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May 16, 2006

Now, Thash the Ticket!! ::hic::

The still - standard equipment of any moonshiner - has a shot at becoming the must-have accessory of penny-pinching motorists.

An upstart Tennessee business is marketing stills that can be set up as private distilleries making ethanol - 190 proof grain alcohol - out of fermented starchy crops such as corn, apples or sugar cane. The company claims the still's output can reduce fuel costs by nearly a third from the pump price of gasoline.



I wash born here, an I wash raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, A-rab Venshwellins cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter.


Posted by tree hugging sister at May 16, 2006 11:21 AM

Comments

Just don't tell the ATF, or they'll be coming at you with tanks.

Posted by: Mike Rentner at May 16, 2006 11:31 AM

"In what amounts to an honor system, they are to add a poison to their homemade alcohol so it isn't white lightning."

BAHAHAHAHA!

Posted by: Ken Summers at May 16, 2006 11:33 AM

and they're horrible at math, too!

Dogwood Energy says it costs about 75 cents per gallon to make ethanol at home. Adding 15 percent ethanol to $3 gasoline reduces the cost of a fill-up to $2.40 per gallon, McClanahan said.

0.85 * $3.00 = $2.55

Last I checked $2.55 isn't equal to $2.40. Let's add in the cost of the ethanol:

0.15 * $0.75 = $0.11

So $2.66 definitely doesn't equal $2.40.

And the cost of the ethanol doesn't include (I'm betting) the cost of capital or labor.

Oh, and 190 proof alcohol is 5% water, which doesn't sit well with most cars.

Otherwise, it's about damn time for me to start making my own liquor (not that I would do so since it's completely illegal).

Posted by: nobrainer at May 16, 2006 02:12 PM

Yeah, you either need some zeolites or benzene to break the azeotrope and distill beyond 96% ethanol.

Posted by: John at May 16, 2006 02:21 PM

You guys got a still?

Posted by: Tainted Ned Beatty at May 16, 2006 04:04 PM

Add liquid oxygen and you've got a great rocket fuel. Now all one needs is a rocket....and a target.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at May 16, 2006 08:15 PM