moonshine

[Dieselnut59]

I was tinkering around and thinking in my shop, as I was filtering up my cooking oil to run in my diesel vehicles tonight and came up with a crazy idea. Why not put some of my favorite non beer spirits in my pushmower? After all, it, my chain saw, weed whacker and leaf blower are the only non diesel (biodiesel) powered pieces of equipment I have! So, being the alternative fuel thinking feller I am (and the freedom from government/taxation feller I am!), I decided to pour a little of my "spirits" into my antique push mower's gasoline tank. This little mower is a 22 inch cut, 3. 5 horsepower Briggs & Stratton powered machine. It has the 1 quart gasoline tank mounted directly to the "Pulsa-Jet" carburetor. This sucker is pre EPA, pre government regulation, antique, probably from the early to mid 1970s. It runs like a charm, even on 2 stroke fuel (which is all I keep since I have nothing else that is actually straight gasoline powered). Well, I had just enough 2 stroke fuel (93 octane gasoline, mixed 50:1 with 2 stroke oil) to fill it's little 1 quart tank halfway up, so I decided to get my "spirits" out of the deep freeze and fill it the rest of the way with that (after consuming a small "shot" myself). I fired the trusty ole mower up, it ran like normal until the "mix" got through the carburetor. I then had to really lean it out, but damn this thing has the power! It smells different too, much like my veggie oil/diesel blend versus straight diesel in my other equipment/vehicles. That got me wondering, have any of yall alternative fuel folks ever tried or thought about this? I have heard moonshine is not too much different than ethanol that is sometimes blended with gasoline anyway, but this stuff must be stronger than the road stuff, cause this little 3. 5 horse engine runs more like a 5 horse engine on this blend. I have considered building a moonshine still, but if I can "justify" it by running my only non diesel equipment on a blend of the same product, I will get with this project sooner... . for personal consumption only, of course! Plus, I have been unable to find a 5 horsepower vertical shaft, air cooled diesel engine. Have any of yall ever tried or heard of running moonshine or home made ethanol in a small gasoline engine? Thanks for any opinions!

 

[kenny61]

googled this up



http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/index.html

 

[Dieselnut59]

Thanks Kenny. Looks like a mighty fine still! I may order the plans to build it. Would be cheaper than ordering the one I found previously from Brewhaus. It is around $400 I believe, although a very nice looking unit already set up and ready to run.

 

[guldam]

I went to the motorcycle Speedway races on Saturday. Those guys/gals run Jawa Powered motorcycles with no brakes. And they run them on methanol and bean oil for top end lube. These are 500cc Four Stroke Single Cylinder engines that are putting out something like 70hp. The bikes weigh next to nothing and flat haul booty.



GulDam

 

[cj hall]

moonshine / ethanol

ok



moonshine is homemade 100 proof or higher, as we all know 100 proof is 50%alcohol 50% water

white lighting is (200 proof) 99. 9 % alcohol 0. 09 water the good stuff or you could call it ethanol made from grain its ok to drink a lot of if you like to get that drunk made from corn its a different story it can be toxic and you could go blind so i am told the ethanol you get from the gas stations is corn ethanol and it is denatured with methanol this will kill you if you drink it, anyway.



running an engine on ethanol (white lighting) is the way to go the should work fine and the oil is a good upperend lube i have a lawn mower with a air cooled 27 hp v twin that runs e85 just fine and it smells like pop corn and i would run castor oil in the e85 if i wanted upper end lube that would make the whole block stink so i have not done it yet!



if you own a gas engine and dont want to buy fuel will you need to make white lighting.

 

[Dieselnut59]

ok



moonshine is homemade 100 proof or higher, as we all know 100 proof is 50%alcohol 50% water

white lighting is (200 proof) 99. 9 % alcohol 0. 09 water the good stuff or you could call it ethanol made from grain its ok to drink a lot of if you like to get that drunk made from corn its a different story it can be toxic and you could go blind so i am told the ethanol you get from the gas stations is corn ethanol and it is denatured with methanol this will kill you if you drink it, anyway.



running an engine on ethanol (white lighting) is the way to go the should work fine and the oil is a good upperend lube i have a lawn mower with a air cooled 27 hp v twin that runs e85 just fine and it smells like pop corn and i would run castor oil in the e85 if i wanted upper end lube that would make the whole block stink so i have not done it yet!



if you own a gas engine and dont want to buy fuel will you need to make white lighting.

That is what I am shootin for, cj hall. The good stuff like George Jones sings about. I have a friend getting it for me (the drinking kind) and I decided to try it in this little push mower. I read about the "denatured" stuff. That is what the ATF requires manufacturers to make by adding toxic to human additives so folks won't drink it. Needless to say, I will not be doing that part, but I also will not be selling any of this... only want it for personal consumption and use in my little push mower (and maybe my chain saw, leaf blower and weed whacker?), as everything else I have is diesel.

