WOW! Thank you George. This is most informative! Oh and thanks for the tip for using tomato paste as a yeast nutrient. I managed to get my stuck fermentation going by adding some! You are a champ!
@@BillMcGirr we're currently passing legislation to prevent people from giving impure potín to them. Leprechauns went extinct 200 years ago for a similar reason.
@@abnormal3542 The leprechaun ☘️ is alive and well here. My Boston Celtics are attempting to take a big giant turd on some California fairies. It’s GLORIOUS… and a beautiful sight to behold. God loves the Irish. And obviously… so do the ladies. Rock and roll brother.💪👍☘️🥃🏀
I was so scared of Methanol that I didn't want to go into doing home distillation. Thank you George, your informative capacity melted this fear off me.
Let me get this straight: Isopropyl alcohol is the same as methanol? So your forshots are actually isopropyl alcohol? I, as of yet, have not made any consumable or otherwise form of alcohol. It seems to be a big, huge waste of time considering anyone could purchase a large bottle of vodka for around 12 dollars at the state liquor store. Is the whole reason behind it being illegal centered upon the accidental consumption of methanol? As far as tax collection or the lack thereof; you would need an awfully big production facility to be able to turn over a worthwhile prophet. If you had that much money to invest to begin with, you would probably want to simply put get a license from the government. If it was still illegal, it may have been worth it for some rummy rum running Kennedy. Finding pure water for your home garden humidifier seems to be of a more self gratification endeavor provided you were not running amuck on some space alien catnip. Unless you're dwelling in the eight corners of the cube space time continuum universe, in which case you could simply put vaporize your enemies. Congratulations, you are the force of gravity.
The American government needs to give us our rights back. It's horseshit some states are banned from producing thier own alcohol without governmental permissions
so let me get this straight, (using a sugar wash only) i dont really need to remove the first 2oz because there is not really any methonol in the sugar wash, but just to be on the safe side i should remove the first 2oz from a 5 gallon batch? then for vodka i should use a reflux still, bring it to 145 degrees f and hold that temp for 10 mins after starting my water flow then bump up temp to 172/178 degrees f for the ethonol? but how do i get the 'triple distilled' version of vodka? can anyone confirm my thinkings as correct? thanks and much love from the uk xxx p.s sorry but i have a medical condition called 'dyscalculia' (dyslexia but with numbers instead of letters) so i am too scared to rely on my own number skills to get this right. thanks for any help xxx
Hello George, been watching you for a while. I really appreciate the amount of your knowledge you dispense. It is so helpful and I learn a lot, Just to add to this, you make very complex information really easy to understand. Quite honestly, it is the sign of a genius. ( You may allow that to go to your head :) ) Anyway, thank you from Langley BC
I've always thought that 2 ounces of methanol mixed with a gallon and a half of 100 proof liquor will not hurt you but I still separate it out. Who the heck needs to wake up with a headache and the jitters. Thanks George!!!
Hi George mate i can honestly say if you lived in Australia i would nominate you for the order of Australia medal for your services to the home brew community your videos mate are second to none ever time i have a question i find one of your videos that covers that subject cheers .
Jimmy Somethin Yes. Good stuff. I follow distillers from around the globe... It’s hard to follow metrics if you’re used to American weights... And vise versa ... Never mind Brix...🤣👍🥃
I read through some more of the comments below. Firstly let me say that George is an awesome guy and sells quality products at a very reasonable price...and those come with free tech support. His malted Barley, Rye and flaked corn are all very nice products. But for all of you wondering, this process happens naturally, EVERY TIME and in EVERY run you do. There is no way to get around it. Same as the fact that you will never extract ALL of the Ethanol from a mash...you will never extract ALL of the Methanol. Don't overthink it, point of this video is to show you how to NOT put the extracted Methanol in with the extracted Ethanol. If you're just starting out, buy good equipment. Buy a still with a thermometer built into the vapor stream and listen to George tell you the collection temps (all stills run a little/slightly different temp) in his other videos. He has told you all you need to know in his other vids.
Hey George I'm glad you put this video out cuz man I've sure thought thesane thing."well what about all the methanol in wine and beer no oneis going blind from drinking that." Thx i always enjoy your videos.
