New to Extracting QWET stays wet.

OldMedUser said:

A trick I use to cut distillation time is to freeze the mash in milk jugs then invert them over a pail and let the alcohol drain off then distill that. The wine making kit someone gave me has a 5gal pail with a hole in the lid for an air lock that the neck of the milk jugs fit in nicely. As the alcohol drains off the ice left behind goes white from the top/bottom to the neck and once it's all white take it of and stick the next one on. Gets rid of most of the water and the stuff that drains off is drinkable tho not so tasty so a mix with some flavour is nicer tho once I'd get buzzed it went down fine on it's own.

A single pass thru the still turns out a decent product close to EverClear but I'd run it thru again to get it a little cleaner for making oil with. Gave up drinking so cook up camp stove fuel to make naphtha and use that instead. Get a better oil too with that. Coleman's is the best tho why it costs almost $20.gal is a bit of a mystery. Stuff used to be cheaper than gasoline.

My damn dog broke my last 2L boiling ball so I built a still out of a big glass bottle that holds about 4L and a condenser out of a coffee can and some 3"8 copper tubing so that a 2L pop bottle with frozen, salted water can sit in it on the work bench and doesn't need a running water source for cooling. The coffee can is full of anti-freeze for better heat transfer and the first one I built that I used water in rusted out after only a few months.

View attachment 3991812

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Thats awesome man, I dont normally post pics (paranoid, lol) but here is the run in progress ,

http://imgur.com/a/VSNmk
The garbage pail int he back is the reservoir (water and ice)
The pump is a 5v USB pump ($3) , it works fine surprisingly
I use a digital thermometer at the top of the column to hit about 80-81 deg C and its boiling out fast. About $200 on ebay/aliexpress gets a setup like this. I have done a pile of ISO runs already and its friggin great.

I have processed 4 liters of wash with a 400ml return. So I am going to leave it to ferment a bit longer as it seems I am only around 10% and should be up towards 15-18%. Not used to these turbo yeasts, supposed to be done in a few days actually.

OMG it is wretched lol , definitely have to filter this and re-distill it as you suggested. I have been playing with the freezer and the salt out method as well. Just having fun really, but I will keep at this until I have 10 or so litres of good quality ethanol, thats all I will ever need and I can always recapture it.

canadian1969 said:

Thats awesome man, I dont normally post pics (paranoid, lol) but here is the run in progress ,

http://imgur.com/a/VSNmk
The garbage pail int he back is the reservoir (water and ice)
The pump is a 5v USB pump ($3) , it works fine surprisingly
I use a digital thermometer at the top of the column to hit about 80-81 deg C and its boiling out fast. About $200 on ebay/aliexpress gets a setup like this. I have done a pile of ISO runs already and its friggin great.

I have processed 4 liters of wash with a 400ml return. So I am going to leave it to ferment a bit longer as it seems I am only around 10% and should be up towards 15-18%. Not used to these turbo yeasts, supposed to be done in a few days actually.

OMG it is wretched lol , definitely have to filter this and re-distill it as you suggested. I have been playing with the freezer and the salt out method as well. Just having fun really, but I will keep at this until I have 10 or so litres of good quality ethanol, thats all I will ever need and I can always recapture it.

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nice set up.how often can you re-use your ethanol? does it go bad or become less efficient?

natureboygrower said:

nice set up.how often can you re-use your ethanol? does it go bad or become less efficient?

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you have losses each run , so maybe I need to do this once a year, dunno. Just experimenting really. I do ISO runs all the time, but no water in that equation so easier to still. Although this seems to be working fine. My iso recovery is around 80%. To my knowledge ethanol will not decompose but you need to store it in a sealed container, if its exposed to air it will suck water out of the air reducing its purity. Normally you cant get over 95-96% without drying it with Zeolite or something like winterizing it (which I have not successfully tried)

Should have gone for the 5L vessel and heating mantle, actually someone needs to design a heating mantle that will accommodate vessels from 1L to 5L, that would be the shit!

You ever check out HomeDistiller.org ?

