Found a good "Alcohol Fuels" link? Let Us Know!

Regarding the 1986 topic intro (above)... the government no longer hates it - they love to subsidize it. That is, as long as you are doing it on an industrial scale and using food products to produce it. This is not only stupid, it's irresponsible. We generate enough bio-waste to produce alcohol at the collection point (the dumps) using methane or other waste products for fuel. Municipalities could actually make a profit from the fuel while greatly increasing the capacity of their dump sites.

The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel by S.W. Mathewson, Ten Speed Press © Copyright 1980 J.A. Diaz Publications: There is nothing new in the use of alcohol as a motor fuel. In 1872, when Nikolaus Otto invented the internal combustion engine, gasoline was not available. Ethyl alcohol at 180-190 proof was the specified fuel. The model "T" Ford was designed to run on the available crude gasoline, alcohol, or any combination of the two.

Charlie's 4 Steps to Making Moonshine. Kind of an annoying page by someone who wants you to buy their still kits/book, but the information is there and worth a look.

Mother’s Alcohol Fuel Seminar © The Mother Earth News, 1980. Our definition of alcohol fuel is a nearly 100 percent alcohol with a tad of water in it -- not a blend of alcohol with gasoline. So ... why an alcohol fuel? And why not a blend of gasoline and alcohol?

Alcohol fuel as a replacement The growing demand for gasoline and the potential shortage of oil was one reason alcohol fuel was seen as a possible replacement. Another important reasons was that it would keep cars on the road if there were an emergency (which made Detroit happy) and that it would create a new market for agricultural products (which made farmers happy).

Alcohol Fuels Alcohol can be blended with gasoline for use as transportation fuel. It may be produced from a wide variety of organic feedstock. The common alcohol fuels are methanol and ethanol. Methanol may be produced from coal, natural gas, wood and organic waste. Ethanol is commonly made from agricultural plants containing sugar. Corn is used as feedstock in the Midwest, but grain milo from New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas is used as feedstock at the Portales, New Mexico plant. Ethanol costs less than methanol in New Mexico and therefore dominates the New Mexico market. E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Original equipment manufacturers produce "flexible fuel" vehicles that can run on E85 or gasoline. Handbook for Handling, Storing and Dispensing E85

"Making Alcohol Fuel" by Lynn Doxon Our bodies quickly make energy out of alcohol. Our engines can do the same thing. Of course, our engines will not go blind or die because of small amounts of contaminants in the batch, so we don’t need to be quite as careful as the big distilleries that make drinking alcohol.

Alcohol as fuel by Jim Kerr. Alcohol is a viable fuel for vehicles. Ford Model T's were run on it during the depression; some drag racers use it, Indy race cars use it, and cars in some overseas countries run on alcohol fuel. In Canada, the auto manufacturers are just starting to design cars that can run on either gasoline or E85 (a mixture or 85% ethyl alcohol and 15% gasoline). It is relatively easy to modify a vehicle to run on alcohol, although fuel injected vehicles will need a little help from a computer programmer, so why are there no alcohol fuel stations?

The fuel properties of alcohol and basic principles of engine conversion The goals of the study were to better understand the fuel properties of alcohol and basic principles of conversion in order to provide the representative cross section of converting diesel engine and gasoline engine to blended fuel. In addition, the long period performance of diesel engine burning cotton/diesel blend oil was carried out.

How To Adapt Your Automobile Engine For Ethyl Alcohol Use Now that we've explained the fundamental differences between alcohol and gasoline fuels, we can get on with the actual conversion of a conventional gasoline-burning engine to alcohol use. We'll cover the three major changes (main jet, idle jet, and timing), and we'll also go on to cover some other areas that may be of interest to those who want to go further to increase the efficiency of their alcohol-burning engines.

Ethanol is made by fermenting and then distilling starch and sugar crops -- maize, sorghum, potatoes, wheat, sugar-cane, even cornstalks, fruit and vegetable waste. Courtesy of Keith Addison and his "Journey to Forever" website. Lots of stuff on biofuels and links to other sites.

Building a World Class Still - A Step By Step Guide: this site contains a step-by-step guide to building a relatively sophisticated home distillation apparatus that produces a highly refined distillate. The still is made from commonly available materials, with simple hand tools, and can be built for under $100.USD. For those of you who would prefer to browse through this guide off line, a hardcopy of the guide is available in both Microsoft Word® (.doc) and Adobe® Portable Data Format (PDF).

The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association The CRFA represents all of the Canadian biomass industry from feedstock producers to the retailers of ethanol-blended fuels. See what our neighbors to the north are doing!

The Renewable Fuels Association RFA is the largest and oldest association in the ethanol industry. They have a comprehensive web site that includes their press releases, a list of current producers, key facts about ethanol and its economic and environmental benefits, plus links and more.

The FAO's Regional Wood Energy Development Programme in Asia A site packed with information. There you can delve into numerous issues regarding development and biomass use (including gender and resource base), surf their links, peruse an index of their publications, add yourself to their mailing lists, and more. Whether for your own information or for business opportunities, it is worth checking out what our friends in the Far East are doing.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) This site provides information on biochemicals, ethanol, biomass energy, and other industrial uses for plant matter. ILSR also maintains the Sustainable Minnesota home page which provides information on sustainable energy activities in Minnesota.

The American Coalition for Ethanol A nationwide ethanol advocacy organization based in Sioux Falls, SD. It has members across the country, but concentrated, as expected, in the middle portion of the nation. ACE's web site offers a variety of practical information regarding ethanol - where to find E-85 in states like Colorado, Kentucky, Texas and elsewhere, and where their members' are located, where ethanol facilities are, and who are the top ethanol plant builders - even who races using ethanol engines. Check out this very user-friendly site today!

The complete distillery - Brandy & whiskey distilling made easy.

Home Distillation of Alcohol (Homemade Alcohol to Drink) How to distill your own drinking alcohol. A New Zealand page, ostensibly about essential oils.

Home Distillation of Alcohol by Tony Ackland This is the one you've been looking for. You can even Download a Copy of the entire site for free! {Though a donation is appreciated}
Other Files Available for Download from the Home Distiller Site:
The Amazing still (661 kB)
The Stillmaker still design (second) (2.0 MB)
The first Stillmaker still design (first) (681 kB)
The Activated Carbon book (646 kB)
The correction table for hydrometers (874 kB)
The Fuel alcohol papers (580 kB)
The How it Works explaination by Mike (95 kB)
The Oak pdf - all about aging (693 kB)
The Distillation of Alcohol and Denaturing book by FB Wright (2.4 MB)
The Fruit Brandy pdf (345 kB)
The Lecture 15 on batch distillation (180 kB)
The miraculous polypipe still advert (188 kB)


UNDERSTANDING ETHANOL FUEL PRODUCTION AND USE By Cliff Bradley & Ken Runnion

"How to build and operate a still and produce your own alcohol...." I have been active in "illicit" home distilling for many years. Over the years, I have made several stills, all in different shapes and styles. This aim of this site is to share a bit of this expertise with other home distilling enthusiasts like you....

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