Thread: What is the simplest way of making ethanol?

fermentation.

e.g. put some yeast inside a bottle of grape juice.

Once I do make it,if it is possible for a non-chemist.What should I do with it?
Actually I'll probably use it to put it in my gas.
I dunno what yeast is.

The fractional distillation of fermented sugar solution at a temperature of 78°C....Run the product from this through the distillation column again.
Take the product, add 2 parts clean, fresh water to 1 part ethanol, add some orange juice and ice ....enjoy...Ethanol is the alcohol in alcoholic beverages. Or, Yes put in in your gas tank....However, it's production in this manner at home is illegal.

Fermentation of sugar and distillation of the mix is to easiest way to make it. One note - doing this at home is illegal without a license, it is dangerous, and the ethanol you get will cost much more than you can just buy it. I suspect it will be 5-10 times the cost if you can get it to a state that doesn't mess up your engine.

A cheaper way is to make sour mash from field corn rather than using sugar. It is cheaper from the ingredient standpoint but the process is very inefficient timewise and also causes a lot of wasted fuel for the distillation and mashing process. Just grind up the corn and make a slurry with water. Boil it for about 2 hours to break the starches down to sugars. Then run your fermentation using a rapid acting yeast. The fermentation will go fast and within about 10 days the reaction will be close enough to completion for the distillation phase. The remaining corn steep after distillation will make good compost.

A lot of the ethanol manufacturers get their sugars from expired holiday candy at wholesale prices. They dilute the candy with water and run a rapid fermentation process. Then distill the liquid.

As the other people mentioned, you have to have a license to make ethanol. You can probably avoid paying alcohol taxes if you denature the ethanol with methanol or some other denaturing agent that makes the ethanol unfit for consumption. I think that you will find that the cost of getting the license, keeping required records, fuel costs, equipment costs, insurance costs (it is dangerous), environmental impact issues (it is regulated) and time will outweigh the cost of purchasing ethanol or gas. The big ethanol companies have better economies of scale and better processes and it would be difficult to develop a home process as efficient as theirs.