Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 127284	2012-10-15 06:19:00	Paging Home Brewers and Mathematicians.	B.M. (505)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1307034	2012-10-15 09:24:00	Good thinking. Too much of that meths brew and you will turn weird and start thinking a ford is a car and other delusional fantasies.	R2x1 (4628)
1307035	2012-10-16 02:00:00	1.) Ethanol and methanol are both flammable. When you intentionally vaporize them near an open flame, you risk an immediate combustion of the liquid and equipment (in other words, you made a bomb). 2.) The ease of producing methanol makes home distilled liquor very dangerous. Methanol is not one of those poisons you can play nice with, you really shouldn't drink this stuff. You risk blindness with small dosages, and death is almost guaranteed with as little as 1 shot. 3.) Even with proper distillation techniques to remove the methanol danger, you are still left with a liquid which is difficult to precisely measure its proof. Sure, you can estimate it pretty well based on density but you can't figure out the concentration any better than your scale is precise. (Further, since the density of alcohol is less than 1, you are going to measure %ABW this way and you will need to convert to %ABV by dividing by 0.789, which will give you a higher number than the %ABW [3.2%ABW = 4.0%ABV so 48%ABW = 60%ABV]; forgetting to do this would be a bad thing). The end result is you get a liquor that, even if it is free of methanol, has an unknown strength. It becomes simply too easy to drink a lethal dose of this stuff and you may unintentionally kill yourself.	Cicero (40)
1307036	2012-10-16 02:11:00	1.) Ethanol and methanol are both flammable. When you intentionally vaporize them near an open flame, you risk an immediate combustion of the liquid and equipment (in other words, you made a bomb). 2.) The ease of producing methanol makes home distilled liquor very dangerous. Methanol is not one of those poisons you can play nice with, you really shouldn't drink this stuff. You risk blindness with small dosages, and death is almost guaranteed with as little as 1 shot. 3.) Even with proper distillation techniques to remove the methanol danger, you are still left with a liquid which is difficult to precisely measure its proof. Sure, you can estimate it pretty well based on density but you can't figure out the concentration any better than your scale is precise. (Further, since the density of alcohol is less than 1, you are going to measure %ABW this way and you will need to convert to %ABV by dividing by 0.789, which will give you a higher number than the %ABW [3.2%ABW = 4.0%ABV so 48%ABW = 60%ABV]; forgetting to do this would be a bad thing). The end result is you get a liquor that, even if it is free of methanol, has an unknown strength. It becomes simply too easy to drink a lethal dose of this stuff and you may unintentionally kill yourself. Killed by death that is so horrible.	prefect (6291)
1307037	2012-10-16 02:50:00	:thanks everyone for your help on this one. I now have a Spreadsheet where I can enter the relevant information and get the relevant dilution amount. ;) Interestingly, there are small discrepancies between some of the calculators available. I can’t think why this would be, but I’ll attach an old chart I’ve now been given called the TRAILES SCALE which differs marginally. It looks like it was typed on a 1922 Imperial and was possibly used in deepest darkest Southland to make Hokonui. Google makes no mention of a Trailes Scale, which strikes me as unusual. I doubt there would have been anything wrong with the mathematics’ back then, so I guess there is another part to the calculation. And there certainly seems to be a number of benefits from this making spirits and I’m now told that if I take the first 50ml that comes out of the Still and put it in the lawnmower I’ll get the lawns done in half the time. :thumbs: I’ll attach a photo of my “P” Lab, and for the benefit of the students of the game, the Primary and Secondary Activated Carbon Filtering isn’t shown, as I haven’t got anything to filter yet. :blush: Anyway, keep any tips and tricks coming and if you hear of a “Bang” or “Bust” in Mount Maunganui you’ll know what it is. :lol:	B.M. (505)
