>I have been looking for some easy recipes to make my own ethanol, without much >luck. I have an excess of cull potatoes here on the farm though, it doesn't >look like they yield too well. I also raise corn, wheat, and have feed grade >molasses that I get pretty cheap. From what I have found of them all the >molasses is the easiest to convert, but I was hoping to try the others. If >anyone has fairly simple recipes to start with I would appreciate them. >Thanks; Ben
Hi Ben Have you looked at the Alcohol Fuel Manual in the Files section at the list website? The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel by S.W. Mathewson Chapter index http://www.egroups.com/files/biofuel/manual/manual_ToC.html Chapter 10 INDIVIDUAL RAW MATERIALS http://www.egroups.com/files/biofuel/manual/manual8-10.html#ch10 Sugar/Starch Content vs Alcohol Saccharine Materials Fruits Molasses Cane Sorghum Sugar Beets Sugar Corn Wastes Starchy Materials Grains Jerusalem Artichokes Potatoes Sweet Potatoes Cellolose Materials Multiple Enzyme Treatment Below are some previous postings on potatoes. Hope this helps. Keith Addison Journey to Forever Handmade Projects Tokyo http://journeytoforever.org/ From: "DAVID REID" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 06:46:30 +1300 Reply-To: biofuel@egroups.com Subject: [biofuel] Re: Starch to sugar Simon, Potatoes are harder than most people think and you need a bit of experience to get them right. Books make it sound so easy because they tend to simpIify the process and take for granted that you have a full understanding and experience of all the steps involved quite often leaving out some of the elementary steps. Most of us need to fully understand the basics first before we really begin to learn. I have not tried potatoes yet myself but know this from my reading, broad experiernce of other aspects, and experience with other forms of starch. What you will probably need to do is what is called a Stepped Infusion Mash. This is where you start the saccharification process at a low temperature and then move it up in steps, halting for a certain time period at each step to give each enzyme time to break down as much as they can at each stage. If you have made beer in the past using an all-grain mash you will understand the process. To get a feeling for it and to understand the process better try the following: 1) Cook your potatoes so they are still stiff - about 12- 15 minutes at reasonable heat. Up to 20 minutes at low heat. Note they should still be a bit undercooked, definitely not soft, mushy, or floury. 2) Add coarsely milled barley (particles mostly about 1/16 to 3/32" in size. Definitely not too fine.). Use malted Ale barley or standard malted barley rather than Lager barley as it is definitely higher in enzymes and enzymatic action. Note you need sprouted malted barley not spray-dried malt which is normally on a maltodextrin base and has had most of the enzymes destroyed or inactivated because of the excessive heat used in the drying process. 3) Cover with sufficient water and bring to 113 F (45 C). Hold 15 minutes stirring regularly. 4) Bring up to 133 F (56 C). Hold 15 minutes etc. 5) Bring up to 149 F (65 C). Hold 15 minutes stirring constantly. 6) Bring up to 158 F (70 C). Hold 15 minutes stirring constantly. All up this makes 60 minutes which should suffice for a small batch. Some batches will take longer especially bigger batches. Most of the liquifaction and saccharification occurs in steps 5 & 6 rather than 3 & 4. If you want to alter this reduce 3 & 4 to 10 minutes and increase 5 & 6 to 20 minutes or longer where required. 7) Once virtually all the starch is liquified and broken down to simple sugars to halt the enzymatic process raise the temp to 176 F (80 C) (Mashing Out) and then drop it back as quickly as possible to between 140 F (60 C) and 122 F (50 C) so the sugars dont get scorched or burnt. 8) Cool down further to 75 F (24 C), establish an SG of 1060 (min) to 1080 (max = ideal) and begin fermentation. If you muck around with the basic formula doing several batches, altering the temperature and times a small amount each time you will quickly get a feel for it and learn far more than you can learn initially out of books or I can spell out for you. I suggest you start with 3 or 4 kg of potatoes and 1/2 kg of barley each time so you have plenty of enzymes together with a very large pot so it dosnt boil over. Once you have got this basic process under control and gained a bit of experience I can help you further with advice and help with enzymes. Also once you have the experience and understand fully what you are doing with the right selection of enzymes you can reduce this 4 to 5 steps down to 2 or 3 steps and save a lot of energy and time producing virtually the same result. At first for the small amount produced it hardly seems worthwhile but you will be amazed at how quickly you have control of the process with a bit of experience. Learn this process properly now and it will save you a lot of time later. To help you further I have dug out and am sending you a simple sugar primer I wrote a few months ago. Have a look on Tony Acklands excellent site. There is probably more information there. From: "DAVID REID" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 09:14:40 +1300 Reply-To: biofuel@egroups.com Subject: [biofuel] Re cooking and enzymes Simon, Thanks for your thanks and e-mail. I am sure you will get it right and quickly get it under control. The most important enzymes are Alpha amylase, Gluco amylase and to minor extent Beta amylase. Beta has largely been replaced by Gluco. The other important factor is temperature with each of these working best (most active) at certain temperatures. Alpha works best at higher temperatures normally chopping the starch into smaller blocks whereas Gluco and Beta work from the ends. Temperatures required of the process are therefore dependant on makeup and complexity of the starch. As mentioned without knowing the exact composition of the potatoe starch I cannot advise exactly the necessary temps and times. The setup I have given you is basically for barley but should work quite satisfactory with potatoes because of the range of temperatures involved. What I am saying here applies to barley as well as individual enzymes. The heat of cooking the potatoes will start the process. For all I know it may help to throw a handful of barley in with the potatoes when you begin cooking. Keep good notes of amounts, times, and temps and if you have much better success compared to the last time or another batch you should be quickly able to repeat it. By doing this you will quickly get a good idea of what is required. Keep me up todate with how you get on. Be aware that enzymes are protein and bio-catalyst and like other proteins consist of long chains of amino acids held together by peptide chains. They are present in all living cells where they perform a vital function by controlling the metabolic processes and hence the breakdown of food into simpler compounds eg. Amylases break down starch into simple sugars. As bio-catalyst by their mere presence and without being consumed in the process they can speed up chemical processes that would otherwise run very slowly being released at the end of the process to begin it all again if required. In theory this can go on forever but in practice they have a limited stability and over a period of time they lose their activity because of variables particularly temperature changes and are not useable again. In practice therefore be very wary of quickly changing and wildly fluctuating temperatures. Good luck Also be alert. The world needs more lerts. Have a nice day. B.r., David -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. 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