Washington State Alcohol

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Comment by Christopher Johnson on June 9, 2009 at 8:00pm

its a craigslist find. It was in a barn over in Chehalis.
Its not terribly quick but I think it will do the job until I'm ready to scale up.
It ground 40lb or so of dried malted wheat in about 5 min.
not bad considering I only have around $200 into it.

Comment by Ron Fisher on June 9, 2009 at 11:13am

nice hammer mill set up...how much will it process? where did you come up with it?

Comment by Christopher Johnson on June 7, 2009 at 10:08pm

Okay,
I'm apparently to stupid to post a working link,
instead, here's a shot of my new fermentation tank, and one of a hammer mill I picked up a while back...more posted under my pictures.

Comment by Christopher Johnson on May 25, 2009 at 1:34pm

Hi Clint
Welcome.
Personally, I've only gotten as far as my lawn mower in running alcohol. For that it was only a question of adjusting the air fuel mixture.
I've set a goal for producing ethanol in one ton batches and have a Honda civic that I'll be experimenting with as soon as I get the proof up. My current still tops out at around 180 proof. I'm building another now, similar to Ron's but much smaller (3" rather than 4"). With that I hope to get the proof up enough to pull the rest of the water out with activated carbon. That way (in theory) you can produce E-100 (or close to it), but by law it needs to be denatured before it can leave the property. So, running E-100 at this point is not an option. I'd have to look again at the Fed regulations to see what minimum volume of gasoline is required, E-95 maybe.

Comment by Clint Shelton on May 24, 2009 at 1:58pm

Hello Everyone!

I just joined today and am happy to see some fellow Washingtonians here on the forum! Lately I tried E-85 in my old VW Bug, it ran lean but it was fun to drive. I'm wondering if anyone else has modified an old vw engine and could give out a few pointers.

Oh, and is there anyone out there yet producing E-100? I would really like to use that in my car too!

Thanks
Clint

Comment by Ron Fisher on May 21, 2009 at 12:07pm

Hi Chris

I am starting to make progress again...I picked up a tractor with a front end loader for my project and have mowed many of my dead cattails so now I will have all this years crop standing for a sugar crop this summer and can harvest rhizomes this fall...I am still working on my boiler also...

Comment by Christopher Johnson on May 20, 2009 at 8:59pm

Picked up a hammer mill a couple of weeks ago over in Chehalis.
Its so damn cool I can't stand it.
I ran my first trial in malting my own grains this week. I built a small box (2' square), fit wire fencing into the bottom of it, and then lined it with garden fabric. worked really well. sprouts the length of the grain in about 48 hours. Then I needed a dryer. I fabed up a quick one using a box fan some tin sheeting and a tarp. It worked well, but I need to build something a little more solid. I have parts comming in for my welder this week, then I'll attempt to build a full blown malting setup. Hope to grind my first 60lbs or so this weekend.

How goes your project Ron?

Comment by Christopher Johnson on April 23, 2009 at 7:44pm

No, not quite that exciting. I'm still working on getting the three-inch together.
I have a two-inch that I built to get my permitting out of the way and to learn the ropes. It’s not very practical in terms of output, but its a great way to get some experience while I scale up. I was thinking of trying to use the spent wash from this Sunday's run as a sterile starter for my next batch. We'll see how that goes.

Comment by Ron Fisher on April 23, 2009 at 6:42pm

Hi Chris

So your done with your 3" and your firing it up this Sunday? got any pics?

Let us know how it goes.

Comment by Christopher Johnson on April 23, 2009 at 5:26pm

Distilling this Sunday! Woohoo!

Just in case anyone has any leads, I'm looking for an old hammer mill, and a source for wheat in half-ton or one-ton quantities.

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