Hello George my name is Mark, and I am brand new to distilling. I haven't even started my first mash yet. I watched your episode using an electric heater and pid. I sure could use some advice on what to look for in terms of watage I want to stay in the 120 vac area as I have no 220 available with out a lot of work. I Have purchased a ss 8 gallon stillstill
Hi George, great channel and thanks. Is it possible when you give out measurements such as 2 oz, to help us newbies in UK/Europe to also mention what this would be in Milliliters. Just saves us googling what is 2 US Oz for example (almost 60ml by the way ). Thanks
A boiling point of 67. 7C for the pure liquid does not mean that all methanol will have boiled off in a mixture at that temperature. Just like a boiling point of 77C doesn't mean all ethanol will have boiled off at that temperature. Check out Rault's Law.
Yes, hence the need for fractionating columns and such. It is extremely difficult to get truely pure collection of anything. I think for this purpose the remaining concentration is negligible. If using as a reagent where purity was critical, you would probably need to fractionate.
Hey George, your videos are the best of them all. You teach the science and art of it. You always say you are available to answers questions. I called and you actually returned my call. I really appreciate it and you. Thank you. Cincinnati, OH - Joker.
Finally someone addresses the industrial production of ethanol. Some industrial processes are continuous and I have my doubt that in those processes that most of the methanol, if any, is being removed. So if I distill a mash and DO NOT remove any of the methanol it is not going to make me blind nor dangerously ill, correct? Removing the first two ounces is only prudent not necessary; and in fact if distilling certain liquors some of the desirable flavor maybe in those first two ounces, correct? Very good videos thank you.
Great and informative video. I'm concerned as to remove the Methanol that its the Mash that you heat to 145degreesF or is that the temperature measured at the still head/top ? (So the mash would be hotter ?) Or is it a matter of balancing up the mash and head temperatures at a lower temperature first (say 110F) then gradually increasing both together to the achieve the 145 F?
Thanks very helpful, I think your F to C conversion for 145 F is wrong and should be 62.8 C NOT 67.7. One video and all my questions answered, bottoms up from Down Under!!
My son's father in law is from Romania .I fermented plums and he made brandy twice run through a 5 gallon still .He does not throw out anything .After he cut it with well water the final brandy is quite smooth at about 90 proof .Through his daughter interpreting I was told he never tosses the first part of the distilling .He has a 1,000 gallon fermenting tank from 100 plum trees of fruit in Romania .This was my first experience watching distilling in person .I have learned plenty from your videos .I might be drinking methanol .I had about 10 gallons of must and got about 1.2 gallons of brandy .Call it cultural diversity .They call it moonshine .
Hi george. At 16:55 you wonder whether some industrial (commercial) distillers may not be removing the foreshots, hence hangover headache. They are most likely using a continuous feed process, so are they continually producing foreshots without a way to separate them? thanks
George, I just heard you say your in Texas. I was just getting started and trying to absorb all the great knowledge her but just heard that it's illegal for me to distill alcohol even for private use in Texas. Bummed! Am I uninformed? Can I make spirits for private use here?
Great content. In high school I read a book about moonshiners. And their alky fueled cars. Outrun the local sheriff in your 33-39 Ford! So, how else would a Hill Billy afford a new car? I used a gallon of methanol in five gallons of reg unleaded to pass a smog test. As a test, to see if a non pollution controlled engine could be tuned to pass smog. Fast forward 30 years and some vehicles can run E85 with high compression and lots of wild roller cam.
So are these temps off the boil vessel or at the top of the Column?. I have a milk jug style still with a meter tall column- and production doesn’t start till the column temp hit 185F??
