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alternative to 190 proof alcohol

So my vac oven inlet valve took a shit and it messed up a few batches in the oven. So I ordered

buchner funnel
1000ml flask
activated carbon
fullers earth
filters

My state doesn't sell 190 proof alcohol and I don't want to have to spend 3 hours in a car to go to the nearest place to pick up alcohol. I'll eventually order a still and some 190 proof but I'd like to play with my new equipment today since it arrived today. is there any other carrier solution worth using besides just using butane? Anything I could get locally that would work well? The end goal is shatter.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
If they don't sell it in your state, can you re-distill retail purchased alcohol? Since the taxes have already been paid, it shouldn't be an issue. I don't know though, so check carefully.


Personally, I prefer ethanol and would find a way.
 

SkyHighLer

Got me a stone bad Mana
ICMag Donor
Veteran
91% or 99% isopropyl alcohol from your local drug store. Pure acetone should be available at your local home improvement store, also if you're not in California, Kleen Strip's M.E.K. Substitute is available, it's pure ethyl acetate. Pure methanol and toluene are also available, but require a full purge.

If you have a local arts supply store, call and inquire if they carry rubber cement thinner, like Bestine. It's pure heptane, non-polar, not as toxic or odorous as hexane, and rapidly evaporates off.
 
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Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
So my vac oven inlet valve took a shit and it messed up a few batches in the oven. So I ordered

buchner funnel
1000ml flask
activated carbon
fullers earth
filters

My state doesn't sell 190 proof alcohol and I don't want to have to spend 3 hours in a car to go to the nearest place to pick up alcohol. I'll eventually order a still and some 190 proof but I'd like to play with my new equipment today since it arrived today. is there any other carrier solution worth using besides just using butane? Anything I could get locally that would work well? The end goal is shatter.


You can order 190 or 200 proof online and have it shipped to you.
 
91% or 99% isopropyl alcohol from your local drug store. Pure acetone should be available at your local home improvement store, also if you're not in California, Kleen Strip's M.E.K. Substitute is available, it's pure ethyl acetate. Pure methanol and toluene are also available, but require a full purge.

If you have a local arts supply store, call and inquire if they carry rubber cement thinner, like Bestine. It's pure heptane, non-polar, not as toxic or odorous as hexane, and rapidly evaporates off.

Thank you so much you provided a ton of solutions I had zero ideas about. I'm about to start calling local stores so I can play with my new equipment while I figure out my long-term solution.


You can order 190 or 200 proof online and have it shipped to you.

that's my long-term plan. I planned on building your still or a variation of it but now that I am seeing some cheap modified countertop distillers I can justify the risk of it breaking considering how cheap it is and how low my usage of it will be.

Wouldn't it be ideal if I only need to do 1000ml at a time to buy an el cheapo glass vacuum distillation set from Amazon instead of a countertop essential oils modified still so I can use lower temps to purge and reclaim the majority?

one last ? GW, SkyHighLer said heptane is non-polar, not as toxic or odorous as hexane, and rapidly evaporates off, can I ask why you choose hexane in your polishing blog instead of heptane?
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Ask Sam about purging iso, it just doesn't completely happen. He's stated every iso hash/extract he's tested, even multiple washed with ethanol or whatnot, still tests positive for iso.


I'm sensitive enough, I can taste the iso. When I can't taste it, it still makes my throat raw after a week. Considering iso also causes accumulative tissue damage (who does one dab or only one canna-pill, yeah?), I'd work on finding clean ethanol. ;)
 

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Thank you so much you provided a ton of solutions I had zero ideas about. I'm about to start calling local stores so I can play with my new equipment while I figure out my long-term solution.




that's my long-term plan. I planned on building your still or a variation of it but now that I am seeing some cheap modified countertop distillers I can justify the risk of it breaking considering how cheap it is and how low my usage of it will be.

Wouldn't it be ideal if I only need to do 1000ml at a time to buy an el cheapo glass vacuum distillation set from Amazon instead of a countertop essential oils modified still so I can use lower temps to purge and reclaim the majority?

one last ? GW, SkyHighLer said heptane is non-polar, not as toxic or odorous as hexane, and rapidly evaporates off, can I ask why you choose hexane in your polishing blog instead of heptane?

