Mother's Wood-burning Still

Enlarge Image Image Gallery An assembled still all ready for a run!

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

It's been half a year since this magazine began its coverage of-and its research in-the subject of home-produced alcohol fuel (see the Plowboy Interview with Lance Crombie, MOTHER NO. 55, pages 16-24). In the course of those six months we've learned a good bit about ethanol distillation . . . both by "picking the brains" of experts from the beverage (and fuel) distillation industry and by reading every bit of printed information we could get our hands on.

Well, all of that work is beginning to pay off. In the article that follows, we'll detail the plans for our first MOTHER designed homestead fuel still.

You'll notice that this wood-burning alcohol-maker is a good bit different from the simple solar still-based upon Lance Crombie's design-that was described in MOTHER NO. 56. The reason for our "change of direction" is that-although there may well be great potential in such uncomplicated stills as Lance's (or Jimmy Langley's, which appears in a sidebar accompanying this article)-we feel that a practical, productive piece of backyard distillation apparatus is needed now . . . and we haven't yet seen a "box type" still that was efficient enough to produce a reliable supply of fuel.

We're not giving up on the notion of a solar still, of course (in fact, we have a working model all built and rarin' to go . . . as soon as we get enough test data in), but that report will have to wait for another (perhaps our next) issue. The point is that we all need an alternative means of supplying our liquid fuel needs today!

And, again, let us emphasize that the folks at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms have continued to be most helpful. Meet them halfway, supply the Bureau with whatever information they require when applying for your permit (and DON'T EVEN CONSIDER using your experimental distilled spirits plant permit to produce drinkin' liquor!) . . . the result of such cooperation should be less stringent regulations in the future and-we hope-more progress toward making farm-produced ethanol fuel a nationwide reality.

After six months of diligent investigation into the whys and wherefores of alcohol distillation, MOTHER's researchers have come up with a still that'll enable the "average Joe" to make at least 170-proof alcohol at a rate of over 3/4 gallon an hour! But that's not all . . . the apparatus we've put together is [1] assembled from (mostly) common recycled materials, [2] reliable, because it's based on "tried and true" distillation theories, and [3] fairly inexpensive to operate . . . since it's wood fueled.

This amazing piece of equipment is nothing more than two identical discarded electric water heater tanks (available at your local landfill or in your appliance store's "junk pile" a few sections of 3" copper pipe, some assorted metal stock, and bits and pieces of plumbing hardware. (Be sure to select tanks that are identical in diameter . . . also, try to get hold of nongalvanized, short, squat containers with a 30- to 50-gallon capacity.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print

GET MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC:

6-INCH ALCOHOL STILL BLUEPRINT'

MEN Editors

Blueprint

Our Price: Price: $15.00

• Browse Blueprints