Backyard Ethanol - Part 5 - The Findings

Part Five of my ongoing series on making homemade ethanol and running your cars & things off of it. In this episode I display all of the facts regarding cost, and discuss the ultimate feasibility (or lack thereof) of producing your own ethanol for fuel use. Feel free to debate me & try to tell me that I am wrong, or that I don't know what I'm doing (I already know that). Until you have done it for yourself, you aren't properly equipped to debate anything, so I don't want to hear anybody reciting any ethanol propaganda.

Sorry, you can't see my math. Here it is:

####Math pertaining to MY Brew####
Raw materials:
cornmeal, 5lb : $ 1.74
cornmeal, 5lb : $ 1.74
Sugar, 10lb : $ 4.57
yeast, 1oz : $ .98
total: : $10.01
(in the video I used $7.50 instead of $10,
I will account for the dicrepancy with
adjusted number in parentheses with a star)

I spent $7.50(*$10.01) and got 1.75L of 150 proof
1.75L = .33gal
If .33Gal = $7.50(*$10.01), then 1gal = $22.50(*$30)
(still 150 proof)
So, if we calculate the additional
raw materials needed to distill this
150 proof to 195 proof and still
produce 1 gallon, the price comes up
to roughly $30(*$39)/gal, just in raw materials.

Now factoring in labor. Min wage in TX is
$7.25/hr. It took me 6 hrs to make.
6hrs * $7.25 = $43.50 in labor.

Labor ($43.50) + Raw Materials ($30(*$39))
comes out to $73.5(*$82.5)/gallon.

###Math pertaining to BEST CASE SCENARIO Brew###
Raw materials: $7.50(*$10.01)
Assuming that the magical 10% rule actually
works for you, your $7.50(*$10.01), 10 gal batch of
mash yeilds 1 gallon of 195 proof ethanol.
Also assuming that your still is way better
than mine and can do this distillation in
3 hrs, vs my 6, you still pay 21.75 in labor.
(3hrs x $7.50 = 21.75)
So, your raw materials cost ($7.50(*$10.01)) plus your
hourly cost ($21.75) comes out to $29.25(*31.76)/gal.

Oh, here's the link to that other guy's video who says he runs his car off of ethanol which he produces out of a stovetop pressure cooker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9nld-bswHU

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• distilling
• distill
• corn
• sugar
• mash
• alcohol
• ethanol
• alternative
• energy
• fuel
• methanol
• moonshine
• still
• science
• experiment
• testing
• generator
• internal
• combustion
• engine
• condenser
• boiler

[M1ST3RHYDE]

Funny Stuff :) "paranoid about The End Of The World" to "Your Full of Shit"

Again Great Chart.

[strantor]

@M1ST3RHYDE lol, thanks!

[M1ST3RHYDE]

Good Job. Thanks for the Videos.

[strantor]

@M1ST3RHYDE thanks!

[BasementBen]

Things can get better :) Good experimenting. Yeast could possibly be cultured and reproduced on its own.

And raw materials, Cellulose (leaves, grass) starches, (more plants parts) and sugars, could all be from plants. There is a way for these to all be converted to sugars.

Homemade yeast, and "organic waste" could be all free. And developing low-maintanence, high volume distilling systems is very possible :)

Keep it up, you got the right idea in my opinion!

Ben.

[strantor]

@BasementBen Yeah you're right, there are cheaper ways to get your supplies than at the grocery, but but there is still going to be alot of effort in collection for a small yield. I see your point though, and if i ever get time i will go more in depth, to include gathering rubbish and/or leaves to try to distill.

[TheIvomendonca]

Big still just make a 100 galoons still and a big wood fire, small stuff make small yields.

Brasilians make ethanol all the time.

[TheIvomendonca]

@strantor Plant sugar in your garden :)

[Allenmakestherules]

Lmao! Great job on the project complete with results. Everything I can dig up on this subject suggests it can be made at home for like $1.75 a gallon. I did a lil research myself and find that this cost is using corn and yeast alone. Search bio fuels and you will see all commercial ethanol is produced this way. 26.1lbs of corn will yield 1 gallon of ethanol. I found a 50lb sack of "deer corn" at wal-mart for 4.25 which makes it 2.12 a gallon. Plus yeast would push $

3.00. Which isn't bad consi

[RGCbaseace]

Fantastic you just figured out the whole scam of ethanol in an most enteresting manner the goverment still hasnt figured it out

[Uneakdawg]

Add your gallon of ethanol to 5 gallons of veg oil 4 cups of sodium hydroxide

And you make out richer then an sob

[Uneakdawg]

@uneakdawg

Thank you, im glad u showed me how much im doing right in comparison to yours. Keep in mind all grass has Cellulose properties to create mesh for Cellulose ethanol (mow your lawn) use that lol. 4cups pure sugar-10gl mesh. Ferment for 2 weeks, have a mesh sitting each day. I use solar power for my electric burner so no fuel cost.

And i have a juicer to extracter to extract my own oil, so what makes this feasible is to make biofuel. Add your gallon of ethanol to 5 gallons of veg oil 4

[penztoy]

Your math is for the most part, absolutely correct. BUT... keep in mind, you have done an experimental run. If you have a decent reflux still unit, only use plain sugar (no extra stuff required to make alky) and buy a fast turbo yeast you can easily get that cost per gallon made to around $3.00 And... and said earlier if you get a lot of free ag clippings, you could do a little bit better. Keep in mind, you might drink a small shot or two and that makes it all worth while. LOL

[BringBack500s]

Well you gave us a very good summary at the end and considering the methods you used and admitting you are a total noob I'd say we all had a good time so thanks.

Think about 'if' you had 4-5 acres of land, and learned how to grow maybe 15-20 tons of food per acre, including sugar beet to make sugar, and all the other ingredients, and had a good still...then it would make sense, specially if you had a few hundred gallons ethanol per year for a little extra work.

Think about it that way?

[MrSchpankme]

As of June 2011, the rack price of ethanol was $2.76 versus $2.97 for unleaded gasoline.