George man u were talking about unintentionally poisoning people well here in KY I have saw several shut down chopped up Pease's of real old 600 gallon stills I'd love to build one that size I got a 100 gallon one but why did they use galvanized metal and I was wandering if it was safe to build one with that stuff cause its more plentiful here and if hour on a budget like me u got to do as big of a still as possible mainly what I can afford I missed up over the winter I didn't fill up my copper oak 100 gallon still but I payed big money for the copper sheet so u no were it was put connected to the white OaK slabs fo r the sides in the center its he sides are two inches thick but my oak got really dry wood started to crack and it poored water I found that out I filled it half fool that.and two gallons vineger I'm going to go check. Let me no what u think about galvanized and aluminum I didn't no how safebit was to use this stuff for stills but I'm gonna run my keg stil non stop and my big one gets finished ivmodified it put a five gallon thumper on it cut back three foot from the pot to the condenser and i went from a 20 foot in my condenser to ten and I went from 3/4 to one inch pipe it steps donw to a 1/2 flexible copper line
Hello George Not a newby but it been a long time The other day I watch a video where he used freeze fruit wine to remove the water. He ended up with brandy but he didn't cook Seem to me a bad idea The bad menthol would still be still be in the wine ? Could you cook after freeze it Yours truly. Barney It seem a good idea
What if the flame test is not producing a flame? Hydrometer is reading 40 as well, but no flame. The liquid does smell though. This is during distillation.
Very good video. The reason a little methanol in liquor is ok but the same amount on its own is very toxic is because our liver will ignore methanol in the presence of ethanol. But methanol on its own is converted to formaldehyde. The antidote to methanol ingestion is ethanol (usually vodka).
About the flame test, what is it that causes the methanol to burn yellow? as far as i know pure methanol burns pale blue, so both ethanol and methanol should look almost the same when burned and ethanol should have a slight yellow flame. Might be some other volitile organic stuff that distill over with the methanol if there is any. I have also seen on parties where people do the flame test when drinking moonshine, and looking for a clear blue flame, and i find it strange because if someone has intentionally added methanol to increase volume it should burn blue anyway, and if the methanol from the mash is mixed with all the ethanol from the mash i dont think it would poison you when considering that most likley it's a pretty small percentage methanol(some people say methanol can contribute to worse hangovers, i dont know, could be)
im going to do it your way no longer go high ABV until im ready to make fuel alcohol which is my main interest, No benzene, toluene etc, exhaust emissions are far safer, so what if i have to advance timing, boost compression, and rejet, theyve been running pure sugar alcohol in brazil or thereabouts no issues for decades
I don’t know how you can read all these comments and have a life. But I do have a question, I make wine, if in the process of pasteurizing it I heat it to 145f and maintain it for a few minutes would this evaporate some methenol?
This video is fantastic. I wish when I had turned 21 someone had shown me this video. I knew what methanol was, I knew (theoretically as I've never distilled) it could be in moonshine, but I never suspected that there'd be any in store purchased liquor (that cheap bottle of bourbon and it's headache the next day). This is also the first time I'd seen anyone state the differences in the boiling point of methanol vs ethanol which finally connected the blanks in how safe distilling works (the blanket 2oz statement never sat well with me). I also had no idea and never made the connection that methanol could be in beer or wine. Thank you for this video.
So why people die from local moonshiners in some countries? Is it because they collect a batch that was below 172 F that is pure methanol? Instead of mixed with ethanol?
Hi , do you have any idea why my nautal spirit coming out the air still smells like nail polish remover ? It was my first time distilling and can't find an answer any where , I used still spirits pure yeast carbon and dextrose??
Yesterday I made my first batch ever. It was from a one gallon batch of persimmon mead I made. It was horrible. Your videos are very informative. I even used a pot still made from an old canning pot (thank you very much) .
Great vid. I am new at distilling. As a matter of fact I just bought my first still today. Love Amazon. Lol! Anyway I am terrified of getting all that nasty methanol in my finished product. You have put to rest a lot of my fears. Thank you. Wish me luck...
i dont know how this guy doesnt have 5 million subscribers but he just gained one more. One of the best explained videos ive ever seen on really any topic. Great video.
