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Making ethanol is something that has grown in popularity over the last few years. If I were to guess it would be the record high oil prices doing the job, but that’s just my opinion. Much more of those high prices and there will be a number of people making ethanol in their own backyards.
Making ethanol is something that has actually been done for centuries. There were traces of alcohol found on a piece of pottery that is over nine thousand years old. It took until 1796 for the ethanol that we know today to be created. Johann Tobias Lowitz happened upon this by filtering distilled ethanol through charcoal. So obviously people have been making ethanol for quite some time. It wasn’t until we kept hearing the words oil shortage over and over again that we finally took action to try running it in our engines.
Ethanol is actually nothing more than moonshine. The same moonshine that was illegal in the days of prohibition is now being mass produced to power vehicles. I always thought people were kidding when they said that you could run a car on moonshine. Turns out that they were onto the right idea all along. Those that made moonshine probably didn’t know that they were really making ethanol. Actually the only difference between the moonshine that is created in backyard stills, and ethanol, is an additive. Without that additive those who made ethanol would have to pay alcohol taxes on the ethanol that they produce. But with an additive, such as gasoline, they are out of the alcoholic beverage category and into the gasoline category.
When making ethanol you will need basically two things aside from a little know how. You will have to have a working still and some corn. Actually you can use other grains such as barley or oats but many people use corn because of its high abundance. Once you have your still you will need to ground the corn or other grain so that it looks like corn meal. Place the meal, along with some enzymes, into your still with some water so that you have what looks like a watered down corn bread mixture and turn up the heat. When making ethanol you will have to turn up the heat on your still so that this mixture is on high heat.
When the time is ready the mixture will need to be removed from heat and thoroughly cooled. This is necessary for all the elements to work together properly. Yeast will also need to be added so that the fermentation can completely take place. The mash will need to be allowed to ferment for forty to fifty hours and stirred occasionally. Finally you will strain out the grains, leaving the liquid to be a nice alcoholic mixture, Ethanol.