Because Heptane is harder to purge with its ~98.4C/209.2 boiling point versus Hexanes ~67.8C/154F bp.

Pentane would be better, but is hard to hold on to because of its lower ~36C/97F boiling point.
 

brown_thumb

Active member
Ask Sam about purging iso, it just doesn't completely happen. He's stated every iso hash/extract he's tested, even multiple washed with ethanol or whatnot, still tests positive for iso.


I'm sensitive enough, I can taste the iso. When I can't taste it, it still makes my throat raw after a week. Considering iso also causes accumulative tissue damage (who does one dab or only one canna-pill, yeah?), I'd work on finding clean ethanol. ;)

RE "clean ethanol": I bought a gallon from a USA eBay seller because it was inexpensive. When it arrived, I smelled it and knew something was wrong. I dipped a finger in and it tasted very wrong. I didn't use it. I contacted the seller who adamantly insisted it was pure ethanol. I knew it wasn't. MONTHS LATER, I receive a letter from them stating it was tainted with METHANOL. It's still sitting here unused. I wonder how many people that jackass hurt.
 

troutman

Seed Whore
Making 100% ethanol is easy to get if all you have is vodka, a still, a few extras and are ready to work for it.

I would distill the vodka to get 90%+ ethanol. Then I could get calcium hydroxide (aka hydrated lime) from
my local grow store or online and heat that to around 600C in a crucible (metal container) outside in a fire
to convert it to calcium oxide. Calcium oxide (aka quicklime) is then mixed in the nearly pure ethanol and let
to sit overnight. There it dehydrates the alcohol and converts back to hydrated lime. Distill the next day
using a drying tube to avoid moisture ruining everything and voila you should have 100% dry ethanol.

Make sure you store it right away with even a little calcium oxide in it. :tiphat:

Isn't chemistry fun? :biggrin:
 
Making 100% ethanol is easy to get if all you have is vodka, a still, a few extras and are ready to work for it.

I would distill the vodka to get 90%+ ethanol. Then I could get calcium hydroxide (aka hydrated lime) from
my local grow store or online and heat that to around 600C in a crucible (metal container) outside in a fire
to convert it to calcium oxide. Calcium oxide (aka quicklime) is then mixed in the nearly pure ethanol and let
to sit overnight. There it dehydrates the alcohol and converts back to hydrated lime. Distill the next day
using a drying tube to avoid moisture ruining everything and voila you should have 100% dry ethanol.

Make sure you store it right away with even a little calcium oxide in it. :tiphat:

Isn't chemistry fun? :biggrin:


YES chemistry sure is fun! My next round of orders will include this equipment. I'll probably buy a tabletop el cheapo still to convert to 190 then I'll buy a glass still with vacuum for recovery of the majority of alcohol. I couldn't resist playing with it last night so I used some 150 proof grain alcohol since that's the highest my state sells. After carbon and fullers earth the stuff looks great.

I used a Grade 595: 4-7 μm filter in the funnel and everything came out perfectly clear and super light brown. I see people recommending a celite545 filter but after filtering this once with carbon, once with fullers earth on top of the carbon patty in the funnel and once more with two 595 filters and no additives it looks like nothing made it through. it's now sitting under a fan in a pyrex with cheesecloth over it. hopefully, the extra water doesn't provide too much of an issue but under full vac at 110F I would assume I should have no issue getting the water out.
 

SkyHighLer

Got me a stone bad Mana
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Making 100% ethanol is easy to get if all you have is vodka, a still, a few extras and are ready to work for it.

I would distill the vodka to get 90%+ ethanol. Then I could get calcium hydroxide (aka hydrated lime) from
my local grow store or online and heat that to around 600C in a crucible (metal container) outside in a fire
to convert it to calcium oxide. Calcium oxide (aka quicklime) is then mixed in the nearly pure ethanol and let
to sit overnight. There it dehydrates the alcohol and converts back to hydrated lime. Distill the next day
using a drying tube to avoid moisture ruining everything and voila you should have 100% dry ethanol.