Many thanks for your great videos! Are there different temperature set point between a reflux and pot stills. I have used your set point on my reflux with great results. I want to try pot still now. Brewhaus pot temperature setting are completely different than your reflux settings. Please suggest something. Thanks again
Did you know with activated carbon when you're using coal activated carbon it has arsenic in it heavy metals some traces of radioactive material you want to source carbon from coconut or wood
if your Running a t500...what temp is the menthol coming out and what temp is it ethanol coming out ..because it is reading the water temp coming out..???
wow 930 min in never knew that i would just for the hell of it burn my heads from brandy make and just did few days ago and it was blue but orange color at top bottom was blue i put on side walk
pure methanol and ethanol burn blue...ive made a concoction that burns green made from methanol and pure boric acid. the light blue helps the green come through the spectrum easier. but both burn blue
I made my own Homebrew (cider) after trying it in side, I drank it with the mash, so dizzy! You content was informing,T.Y. if you distilled at -145° would just make ethanol? IDK why!🎃
I just love the way you explain thank you George, can you please make detailed video how to make wheat wash without yeast thank you so much for grate work subscribed
Just tell people to be patient use a low temp throw out a few ounces then collect a couple more and do a flame test. Then raise the temp and confidently collect the rest.
I've only distilled fruit wine once. I think the fore-shots smelled more like acetone than methanol. Acetone seems more plausible because it is in the metabolic pathway near ethanol, while methanol needs another substrate altogether. Is there any research along this line?
I am not really a researcher, but from a paper I found on "pectinase", the pectin in fruits (or all plant cells, actually) contain a "metyl-ester bond" that is "hydrolyzed" by certain pectic enzymes, and methanol is a product of this process. This would mean some methanol is already in pretty much all fruit, especially ripe fruit. I have never seen any studies showing methanol as a result of yeast metabolism, but I have seen acetaldehyde and diacetyl have been mentioned, along with propanol and isobutanol. So I suspect that there was a large amount of acetaldehyde, and maybe some methanol, but that the methanol was already mostly already present in the fruit mash prior to fermentation. I have heard it claimed that pectic enzymes are hindered by ethanol, so in theory, perhaps very fresh fruit and fast/large amounts of yeast may reduce methanol levels. No data to back that up though.
Thank you very much you are a great teacher.. god bless you:)
WOW! Thank you George. This is most informative! Oh and thanks for the tip for using tomato paste as a yeast nutrient. I managed to get my stuck fermentation going by adding some! You are a champ!
In Ireland when they make the Poitin, they say the 1st cup is for the Fairies, so they through it away, hehe
cunobelinusX31
Those are either some lucky fairies 🧚♀️...
Or some blind ones.🙄🤣👍
@@BillMcGirr that's why they're endangered here
@@abnormal3542
Come to America.
We’ve got fairies EVERYWHERE.
You can take some home with you.👍🥃
@@BillMcGirr we're currently passing legislation to prevent people from giving impure potín to them. Leprechauns went extinct 200 years ago for a similar reason.
@@abnormal3542
The leprechaun ☘️ is alive and well here.
My Boston Celtics are attempting to take a big giant turd on some California fairies.
It’s GLORIOUS… and a beautiful sight to behold.
God loves the Irish.
And obviously… so do the ladies.
Rock and roll brother.💪👍☘️🥃🏀
I was so scared of Methanol that I didn't want to go into doing home distillation. Thank you George, your informative capacity melted this fear off me.
Happy to help
Singularly the best and most informational yet Thanks George
Let me get this straight: Isopropyl alcohol is the same as methanol? So your forshots are actually isopropyl alcohol? I, as of yet, have not made any consumable or otherwise form of alcohol. It seems to be a big, huge waste of time considering anyone could purchase a large bottle of vodka for around 12 dollars at the state liquor store. Is the whole reason behind it being illegal centered upon the accidental consumption of methanol? As far as tax collection or the lack thereof; you would need an awfully big production facility to be able to turn over a worthwhile prophet. If you had that much money to invest to begin with, you would probably want to simply put get a license from the government. If it was still illegal, it may have been worth it for some rummy rum running Kennedy. Finding pure water for your home garden humidifier seems to be of a more self gratification endeavor provided you were not running amuck on some space alien catnip. Unless you're dwelling in the eight corners of the cube space time continuum universe, in which case you could simply put vaporize your enemies. Congratulations, you are the force of gravity.
The American government needs to give us our rights back.