I'm looking to get a heated magnetic stirrer big enough to cook up 3 or 4L batches of cannabis infused coconut or olive oil. Should be able to use it as a base for a still too. If I can't get one I plan to make a heating mantle out of heavy fiberglass mat and a heating coil that's for a clothes dryer. I've been using a crock pot hooked up to a variac to get the heat high enough to decarb the pot in the oil. 235 - 260F. I hung the wife's mixmaster over it the last time to stir it but it's not the best setup.

canadian1969 said:

http://imgur.com/a/VSNmk
The garbage pail int he back is the reservoir (water and ice)
The pump is a 5v USB pump ($3) , it works fine surprisingly
I use a digital thermometer at the top of the column to hit about 80-81 deg C and its boiling out fast. About $200 on ebay/aliexpress gets a setup like this. I have done a pile of ISO runs already and its friggin great.

Click to expand...

I have all the stuff in your pic and a bunch more tho have lost a lot of it over the years. Just one 1L boiling ball and one condenser left. All sorts of glass pieces for the distillation apparatus, beakers, flat bottomed boiling balls etc etc. I loaned a lot of stuff to a buddy that was using it to make ISO oil and about his 5th batch he blew the back out of his garage and damn near killed himself. Idiot lost a lot of my gear. What wasn't destroyed in the blast was scooped by the cops.

Found the pics for my coffee can condenser.

OldMedUser said:

You ever check out HomeDistiller.org ?

I'm looking to get a heated magnetic stirrer big enough to cook up 3 or 4L batches of cannabis infused coconut or olive oil. Should be able to use it as a base for a still too. If I can't get one I plan to make a heating mantle out of heavy fiberglass mat and a heating coil that's for a clothes dryer.

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LOL I have been all over homedistiller for weeks now lol, great resource!
Dude I am super impressed with your DIY innovation and skills. straight up respect

So just waking up now, yesterday was a long day lol. Final test results: I processed 6 litres and recaptured 750ml of ethanol. So theres got to be 8 or so total litres of ethanol in the vat (64 litre rubbermaid tote, sealed) maybe 15% ish. It did take pretty much all day, was not labour intensive though, just kept my eye on it , temps never over 82 deg C. Because it was partially fermented I think it was fermenting in the boiler just like a moonshine still so just let it run. All in all I learned a lot doing this and now I have an unlimited supply of ethanol. Reloads would have been a nightmare so I simply let it cool for 10 min, drained the waste product from the boiler with a syphon tube, then slowly add in more wash via funnel. Worked like a friggin charm and I never had to disassemble anything once. (as you note with glassware its very fragile, I just try not to futz with the rig at all and the thing with glassware is you have to have the backups just in case)

Jeepers man, hope your buddy is okay . I have never blown anything up in my life, closest Ive ever come is I deliberately lit some iso that was in a beaker and it did one of those voooop kinda noises and blew my eyebrows off. In my defence it was a long long time ago lol. It was pretty funny actually. And thats my only reservation about building a still for this purpose but if you put in some pressure release valves and a large column and maybe a thumper to prevent clogs, should be perfectly safe.

I like this design, esp the column size, few tweaks I think and it would be perfect.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/34/e9/e8/34e9e8e9170d2b6135901ba33a1dc61d.jpg

You may have noticed the large separatory funnel, I tried the salt out method on the wash , added some food colouring just to make it easier to see....not an epic fail, but not really a success either. Looking at it this morning I can definitely see the layer of alcohol on top but its not completely separated, I think this process will work on the stilled ethanol better in refining up from 80% to 95%.

In the end a bit of work, but yields are reasonable enough at about 6L for $30 ($24 US)
To the OP, sorry for hijackin the thread a bit, hope everyone else found this to be of value, I did.

OldMedUser said:

I've been using a crock pot hooked up to a variac to get the heat high enough to decarb the pot in the oil. 235 - 260F.

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Just one more thing, yeah man I noticed with my setup that when I do ISO runs and drive it hard I totally decarb right in the boiler. I decarb first in the oven to drive out water but from now on I may just throw everything in the freezer,qwet, boil done.

