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Moonshine Anyone?


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Been really interested in switching my 79 KC 620 L20B to run on moonshine, I was curious as to anyone has tinkered with this. I have all the materials to build my own still and I have a decent knowledge of distillery processes and a good grasp of plants that produce more ethanol than corn. I think that this would work but I am nervous about testing this, I have mixed a little in the tank before but to run straight moonshine I am not sure of. :geek: I do know 180 to 200 proof is the ideal shine for this.

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I know nothing about this other than it worked in lawless....but please try this. don't do anything to the truck you can't put back to stock incase it doesn't work out but damn that would be cool if you figure it out.

 

get on the interwebz and start researching engines running moonshine...there's a lot of information floating around the Internet....afterall it's for more than just porn :P

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You need access to a lot of what ever you ferment, a lot. You also need to figure out how much you will need per week. Say a tank full maybe 20 US gal??? Alcohol contains less energy so add at least 20% more volume. You also need a license to legally make it including a secure storage for it. Look up de-naturing.

 

Now the mods to the L20B.

Alcohol contains less energy so more of it is needed when mixed with air. Carb jets need to be drilled out about 20% larger.

Your compression ratio should be raised to 13 to one. The octane rating of alcohol will allow this and raising the compression increases the efficiency and extracts more work out of it.

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i don't think it would be very cost effectice cause you would have to make so much of it. Plus it takes alot of time just to make a gallon of 180proof. you have to buy yeast, sugar, corn, propane, plus figure 4 to 5 hours per batch at least! just sayin...

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You would have to make it in huge batches. Lucky to get 5% to 8% alcohol out of your week beer mash and maybe 10% to 15% out of fermented fruit. So a 200 gallon vat of mash would make maybe 10 gal of shine? Now you could make more and use the shine to power the cooker to reduce fuel costs.

 

By the by.... if you run low or out away from home you can't just stop at a gas station.

Pure alcohol is hygroscopic and absorbs water from the air.

Alcohol does not vaporize well when the temps drop.

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But since you are already making moonshine for consumption, why not use it in your engine. It's a proven fuel. Does your permit allow making hundreds of gallons?

 

A carb set up for Methanol will also run on moonshine ethanol, won't it? Lots of old cars are being converted to E85 now (15% gasoline), just jet it a bit different for E100 I would guess that would work. Maybe not.

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This is the best part about it you dont have to use fruit, corn, or even molasses. Where im at with this is not for comsumption at all it would put you down hard with one swig because i did a small batch with a mash of johnsongrass but i need to research more about celluosic ethanol to make sense of what i did but all these cost issues are miniscule except for the sugar yeast and propane which are th e cheapest Inputs

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I like this idea bc i am thinking about changing my major to biofuel but if this turns onto a nova ill stick with switching to propane... Gas prices suck and its gonna get worse... Especially with the lazyass mentality of our executive branch of gov't

 

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You can get a good percentage from Sugar and Molasses.

A gallon of mash can make a quart of potent ass shit which can be made into 1 gallon of rum.

 

The most alcohol (pure) you can get from a sugar source such as molasses is about 14%. Alcohol is a waste product along with carbon dioxide from the fermentation process. The yeast convert sugar and cannot survive in and environment of much more than 14% waste alcohol. It's poison to them. So it's best to dilute the molasses down to 25% sugar with water. If done properly all the yeast will convert almost all the sugar.

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