It's horseshit some states are banned from producing thier own alcohol without governmental permissions
Can we just have a moment of silence that quart that was thrown out...
so let me get this straight, (using a sugar wash only) i dont really need to remove the first 2oz because there is not really any methonol in the sugar wash, but just to be on the safe side i should remove the first 2oz from a 5 gallon batch? then for vodka i should use a reflux still, bring it to 145 degrees f and hold that temp for 10 mins after starting my water flow then bump up temp to 172/178 degrees f for the ethonol? but how do i get the 'triple distilled' version of vodka? can anyone confirm my thinkings as correct? thanks and much love from the uk xxx p.s sorry but i have a medical condition called 'dyscalculia' (dyslexia but with numbers instead of letters) so i am too scared to rely on my own number skills to get this right. thanks for any help xxx
Hell, one average size bottle of wine and an 8 dollar cigar, and I must be going blind.
Hello George, been watching you for a while. I really appreciate the amount of your knowledge you dispense. It is so helpful and I learn a lot, Just to add to this, you make very complex information really easy to understand. Quite honestly, it is the sign of a genius. ( You may allow that to go to your head :) ) Anyway, thank you from Langley BC
Thanks for the kind words
Hi Paul, where in Langley or BC would you buy methyl alcohol 1 Liter up to 55 gallons ? I have looked :( can you help?
I've always thought that 2 ounces of methanol mixed with a gallon and a half of 100 proof liquor will not hurt you but I still separate it out. Who the heck needs to wake up with a headache and the jitters. Thanks George!!!
Hi George mate i can honestly say if you lived in Australia i would nominate you for the order of Australia medal for your services to the home brew community your videos mate are second to none ever time i have a question i find one of your videos that covers that subject cheers .
G'day George, Thank you for the metric conversions! Jimmy
Jimmy Somethin
Yes.
Good stuff.
I follow distillers from around the globe...
It’s hard to follow metrics if you’re used to American weights...
And vise versa ...
Never mind Brix...🤣👍🥃
I read through some more of the comments below. Firstly let me say that George is an awesome guy and sells quality products at a very reasonable price...and those come with free tech support. His malted Barley, Rye and flaked corn are all very nice products.
But for all of you wondering, this process happens naturally, EVERY TIME and in EVERY run you do. There is no way to get around it. Same as the fact that you will never extract ALL of the Ethanol from a mash...you will never extract ALL of the Methanol. Don't overthink it, point of this video is to show you how to NOT put the extracted Methanol in with the extracted Ethanol.
If you're just starting out, buy good equipment. Buy a still with a thermometer built into the vapor stream and listen to George tell you the collection temps (all stills run a little/slightly different temp) in his other videos. He has told you all you need to know in his other vids.
Great run down. I appreciate it.
George
Hey George I'm glad you put this video out cuz man I've sure thought thesane thing."well what about all the methanol in wine and beer no oneis going blind from drinking that." Thx i always enjoy your videos.
So glad you touched on that , I been curious about the methanols in beer and wine since you don’t distill it out ,
You make learning about home brewing easy and understandable great job Sir love your channel.
Hello George my name is Mark, and I am brand new to distilling. I haven't even started my first mash yet. I watched your episode using an electric heater and pid. I sure could use some advice on what to look for in terms of watage I want to stay in the 120 vac area as I have no 220 available with out a lot of work. I Have purchased a ss 8 gallon stillstill
Same here I’m using sugar and honey and I’m scared to death and everything is burning blue and one gallon at a time.
Hi George, great channel and thanks. Is it possible when you give out measurements such as 2 oz, to help us newbies in UK/Europe to also mention what this would be in Milliliters. Just saves us googling what is 2 US Oz for example (almost 60ml by the way ). Thanks
For those of us not using Farenheit, 145 degrees F = 63 degrees C (@6:28). C=5/9(F-32)
A boiling point of 67. 7C for the pure liquid does not mean that all methanol will have boiled off in a mixture at that temperature. Just like a boiling point of 77C doesn't mean all ethanol will have boiled off at that temperature.
Check out Rault's Law.
Yes, hence the need for fractionating columns and such. It is extremely difficult to get truely pure collection of anything. I think for this purpose the remaining concentration is negligible.
If using as a reagent where purity was critical, you would probably need to fractionate.
That cleared up a bunch of the myths I've been hearing, thanks. Keep up the good work.
Methanol and methane are not the same thing. Methanol also does not burn “yellow” compared to ethanol.
Methanol is anything other than elusive
I get a brain fart too every now and then lol
What a good video. Always wondered why some NON-alcohol food products give me a head ache, namely apple cider!