Make sure you store it right away with even a little calcium oxide in it. :tiphat:

Isn't chemistry fun? :biggrin:


I highly recommend downloading Purification of Laboratory Chemicals for more info on this subject.

Here's a link to download it for free with no hassles (if the link doesn't open, use the trick in my Signature to open it, it's a legit link, I double checked it,)

https://libgen.io/search.php?req=pu...open=0&view=simple&res=25&phrase=1&column=def


I bought another $60 water distiller to replace the top condenser piece of the one I destroyed distilling Coleman Fuel (too hot for the plastic body, and the seals can't take the hydrocarbon solvents.)

Two 1.75 liter bottles of vodka I picked up yesterday for $10 each (plus California sales tax) are sitting on my kitchen counter awaiting distillation. Would have done it today, but I have acetonitrile scheduled for delivery, and I don't want the house reeking of solvent should the FedEx driver require a signature.


The cheap countertop water distillers are 750 watt. The original and expensive Megahome water distiller is 580 watts. The Megahome alcohol distiller is only 320 watts. I'll post up what wattage I dial it down to with my Variac during alcohol distillation, I determined 630 watts to the heater during water distillation works ideally for me at 1440' of elevation, and at less than 95F ambient temperature - the ambient air cooled condenser's capacity is the limiting factor.


"Take advantage of our special sale price on the Megahome still. It comes standard with a glass collection bottle. The Megahome Still is similar to their very popular countertop water distiller. This still has been modified and specially designed to distill alcohol, produce essential oils, and still produce pure distilled water but at a slower rate. Please note: The easy distiller takes about 12 hours to distill 1 gallon of water, so it is much slower than the countertop water distiller. The Megahome still is quickly becoming one of the most popular stills available because of its quality and ease of use.

Megahome still Specifications:
Power Output:120volt, 320Watts.
Weight: 3.5kg
Dimensions: 20cm (Diameter)x 36cm (Height)
Package Includes: Megahome Still, 6 pack of filters, AC Power cord, Residue Cleaner, and the 1 gallon collection bottle.

This unit will be provided with the same instructions for producing water as the other Megahome units. Much information is provided from Internet searches to assist you if you choose to use the Megahome Still for essential oil or Alcohol production.

PLEASE NOTE: The production of alcohol is not legal in all countries and or states, or may require permission or permits to do so. Nutriteam Inc. will not be held responsible for misuse or illegal use of this or any other distillation product that we supply. Please check your local laws for more info. Instructions on how to make essential oils and alcohol can be found on various websites, however the unit will be shipped from us with directions only pertaining to water distillation.

Megahome does not recommend the use of high-content alcohol like Isopropyl alcohol because it may damage the seal or cause it to leak.
The special Megahome Still is sold under various names, Easy Still, Smart Still, Mr. Distiller, etc. All of these are the same units as long as they are marked with the Megahome logo and are rated at 320Watts."

https://www.nutriteam.com/megahome-still-for-alcohol-essential-oil-making-glass-collection.html

Note the condenser fan wattage of ~15 watts is included in the stated specs.

"Power Consumption: 580W (Total) Heater 565W / Cooling Fan 15W"

https://www.nutriteam.com/water-dis...ainless-water-distiller-glass-collection.html


The seals (lid and condenser) are silicone, good for ethanol and isopropyl alcohol, not acetone or hydrocarbon solvents,

https://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance
 
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SkyHighLer

Got me a stone bad Mana
ICMag Donor
Veteran
How many times does vodka need to be distilled to get to 95%?

I distilled the two 1.75mL bottles I mentioned above over the weekend four times, and it's still only down to a specific gravity of 0.832 (90.5% by volume.)


