Original document created January 19, 1991
Version 1.0
This document describes the process required for the production of beverage ethanol using reflux distillation. This document is provided for informational purposes only.
The manufacture of concentrated beverage alcohol is a straightforward process that can easily be done with a minimal amount of equipment. Manufacture of beverage alcohol is currently illegal in Canada. Kids, don't try this at home.
Fermentation is a process that involves microscopic fungii called yeast. These microorganisms convert certain sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide in the absence of oxygen.
There are several factors that are required for healthy fermentation.
This document will describe a 16 litre starting batch. You can start with much greater sized batches, but for experimental purposes this is about the correct size. You will require the following tools for the ferment process:
This is the process required to start the fermentation process.
There are several other factors to be aware of when fermenting sugar. The process is affected by temperature - if you are impatient, you can use an aquarium heater to keep the temperature around 30 degrees. Bear in mind that there is an increased chance of other microorganisms getting a start in your fermenting liquid if you warm it up this much, but it will go faster. It is important that you have some escape for the large amount of carbon dioxide that this process generates. If you put the ferment in a sealed container, the container will explode leaving you with a large, foul smelling and sticky mess. This is why the airlock method is best.
You want to get as high a percentage of alcohol in your wash as you can. If you don't have a high percentage of alcohol, yield will be quite low - our experience is that about 3 percent (depending on how hard you push the still) will be lost. The extra time waiting for the solution to ferment is worth it. This particular variety of yeast won't ferment solutions higher than about 18 percent alcohol though. Best potential alcohol numbers are between 15 and 18 percent (1.113 - 1135).
How do you figure out how much alcohol is in the final solution though? This is really quite easy. Say, for example, the initial reading was 1.113, or 15 percent potential alcohol. After the ferment, the reading was 1.010, or about 1.5 percent potential alcohol. (Most hydrometers have a potential alcohol scale on them.) The difference is 13.5, so there is 13.5 percent alcohol in the final solution.
The holes in the pot lid can be made by drilling a large hole with a drill bit, then filing the hole out to size with a rat tail file. A small grinding wheel will help you to drill the hole more accurately. You want the holes to be as accurate as possible, since any leaks mean a loss of efficiency in your still.
The reflux tower is made from a 14 inch piece of 1 inch copper tubing. A piece of 14 or 12 gauge copper wire is soldered across the pot end so that the marbles cannot escape into the pot. Unless you place the wire so you can push it through the hole in the pot lid, make sure that you solder the pipe to the lid first. Be careful when wrapping the small copper tubing around the top of the reflux tower - it has a strong tendency to kink.
When making the top ``T'' assembly, make sure that you purchase your thermometer first - try and find one with as small a shaft as possible. Microwave cooking thermometers work quite well.
The reducing connectors used in the main condenser will have to be filed out in order to get them to slide onto the 1/2 inch internal pipe.
The garden hose will go onto the pipe connectors much more easily if you heat the end of the hose with a hair dryer before attempting to attach the hose.
It is best to use silver solder when making these connections - the alcohol and acid mixture is quite corrosive to metal. Using silver solder will prevent lead from leaching into the distillate.
Operating the still is quite easy, however there are some things that you should be aware of. There is a tendency for the pot to boil over, so don't fill it up too much unless you like to clean your stove a lot. Watch the process closely, since it is quite easy for it to get out of control. Make sure you have a fire extinguisher available. Alcohol vapors are extremely flamable/explosive so be very careful. If you have a fire, there is a good chance the fire extinguisher won't help much, but it might, so get one.
Fill the pot from the fermentor, leaving about 5 cm of clearance from the top of the liquid to the top of the pot. This is important because the solution has a tendency to boil over, and a boil over is a disgusting, messy foul smelling event if there ever was one. Start the heating process on a high setting. When the temperature in the bottom container reaches 70 C, turn the heat down.
Flow through the condenser should be fairly high, however flow through the reflux tower should be very little during the initial phase - a slow drip should be sufficient to achieve the cooling required. The temperature in the reflux column should begin to rise once the pot temperature reaches 75 C - the column will get hot at the bottom, then the hot spot will move up towards the top of the column. You should start to get output once the temperature in the reflux tower reaches 74 C.
Throw away the first half ounce of liquid that you get from the condenser since it will contain any light ends (such as methanol) that are contained in the ferment.
Adjust the heat so that you get a steady drip from the end of the condenser. The temperature in the lower pot will start to rise slowly. As the temperature rises, you will find that you will have to increase the rate of flow through the reflux column. Continue to run the still until the temperature in the pot reaches 90 degrees. The temperature in the reflux column will show a sharp tendency to rise once most of the alcohol in the solution has been boiled off.
The reasoning behind keeping the temperature at the top of the still relatively cool is related to azeotropic temperature of the water alcohol mixture. Higher water concentrations drip back down into the still, leaving the more concentrated alcohol solutions near the top. This process greatly improves the efficiency of the process.
The concentration of alcohol produced by this method should be about 75 to 80 percent alcohol by volume. Purity is affected by the rate that you run the still at - higher throughput rates tend to make the product less pure.
The flavor of the alcohol generated by this process is generally quite harsh - this is caused by various impurities that followed the alcohol through the distillation process. There are several things that can be done to improve this however.
One method of improving the taste is to filter the condensate through activated charcoal. The carbon picks up much of the bad taste, leaving a much better product. The advantage of this is that you only have to distill once.
A process that produces a much better tasting product multiple distillation. Later distillations are done with activated carbon in the reflux column. The second distillation combined with the carbon in the distillation tower picks up a great deal more of the bad tastes. This is a vast improvement on the straight filtration method. There are problems with doing this however - some alcohol is inevitably lost through a second distillation, reducing efficiency.
Second distillations should be done using a much smaller pot. If you decide to do this, a pressure cooker works quite well as a vessel. Much better results are gained if attention is spent on cleanliness.
From a 16 litre starting batch you will get about 1.5 litres of 80 percent hooch - possibly a bit more, depending on the efficiency that you distill out to. Two litres is a reasonable goal if you are careful.
Making bevarage alcohol is a straightforward process, however a certain amount of care is required for good results.