Hey George, your videos are the best of them all. You teach the science and art of it. You always say you are available to answers questions. I called and you actually returned my call. I really appreciate it and you. Thank you. Cincinnati, OH - Joker.
Finally someone addresses the industrial production of ethanol. Some industrial processes are continuous and I have my doubt that in those processes that most of the methanol, if any, is being removed. So if I distill a mash and DO NOT remove any of the methanol it is not going to make me blind nor dangerously ill, correct? Removing the first two ounces is only prudent not necessary; and in fact if distilling certain liquors some of the desirable flavor maybe in those first two ounces, correct? Very good videos thank you.
This is the best info on methanol. Keep up the great videos.
Is that 2oz per gallon of mash?
Awesome Vid! I was wondering if there are any special considerations regarding methanol when using a thump keg?
2 ounces per what amount
Great and informative video. I'm concerned as to remove the Methanol that its the Mash that you heat to 145degreesF or is that the temperature measured at the still head/top ? (So the mash would be hotter ?) Or is it a matter of balancing up the mash and head temperatures at a lower temperature first (say 110F) then gradually increasing both together to the achieve the 145 F?
4 or 5 oz of "pure" (100%) ethanol is toxic too if taken all at once.
Thanks very helpful, I think your F to C conversion for 145 F is wrong and should be 62.8 C NOT 67.7. One video and all my questions answered, bottoms up from Down Under!!
Bobs not my Uncle
Excellent description we have been dumping way too much to error on the side of caution.
My son's father in law is from Romania .I fermented plums and he made brandy twice run through a 5 gallon still .He does not throw out anything .After he cut it with well water the final brandy is quite smooth at about 90 proof .Through his daughter interpreting I was told he never tosses the first part of the distilling .He has a 1,000 gallon fermenting tank from 100 plum trees of fruit in Romania .This was my first experience watching distilling in person .I have learned plenty from your videos .I might be drinking methanol .I had about 10 gallons of must and got about 1.2 gallons of brandy .Call it cultural diversity .They call it moonshine .
Hi george. At 16:55 you wonder whether some industrial (commercial) distillers may not be removing the foreshots, hence hangover headache. They are most likely using a continuous feed process, so are they continually producing foreshots without a way to separate them? thanks
George, I just heard you say your in Texas. I was just getting started and trying to absorb all the great knowledge her but just heard that it's illegal for me to distill alcohol even for private use in Texas. Bummed! Am I uninformed? Can I make spirits for private use here?
Great content. In high school I read a book about moonshiners. And their alky fueled cars. Outrun the local sheriff in your 33-39 Ford! So, how else would a Hill Billy afford a new car? I used a gallon of methanol in five gallons of reg unleaded to pass a smog test. As a test, to see if a non pollution controlled engine could be tuned to pass smog. Fast forward 30 years and some vehicles can run E85 with high compression and lots of wild roller cam.
So awesome info thank you so much for video ..
George -GOD BLESS YOU- man you set the chemistry straight. ty for doing a lecture again -YOU THE MANN.
As it happens ,im coincidentally watching this on december 5th lol happy Anniversary prohibition repeal
Love watching your videos
Thanks Sir
Taking fear of methanol % in beer n wine. I am sure govt regukation saves life by limiting methanil content etc, jussojuan
So are these temps off the boil vessel or at the top of the Column?. I have a milk jug style still with a meter tall column- and production doesn’t start till the column temp hit 185F??
Thanks for everything you do. You are a pillar of the community.
George man u were talking about unintentionally poisoning people well here in KY I have saw several shut down chopped up Pease's of real old 600 gallon stills I'd love to build one that size I got a 100 gallon one but why did they use galvanized metal and I was wandering if it was safe to build one with that stuff cause its more plentiful here and if hour on a budget like me u got to do as big of a still as possible mainly what I can afford I missed up over the winter I didn't fill up my copper oak 100 gallon still but I payed big money for the copper sheet so u no were it was put connected to the white OaK slabs fo r the sides in the center its he sides are two inches thick but my oak got really dry wood started to crack and it poored water I found that out I filled it half fool that.and two gallons vineger I'm going to go check. Let me no what u think about galvanized and aluminum I didn't no how safebit was to use this stuff for stills but I'm gonna run my keg stil non stop and my big one gets finished ivmodified it put a five gallon thumper on it cut back three foot from the pot to the condenser and i went from a 20 foot in my condenser to ten and I went from 3/4 to one inch pipe it steps donw to a 1/2 flexible copper line
Hello George
Not a newby but it been a long time
The other day I watch a video where he used freeze fruit wine to
remove the water.
