"gfulton" wrote in message
...

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote in
message k.net...
Gas will soon be $3/gal. I live in corn country, its $2/bushel. My car
will run on E85, that's 85% ethanol, 15% gas.

So can I buy/build a high efficiency fermenter and still that does, say
5
gallons a day? I'd run it all winter and use the waste heat to keep the
shop warm. Seen any good proven designs? How about one that uses a corn
burner boiler (readily purchased) as the heat source for the still?

BTW, I may need some quality control help to make sure its really 200
proof VBG




--
(©¿©) An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Two apples a day gets the doctor's OK.
Five a day makes you a fruit grower like me.

Karl Townsend



Karl,
The Mother Earth News magazine built an alcohol still back in one of
their articles about 20 something years ago. I believe I've still got it
in
the basement amongst all the old issues. Do a google search on it and it
should turn up. I remember the guy that designed it was named Dennis
Burkholder and he claimed that burning the corncobs provided all the heat
he
needed for distillation. Also found that putting glass marbles in the
cooling column enhanced production by giving the vapors something to
condense on, if I remember that correctly. Good interesting article and
he
ran some engines off if it, I believe. Hope this helps.

Garrett Fulton



That article is probably older than that. I bought this house 21 years ago,
and I still have a bunch of the old Mother Earth News magazine from before I
moved here. In fact buying this house was the second move from where I lived
when I used to get the magazines. I am pretty sure the article was in one of
the first 60 issues which would put it into the 70's. I know where the
magazines are and I may just look for the article the next time it rains,
and I can't work outside.