the same way but you'll need a stand to hold them, some surgical tubing and maybe an adapter for your faucet.

If you are really doing it for fuel I would go with glassware. Get a lab warmer, ehrlenmeyer flask, condenser, stands and the connectors and tubing to hook it up to a water source.

 

[troy28]

I have a whole book on it. Haven't built one (yet), but good reading.

Amazon.com: Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century (9780979043772): David Blume, Michael Winks, R. Buckminster (FWS) Fuller: Books

Thanks for the link. Does anyone else have a book they recommend that would be a good SHTF reference guide to making fuel. Maybe even someone who has followed the book to make and successfully test the fuel?

 

[Indyrich]

Another good still example I remember was on PBS they had a series called Prarie House and people lived for 2 months with the technology of that era and one family had a still they made moonshine with and used it to barter for food and other goods.

 

[Woodsman]

Another use of this type of technology might be to use it for water purification also. That would essentially provide distilled water for consumption. The only negative situation is I seem to remember a study being done on long term effects of distilled (or RO water) on bone density (I believe).

The condenser could also be more simply made by buying the soft copper in a spool, which plumbers and HVAC guys can buy. Just pull the center end of the tubing up out of the package laying flat and you have an instant tubing coil, although it would be in the same diameter as the box itself. Some smaller straight pieces could be soldered to the coil loops and used as stringers to provide rigidity to the coil.

 

[Liberty's Teeth]

So is everyone saying that making a still for ethanol/alcohol fuel is perfectly legal?

Also who knows what modifications have to be made to cars to run on this fuel?

Is there a difference between fuel injected/ electronic controlled cars vs carburated points cars like my 72 pickup?

There is quite a bit of difference in a car that runs on alcohol versus cars that run on gas. You will have a better chance with the 72 pickup and here is the reason why. When cars run on gasoline they burn ~1 part gasoline to 14 parts air. With alcohol it is something like 1 part alcohol versus 6 parts air. The metering is totally different.

With the truck you have a carburetor. In order to change the way the fuel is metered you have to at least re-jet the carb, at worst a different carb. You also have to take into account that you are delivering twice the amount of fuel to the carb.

With the fuel injected car, in theory, it would be easier to change but it probably isn't. This would probably require custom mapping of the engine computer that may or may not be possible. You would also have to make sure that your fuel system can deliver twice the amount of fuel, same as the carb.

In both cases you would have to make sure that the delivery lines in the fuel system could handle the alcohol as it is very corrosive.

My advice would be to start with the truck or get a "flex fuel" car that is already designed to run on alcohol.