He ended up with brandy but he didn't cook
Seem to me a bad idea
The bad menthol would still be still be in the wine
? Could you cook after freeze it
Yours truly. Barney
It seem a good idea
What if the flame test is not producing a flame? Hydrometer is reading 40 as well, but no flame. The liquid does smell though. This is during distillation.
Very good video. The reason a little methanol in liquor is ok but the same amount on its own is very toxic is because our liver will ignore methanol in the presence of ethanol. But methanol on its own is converted to formaldehyde. The antidote to methanol ingestion is ethanol (usually vodka).
About the flame test, what is it that causes the methanol to burn yellow? as far as i know pure methanol burns pale blue, so both ethanol and methanol should look almost the same when burned and ethanol should have a slight yellow flame. Might be some other volitile organic stuff that distill over with the methanol if there is any.
I have also seen on parties where people do the flame test when drinking moonshine, and looking for a clear blue flame, and i find it strange because if someone has intentionally added methanol to increase volume it should burn blue anyway, and if the methanol from the mash is mixed with all the ethanol from the mash i dont think it would poison you when considering that most likley it's a pretty small percentage methanol(some people say methanol can contribute to worse hangovers, i dont know, could be)
im going to do it your way no longer go high ABV until im ready to make fuel alcohol which is my main interest, No benzene, toluene etc, exhaust emissions are far safer, so what if i have to advance timing, boost compression, and rejet, theyve been running pure sugar alcohol in brazil or thereabouts no issues for decades
I don’t know how you can read all these comments and have a life. But I do have a question, I make wine, if in the process of pasteurizing it I heat it to 145f and maintain it for a few minutes would this evaporate some methenol?
This video is fantastic. I wish when I had turned 21 someone had shown me this video. I knew what methanol was, I knew (theoretically as I've never distilled) it could be in moonshine, but I never suspected that there'd be any in store purchased liquor (that cheap bottle of bourbon and it's headache the next day). This is also the first time I'd seen anyone state the differences in the boiling point of methanol vs ethanol which finally connected the blanks in how safe distilling works (the blanket 2oz statement never sat well with me). I also had no idea and never made the connection that methanol could be in beer or wine. Thank you for this video.
"It's all just basic chemistry, bro" - from Breaking Bad
I would like to know that in jaggery mash how much mathenol produces. I am from India. Please answer me.
So why people die from local moonshiners in some countries? Is it because they collect a batch that was below 172 F that is pure methanol? Instead of mixed with ethanol?
Hi , do you have any idea why my nautal spirit coming out the air still smells like nail polish remover ? It was my first time distilling and can't find an answer any where , I used still spirits pure yeast carbon and dextrose??
Yesterday I made my first batch ever. It was from a one gallon batch of persimmon mead I made. It was horrible. Your videos are very informative. I even used a pot still made from an old canning pot (thank you very much) .
if you throw out 2oz for a 5 gal run, then I assume you would throw out 4oz in 10 GAL RUN?
True
Great vid. I am new at distilling. As a matter of fact I just bought my first still today. Love Amazon. Lol! Anyway I am terrified of getting all that nasty methanol in my finished product. You have put to rest a lot of my fears. Thank you. Wish me luck...
How much is the quantity of a “run” that he is talking about? 1 gallon? 5 gallons? More?
i dont know how this guy doesnt have 5 million subscribers but he just gained one more. One of the best explained videos ive ever seen on really any topic. Great video.
The methanol from fruit is because of the pectin in the fruit. Pectin produces methanol.
