Gawchicken,
I see you are having problems and there are probably
some things you need to understand before you can go further. Quite a lot of
these relate to basic fermentation. I suggest if you have not already got a
good book covering fermentation that you obtain "The Distillation of
Alcohol, A Professional Guide for Amateur Distillers by John Stone and Mike
Nixon. This is available as a printed book (US$17-95) postage included, or
as an electronic PDF version for immediate download at US$7-95 payable by
credit card using a secure server. Go to the following link:
http://www.gin-vodka.com/index.htm
One of the things you really need to understand is that for yeast to make
alcohol that they need starch in the form of simple sugars that they can
ferment. This is generally in the form of glucose or dextrose. They can
ferment other more complex (longer chain)sugars but in order to do this the
sugars need to be broken down (linkages chopped) into smaller molecules.
Yeast normally work on one molecule (glucose) or two molecules (dextrose) at
a time. Note Dextrins are longer chains again. Also note I said starch not
protein. There main food is starch and it is from this they produce alcohol.
On top of this they need very tiny amounts of minerals, vitamins, and amino
acids (building blocks of protein) in order to remain healthy and multiply.
The trouble with what you are trying to ferment is that it does not contain
excessively large amounts of starch but protein so the situation is akin to
me throwing you and your food in a sanitary sewer and expecting you to
remain healthy. It may be that quite a bit of it is fermentable but you will
need to ensure that at least 50% of it is useable starch otherwise the
protein will act as a toxin and begin to poison the yeast and kill them off
before they have done any good.
It sounds to me as if you live on a farm. I suggest you get yourself a drum
or a certain amount of molasses to play around with until you have got the
hang of fermentation and learn a bit about distillation. Once you have got
this under control you can then play around more and start to really
experiment. If using molasses use 1 of molasses to 3 of water. Molasses is
on average about 16 to 18 % sugar and contains a lot of nutrients that are
readily fermentable. It also generally contains quite a number of wild
yeasts.
Coming back to sugars the more complex sugars quite often contain chains
that are 20,000 to 30,000 molecules and longer so you can see how diificult
it becomes for yeast to ferment these. There are 3 main ways of breaking
these down: 1) acid hydrolysis, 2) steam disintergation, and 3) enzymatic
action. On top of these there are a number of bacteria and other
bio-catalyst that can break the long chains down but sometimes a lot of
these are not desirable as although they do the first part and break these
complex sugars down into simpler sugars they then go on and compete with the
yeasts for the simpler sugars.
To see how these more complex starches can be broken down and utilized by
yeast you then need to learn about liquifaction and saccharification.
Cellulose can be broken down into simpler sugars but it generally needs to
go through several stages being broken down further each time.
To help you further I am sending you by separate e-mail a Sugar Primer I
wrote a while back but which should help you undestand a little more. All in
the meantime.
B.r., David
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: biofuel@egroups.com <biofuel@egroups.com>
Date: Saturday, November 11, 2000 4:01 PM
Subject: [biofuel] ethanol trials and tribulations
>being new to this site altho i have been lurking for some time, i
>find myself in need of guidance and help.
> a few of months past i started searching the web for information on
>ethanol and biodiesel from sawdust for the usual reasons plus the
>fact i have at my disposal tons of chicken litter, which is just
>sawdust and chicken manure mixed. hopefully i thought to convert the
>litter
>to alcohol, and began to experiment by building a small still from
>dreamhost off the web.which by the way is a very nice little still
>and fairly easy to put together.
> not having the slightest clue as to what much of what i read on the
>web actually meant, i began by making up some of the grain and sugar
>recipes which i
>also found on the web, while at the same time i ordered the plans for
>a charles 803.
> everyone knows the trial and troubles of a new project and being
>always anxious to run before i could walk, i searched for commodities
>and feedstocks suitable for ethanol production while i played.
> my son came upon a source for a lot of bread stuffs which he wanted
>to use for cattle feed.
> along with the bread came three to four hundred pounds of pastries
>weekly.
>mostly donuts and fried pies. these i proceeded to attempt at
>fermentation.
> i began with thirteen dozen glazed donuts which i cooked only to 180
>degrees thinking nothing more was needed as the product was already
>cooked. to these of course i added yeast and watched and waited.
> at the same time i mixed up an equal weight in fried fruit pies
>which i treated in the same manner.
> now comes the obvious problem. i did not allow for the large amount
>of oil or grease coming from these fried items. after the
>fermentation had stopped i could not separate the thick greasy mas
>from the liquid on the donuts and the fried pies turned to vinegar
>while i fooled around.
> i am totally new at this but persistent, yet i could use a litte
>guidance if anyone has experience with using garbage or even
>breadstuff.
> being persistent as i stated i received the plans for the charles
>803 last weekend and when the marbles arrive tomorrow it will be
>complete.
> incidently several of the unusual recipes i have obtained off the
>web work exceptionally well.
> anyone with any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. thx.
>
>
>
>Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
>http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
>To unsubscribe, send an email to:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
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