1307038	2012-10-16 03:24:00	I see trouble in the brewing department. With all those sunny windows all you will get is light drinks.	R2x1 (4628)
1307039	2012-10-16 03:34:00	Hi BM, I have been making Grappa for the past 10 years so I hope I can be of help . Home distilling can be very satisfying but also dangerous my friend, therefore there are a few rules to strictly adhere if you want to keep eyesight, kidneys and liver in a seemly working condition . Few simple rules: 1- The alcohol starts evaporating at 78 to 79 degrees centigrade, here you get the heads . Heads must be discarded . The first 80mls are called the head (I usually throw away the first 120 mls as aI love myself) and must be thrown away or used for cleaning as they are pretty much methanol . 2- The maximum distillation is reached at around 97 degrees centigrades and at that point you stop or start extracting too much ethanol . I usually stop around 94 degrees centigrade to minimise the extraction of this . These are called the tails . 3-(Optional) mix again your distilled alcohol with fresh water ad distill again using same procedure (taking less amount of heads (50 mls) this time and stopping at same temp for tails) . This will give you perfectly clean tasting alcohol ready to be mixed with anything you like (limoncello comes to mind :)) . I have a formula that will help you achieve the desired alcohol level - say 36% for limoncello or 47% for a nice whisky like liqueur, and no you don't just add 40% water to a 95% alcohol to get a 45% alcohol, especially if you intend to add other elements such as sugar later on . I will post this for you later on once I get home as I have it saved in my home pc . Enjoy the distilling journey . :)	Sanco (683)
1307040	2012-10-16 04:07:00	Thanks Sanco, I look forward to your input. :thumbs: According to my spreadsheet that I’ve put together from Internet formulas, I would have to add 1.11 litres of water to 1 litre of 95% Alcohol to reduce it to 45%. However, one calculator I have doesn’t believe one can brew 95% Alcohol to start with. 90% being top of its range. Fascinating stuff and a challenge to boot. ;) They must have been tuff old buggers in years gone by because I can remember stories of old fellows filtering Meths and brake fluid through a felt hat and loaf of bread, but I don’t think I’ll pursue that method. :D	B.M. (505)
1307041	2012-10-16 04:14:00	I see trouble in the brewing department. With all those sunny windows all you will get is light drinks. That's not Sunny windows, that's Moonshine. ;)	B.M. (505)
1307042	2012-10-16 04:54:00	However, one calculator I have doesn’t believe one can brew 95% Alcohol to start with. 90% being top of its range. Correct to a point. Distilling at home using a mixture of water, vinification yeast and sugar 89 to 91% is the top of the range. Of course maize and grain, when treated industrially, can reach 95%. I have tried attaching the docx file and it gave me an error, so I pasted the whole thing below - sorry. Formula to reduce alcohol percentage in liquors Legend: A = Starting point of alcohol content B = Desired end alcohol content C = Liquid to add (in our case water = 0°) D = Amount of A F = A-B G = B-C H = Amount of C to be added F x D/G = H Example 1: 1 litre of alcohol at 94° to be diluted to 30° with the addition of water (0°) A (94°) - B (30°) = F 64 B (30°) - C (0°) = G (30°) 64x1 = 64/30 = 2.13 lt. of water to be added Example 2: 2 litres of alcohol at 40° to be diluted to 28° A (40°) - B (28°) = 12 B (28°) - C (0°) = 28 12x2 = 24/28 = 0.86 lt. of water to be added Of course the alcohol should be measured with precision but at home you have to go as best as you can, and you can be pretty close anyway. If you plan to put fruit in the alcohol to macerate to flavour it (prior to adding water)then consider that this will reduce the percentage by 3° or 4°, as fruit has a water content (so does sugar, although in lesser amounts). Or if you give me an email I will sent it to you.	Sanco (683)
1307043	2012-10-16 05:37:00	That's not Sunny windows, that's Moonshine. ;) Not just a condenser but a charge boiler too. Lucky! This has reignited efforts to get the oxy torch fixed so I can weld up the condenser and make a boiler!	The Error Guy (14052)
1 2 3 4 5