Many thanks for your great videos! Are there different temperature set point between a reflux and pot stills. I have used your set point on my reflux with great results. I want to try pot still now. Brewhaus pot temperature setting are completely different than your reflux settings. Please suggest something. Thanks again
Did you know with activated carbon when you're using coal activated carbon it has arsenic in it heavy metals some traces of radioactive material you want to source carbon from coconut or wood
winner winner chicken diner! XD
When distilling spirits once you have the hearts and decide to distill again do you redo the process again separate the heads and heart and tail
No....methanol only comes out once...after that its gone.
if your Running a t500...what temp is the menthol coming out
and what temp is it ethanol
coming out ..because it is reading the water temp coming out..???
The T500 is designed in reverse and tracks the temp of the condenser water instead of the head temp.
@@BarleyandHopsBrewing
so can you tell at what temp menthol is coming out then it changes to ethanol
George, thanks very much for a very informative video, perfect explanation.
Thanks for the knowledge. Amazing. 🎅🍄
wow 930 min in never knew that i would just for the hell of it burn my heads from brandy make and just did few days ago and it was blue but orange color at top bottom was blue i put on side walk
Oh, i was expecting a Video about methanol as a energy fluid
So...just to clarify for others. You're talking 2 oz. per 5 gallons, right?
Yes
pure methanol and ethanol burn blue...ive made a concoction that burns green made from methanol and pure boric acid. the light blue helps the green come through the spectrum easier. but both burn blue
I made my own Homebrew (cider) after trying it in side, I drank it with the mash, so dizzy! You content was informing,T.Y. if you distilled at -145° would just make ethanol? IDK why!🎃
Oh yeah I Applejack concentrate (freezer still) T.Y.!
@@sirluoslive Freeze distilled Apple Jack. Oh so smooth and sweet, but a mother of a hangover. Now I know why, thanks to George's info.
Thank you for sharing the truth about this George. Another option is to keep the methanol and use it to light a fire or clean your glass.
Thanks for that George, you just reassured a new distiller in the UK.
Thanks for this. You explain this concept really well.
yeah I might have got that backwards last night I thought fruit would not make much methanol so I must have drank a little bit last night
It is true distillation of banana wine is dangerous? Because it create more amount of methanol?
What about canned food kombucha and other places methanol apears
great video, thank you for the information
Can a guy take a 50 gallon used whisky barrel cut one end out put a heavy copper sheet and attach it over the end we cut out for the burner
Thanks for all the information you provide it's helped answer a lot of problems and questions. Dave from Australia
Good info. I however don't trust the flame test....
The truth is any oil into a fermentation of ethanol 78 and 2nd 64 celcius distillation methanol
I just love the way you explain thank you George, can you please make detailed video how to make wheat wash without yeast thank you so much for grate work subscribed
Just tell people to be patient use a low temp throw out a few ounces then collect a couple more and do a flame test. Then raise the temp and confidently collect the rest.
Got got got just always weird about, great video 👍❤️❤️
Got it,lol for got the word (IT) lol 😂
I always wondered about the wine and beer. I assume what you just said! Thank you for affirming that.
Me and my wife where just talking about this. Thanks for the info. Love the videos.
This guy is good.
I have my own teacher.
We still.... Still 🤣 love you're videoes
I've only distilled fruit wine once. I think the fore-shots smelled more like acetone than methanol. Acetone seems more plausible because it is in the metabolic pathway near ethanol, while methanol needs another substrate altogether. Is there any research along this line?
I am not really a researcher, but from a paper I found on "pectinase", the pectin in fruits (or all plant cells, actually) contain a "metyl-ester bond" that is "hydrolyzed" by certain pectic enzymes, and methanol is a product of this process. This would mean some methanol is already in pretty much all fruit, especially ripe fruit. I have never seen any studies showing methanol as a result of yeast metabolism, but I have seen acetaldehyde and diacetyl have been mentioned, along with propanol and isobutanol. So I suspect that there was a large amount of acetaldehyde, and maybe some methanol, but that the methanol was already mostly already present in the fruit mash prior to fermentation. I have heard it claimed that pectic enzymes are hindered by ethanol, so in theory, perhaps very fresh fruit and fast/large amounts of yeast may reduce methanol levels. No data to back that up though.
Yup, everything I wanted to know
Thank you for your "clean" english I use your video to increase my capacity of speaking and listening, ciao from italy! 🇮🇹
Wonderful!