 

[JGK]

I would recommend adding oil to it just as you do regular premix. Maybe just a tad heavier on the oil. Even in a straight gas engine I'd add a bit of oil to the alcohol. Alcohol is very dry and I'd hate to see you burn an engine in something that is an antique but runs quite well.



The only problem with mass scale manufacturing of ethanol from corn is the cost in terms of straight dollars and volume of corn needed. I was reading a recent National Geographic mag that has an article about alternative fuels and if I remember correctly, it stated the amount of corn needed to produce 20 gallons of ethanol would feed a person for a year. And the cost in terms of energy to produce it is almost as much as the energy you get out of it as a fuel. Too bad. It's a cool idea.



-Jay

(BTW: I've been brewing and using 80% bio-D myself for almost 4 years in my truck. Works great, doesn't it?!)

 

[Dieselnut59]

I would recommend adding oil to it just as you do regular premix. Maybe just a tad heavier on the oil. Even in a straight gas engine I'd add a bit of oil to the alcohol. Alcohol is very dry and I'd hate to see you burn an engine in something that is an antique but runs quite well.



The only problem with mass scale manufacturing of ethanol from corn is the cost in terms of straight dollars and volume of corn needed. I was reading a recent National Geographic mag that has an article about alternative fuels and if I remember correctly, it stated the amount of corn needed to produce 20 gallons of ethanol would feed a person for a year. And the cost in terms of energy to produce it is almost as much as the energy you get out of it as a fuel. Too bad. It's a cool idea.



-Jay

(BTW: I've been brewing and using 80% bio-D myself for almost 4 years in my truck. Works great, doesn't it?!)

I don't "brew" my cooking oil, just settle (to separate the heavy stuff and water out) and then double filter it and blend with diesel. I run in concentrations up to around 50-60%. I just thought of the moonshine (white lightening) idea because I never cut grass with out drinking (usually beer) and thought it would be cool if my little push mower and I could "share" a fuel. (moonshine) LOL My rider is diesel, as is all my other equipment except the push mower (because I cannot find a small vertical shaft, air cooled diesel engine) and my chainsaw, weed whacker and leaf blower. Would be awesome to "alternative fuel" them also!

 

[tempforce]

be sure to install or drill out the jets about 20%. so you don't run to lean.

if you want to get the most from your 100 octane fuel. shave the head(s) untill you have about 12-13:1 compression. then the grass will fly.

 

[AABEN]

You can look up the making of a still and get it free on the internet

 

[Jefff929]

I went to the motorcycle Speedway races on Saturday. Those guys/gals run Jawa Powered motorcycles with no brakes. And they run them on methanol and bean oil for top end lube. These are 500cc Four Stroke Single Cylinder engines that are putting out something like 70hp. The bikes weigh next to nothing and flat haul booty.



GulDam

The alcohol burning bikes are the first thing I thought about when reading Dieselnut59's first post!! Oo.

 

[cj hall]

white lighting

my understanding is that the first batch is moonshine then you do the same process again and you have whitelighting the alcohol will boil off and 147 degrees condence the steam and you have it boil it hoter and you get water back in the good stuff



some day i might just set up a unit and go for it but right now its more fun making vegetable oil fuel

 

[Little Bill]

If you run your still right, the first and largest cut coming off should be 180 proof 'shine'. After that the proof falls steadily in the distillate stream.

 

[Dieselnut59]

be sure to install or drill out the jets about 20%. so you don't run to lean.

if you want to get the most from your 100 octane fuel. shave the head(s) untill you have about 12-13:1 compression. then the grass will fly.

That would be AWESOME! Yea, a friend who used to race go carts running methanol told me about the jet thing. I am wondering if I can do the same thing with the carburetors on the weed whacker and chain saw? First batch will certainly be all for fuel. I suppose I could blend some in my cooking oil blend also? Or use it to actually refine into pure biodiesel?

 

[Dieselnut59]

You can look up the making of a still and get it free on the internet

I have found several sites where you can purchase a still and some where you can buy detailed instructions, but none for free... I need a detailed set of instructions, as I have never done this before or even seen a set up in person.

 

[Little Bill]

Designs and instructions here. Google 'home distillation' for more.

Home Distillation of Alcohol

 

[SKuyper]

I know I'm a little late getting in on this post but I couldnt help but notice that Dieselnut mentioned blending in some of his ethanol run into his biodiesel mix... . whatever you do, dont mix anything with alcohol into diesel fuel/ oil. It will wipe out your injection pump and or injectors. Alcohol is a solvent and will flat kill lubricity in the diesel fuel... as if they havent killed that enough already by cooking the fuel to drive the sulpher out of it.

 

[SnowTech]

Maybe I should put up a thread in the R&D forum about Snow making a booze powered system? Imagine the holiday gift possibilities! Buy a system, get a bottle too Our standard stuff will be fine with it from a hardware point of veiw... .



Seriously though, most areas have laws allowing a certain amount of distilling per year too.



One thing to look for on components generally designed for traditional fuels is that they do not get too worn down by the water content. Those bike guys with the bean oil are probably the best example.