Moonshine encuraged by the government!

[JB_OrchidGuy]

I just saw a report on fox news that said there is a company in Tennessee that sells moonshine stills for around 1600 bucks to make ethinol to power flex fuel vehicles. The stills have to be registered with the federal government and the shine has to be rendered undrinkable before it leaves your property. Since shine is illegal for human consumption, but perfectly legal to fill your tank!!!

I wish my car was a flex fuel vehicle. Maybe I can convert it. I would love to get my own still and make my own fuel.

The company is called dogwood energy if I remember correctly. E 85 revolution! Lets stop financing Iran and its terroism and their nuclear ambitions!!

 

[Clint]

come on, how will the government know if you render ALL of it undrinkable?

MY great grandfather used to be a moonshine smuggler between georgia and tennessee.

 

[herenorthere]

The still is the easy part.  Someone who aims to replace 10 gallons of gasoline per week will be using 200+ pounds of corn (or other starting material) per week and, given the time involved from start to finish, will have a lot of fermenting going on.  It might make sense for a farmer, who gets only a fraction of a crop's value and might have plenty of storage and processing space, but not for anyone who has to pay the downstream price of corn and then try to make the stuff in the garage.

 

[rattler]

who said yah need corn? most moonshine is made out of sugar not corn. ethonal is just converting plant sugars to a alcohol. dont need corn to do it.

 

[herenorthere]

I just mentioned corn because nearly all US ethanol production is based on corn.  I looked at a USDA site and the weekly 10 gallons of ethanol can also be made from about 1000 lbs of sugar cane, 800 lbs of sugar beets or 140 lbs of refined sugar.

No matter what someone decides to make ethanol from, it's a massive undertaking to produce even 10 gallons of the stuff.  It might take less time to just leave the car home and get around by skateboard.

 

[cool85k5]

It would be neat to make your own fuel,but the time involed would be to much for the every day person.My S10 is flex fuel.Mostly it's the fuel system thats different,like the fuel filter for instance.About $15-$20 for non flex fuel over $100 for flex fuel.E85 is highly corrosive,thats the difference in the fuel system,the engine in my truck is the same as a non flex fuel S10.


Jerry

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

I just thought it ws interesting and thought I would pass it along. They didn;t go into the details of making ethinol just that they were selling shine still for the process as an alternative fuel.

 

[Ozzy]

My van is flexfuel, but there's no place to buy ethanol. I heard walmart is planning to sell it.

I was at an Exon gas station in Va. a few weeks ago. I noticed a sign on the pumps that said they use 10% ethonal in all their gas. So the gas stations are already putting ethonal in their gas. While we keep paying more for gas and getting less fuel milage they are putting the extra profits back in their pockets.

 

[Clint]

i used to make my own wine from grape juice (or fruit punch of sugar water, whatever) and yeast under the terrarium.

those were the days.....

 

[nepenthes_ak]

hmm, you can make Any kind of alcohol from any kind of organic matereal some are just better than others.

Yeast! The Mirical organism!

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Fungi is going to save the world! Heck its already a good anitbiotic. LOL I knew there was a reason I like fungi! Oh the power of fungi! LOL

 

[Lauderdale]

There is a very good article about Ethanol fuel in this months issue of Consumer Reports.  That is about the only magazine that I really trust.
Their basic conclusion is that it doesn't work as advertised.  E-85 gives less mpg, less power, It costs more and it is not available in most states.  Other than that......

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Well that is true. its already known that its not as efficient as oil. Its just an alternative to oil. Right now other than nuclear energy there is nothing more efficient than oil. Correct me if I am wrong someone. Hydrogen is good, but to get the amount of hydrogen we would need right now if all the cars ran of hydrogen would be to get it from hydrocarbons (oil) So then why not just burn the stuff your putting out the same pollution. Hybrids are not economical yet. Ethanol is clean burning but as you state less efficient. Less power and less MPG. Personally I like bio-diesel. I would like to see that developed more. I like hydrogen too, but we need to be more efficient at gathering hydrogen. The ultimate would be getting little mini Nuclear reactors for vehicles, but then you would have every terrorist in the world trying to get the reactor to explode on someone. I just thought the news tidbit as interesting. I wish there was an alternative to oil, but at the moment nothing is really a viable option other than ethanol or Bio-diesel.