I'm slowly distilling another couple of bottles down using only 125 watts to the heater (actually only about 110 watts, the Kill A Watt meter indicates it uses 9.7 watts, and the Variac uses another 6.6 watts, for a total of 16.3 watts to deduct from the Kill A Watt meter readings.) With '125 watts' I get 1-2 drips/second, with 330 watts (like with the MegaHome alcohol distiller) I get a steady stream that makes it difficult to find the end point. More on wattages, distillation temps, and end points after some more experiments.


The silicone lid seal swells slightly after the first use of the day (even with just water,) and won't allow the lid to seat all the way without a lot of fuss, so I added the 1/8" bungee cord with a couple of picture hangers to hold it down firmly in place. At Amazon Reviews a woman said she uses a Velcro strap to hold the lid down. Another idea would be a piece of cord around the unit pulled tight with a Trucker's Hitch, https://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/truckers-hitch

Edit: the above statement is untrue, the reason the lid wasn't seating was I had the tube plugged so it wouldn't drip all over, and the lid seals so well the pressure was enough to keep the lid/seal from going down into the base unit where they come together. Same goes for taking the lid off, I had to pry them apart. Sorry I didn't get what was going on, please accept my apologies. :)
 

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troutman

Seed Whore
How many times does vodka need to be distilled to get to 95%?
What kind of still do you have? I hope it's not a simple home tabletop water distiller.

The general rule is to finish your 1st distillation when the vapor temperature near the condenser is around 92-94 ° C.

I have a long Vigreux column between my boiling flask and my still head to help me achieve
better separations of liquids. Such columns are often used to add the theoretical plates
required in fractional distillations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractionating_column

Vigreux column:
100px-Vigreux_column_condenser_simple.png
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
You can build a bokakob fairly easily. Produce around 190 proof.
Legal in US for last few years. Especially if you don't use it to drink.

There are limitations to how much you produce.
I could put up pictures and instructions, but Googling will do you better.
 

SkyHighLer

Got me a stone bad Mana
ICMag Donor
Veteran
You can build a bokakob fairly easily. Produce around 190 proof.
Legal in US for last few years. Especially if you don't use it to drink.

There are limitations to how much you produce.
I could put up pictures and instructions, but Googling will do you better.

A bokakob from YouTube (at the end he shows a hydrometer giving a false reading, if the hydrometer/cylinder/EtOh were at the 60F the hydrometer says it's calibrated at you'd see air moisture condensation fogging up the glass,)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v130X5DPq_k


How about a reflux still like you referenced with a few upgrades?

1) A fan cooled finned condenser coil like with my water distiller instead of water cooling.

2) Silicone heater with adhesive and a thermocouple stuck to the bottom of the stock pot.

For instance,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dia-350mm-...KEENOVO/282538357450?var=&hash=item41c89932ca

3) Either a controller with both power and temperature control like the Auberins DSPR220 or DSPR400, or the set up I'm using, a temperature controller with choice of PID, on/off, and limit function fed by power controlled by a Variac.

Auberins power/temperature controllers for distillation (note these controllers are Pt100 sensor input only,)

https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=53&products_id=559

My gizmo (posts #240-248,)

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=338633&page=24


With my setup it's set and forget about it, I can come back later when it's done. I'm doing a distillation right now, I ramped up the boiling pot temp at high wattage (more on that later - it's also automated so I can walk away,) and then I drop the wattage to 125 watts setting the controller to limit (full stop) the process when it hits 205F. Then I can restart it to pull off separately the tail from 205F to 215F (at 216F I start to get water.)


Imo :biggrin: using a PID controller alone to regulate the distilling process is wrong, the main control should be the amount of continuous power to the heater - no on/off action during the actual distillation.
 

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Troutman lab glass is my plan simply because I wouldn't want to trust that tabletop setup to not degrade quality when trying to recover alcohol after use.

an old still for bulk production seems logical to create it just not to recover it.
 

troutman

Seed Whore
I have a 2000mL laboratory all glass still now. But have used it for solvents other than ethanol as well.
Even though I've cleaned it well I want to get another one that's 100% dedicated to only potable stuff
like water and ethanol. I do have 2 heating mantles so having 2 stills would be great.

BTW: Most of my glassware comes from Laboy Glass and EBAY.
 
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