Another idea I have had kicking around in my head is winterizing by purchasing a large block of dry ice, put in a coleman cooler etc. Then drill holes in it deep enough to hold large test tubes in an array. Put your solution in the test tube, slide the test tubes into the dry ice, close lid, add 10 min at -78 deg C , done , bang perfect winterization in a slice of the time. Total theory though.

canadian1969 said:

I am doing this right now, testing with 40 liters and a 48 hour turbo 20% yeast. I will have to do approx 20-30 batches to distill off the ethanol (2 liter boiling vessel, 300mm vigreux, 400mm graham) which is the setup I use to recover ISO. Just figured I would try it with 13Kg of sugar, some yeast nutrients and a package of the turbo. If I get 6 liters I will be happy. With the ISO it takes about 20 min to dial in the heating mantle and let it run. Probably another 20 to cool and reload. My distillation setup works splendidly so I hope the same for this experiment. I am starting to think after reading your post I may be underestimating the amount of work I have created for myself. lol. The whole thing cost $30 to try, so maybe $4-5 a liter to produce. (plus labour)

I had also intended to distill off any methanol, carbon filter and then dry with 3a zeolite to about 98%. Then use that as a base to be proofed with distilled water to 60% and then I was going to add pear brandy essence (or moonshine or whatever flavour) and infuse with honey oil. No idea how this will turn out, probably like crap, worth a try though. The idea of cannabis infused moonshine appeals to me I would love to hear results if anyone has done this before.



Exactly feeling your pain, Everclear isnt available in all the Provinces. I briefly played with the idea of buying cheap vodka and distill that to get the ethanol, but it is stupid expensive at somewhere around $30-$50/liter. Everything else is denatured as you now know so making your own ethanol is the only option. I am toying with the idea of building a beer keg still in the garage as it would be way more efficient than using sugar wash and turbo yeast.

Global 94%? Never heard of it, wow $78 for 1.75L , ah Quebec; Ontario needs to unbunch its panties man. I hate that I cant buy this stuff locally. Still pretty pricey though.

Additionally I have been trying to locate a Canadian source of lab grade hexane with zero luck. If any of you lads in Canada know where to source it please let me know.

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This is where im at now having lost the only supplier of 99% ethanol. Just bought a t500 reflux still.

How did you find the turbo yeast work out? From what ive read you would be better off brewing without turbo yeast and going for tomato paste ,sugar and bakers yeast (birdwatchers) for a better tasting cleaner ethanol that wont taint your oil.

I know its 3 years on since your comment, just wondering if you progressed this method.

I bought a source turbo last year so I reclaim most of my ethanol but I cant retire it just because its impossible to buy ethanol over here so ive ended up spending £500 just to distil my own.
Though I have to admit its fun learning a totally new hobby.

coreywebster said:

This is where im at now having lost the only supplier of 99% ethanol. Just bought a t500 reflux still.

How did you find the turbo yeast work out? From what ive read you would be better off brewing without turbo yeast and going for tomato paste ,sugar and bakers yeast (birdwatchers) for a better tasting cleaner ethanol that wont taint your oil.

I know its 3 years on since your comment, just wondering if you progressed this method.

I bought a source turbo last year so I reclaim most of my ethanol but I cant retire it just because its impossible to buy ethanol over here so ive ended up spending £500 just to distil my own.
Though I have to admit its fun learning a totally new hobby.

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I used to make a lot of my own EverClear even tho we can buy it here at the liquor store for $38/750ml. Still pretty expensive so you want to recover that for re-use. I just bought a RainFresh filter housing that came with a carbon filter from the hardware store to run my finished alcohol thru for about $40. Picked out a few fittings so I could rig it up with a funnel and outlet tube and it strips tastes and odors just fine. A new filter is around $12 but you can do a 100gal or more between filter changes I bet.

I'm looking to buy a countertop water distiller just for ease of use. I want to distill a couple cans of Coleman's Camp Stove fuel so I can use naphtha to make a shitload of RSO. I watched a video of a guy using one with alcohol so hopefully it works with the lower boiling poing naphtha too but I can always use my variac to reduce the power to it if that would work better. I use it now to increase the power to a crock pot so I can decarb my coconut infusions so I decarb in the oil after it's all extracted for a few hours.

Bread yeast only gets you about 10% yield and most wine yeasts only get 12 - 15% max but I used to use distiller's or champagne yeast for up to 20%. Some turbo yeast goes up to 24% or more so yield-wise that's what you want to use then charcoal filter it and you're good to go.

I used white sugar, yeast and some yeast food to brew mine. Lots of info on the web for recipes.

Distill sober and don't smoke! lol