Im not sure if the detail listed in this article is a good thing or a bad thing. I would hate to see my kids read this article and get any ideas. I know at that age I was just deviant and nerdy enough to want to try something like this.
I wonder how often they make methanol in these stills as well. Even under semi controlled conditions this is a risk.
> I would hate to see my kids read this article and get any ideas.
Better keep them away from the library and internet in general then. There's ideas everywhere! (Said jokingly, I get the parental concern)
> I wonder how often they make methanol in these stills as well.
Every time. The distilling process doesn't make it though, it's a natural product of fermentation.
Making and operating a still isn't hard (clearly!) and the risks associated with consuming "homemade" product are greatly overstated. The risks associated with fire/explosion are greater, but should be reduced in this situation since there's not an open flame. I wouldn't be surprised if the prisoners are tossing the "heads cut", but even if they didn't, there shouldn't be enough methanol to cause toxicity (especially when consumed with the ethanol!). I've read that a lot of the methanol toxicity stories originate from the Prohibition era and were caused by failed attempts to remove methanol out of denatured alcohol sold as degreaser, not due to hooch.
edit: I'm sorry to be blunt about it, but "think of the children" and the appeal for censorship is responsible for the abomination that is the modern chemistry set.
As long as they are making sugar wash (or wine as the article calls it) instead of a fruit based one the chemistry does not allow for methanol to be created, is my understanding having researched this fairly heavily in college before making my own still.
Also if you did make a fruit based wash when you ferment it the methanol will evaporate first (or at a lower temperature than the ethanol if you have that level of control).
This whole article is rather poor as a guide and there are much better and more complete resources on how to build better distilling equipment with a tea kettle, some copper tubing, and a bucket. It is a good article for understanding how prisoners do it, which is its intent.
I mean if you are a prisoner or you are limited to the same resources as a prisoner; then sure, I guess its a guide that you could use. Otherwise a better guide and $20 bucks at the hardware store will have better results, for home distilling experiments.
Keep in mind home distilling is illegal in most states, some have alternative fuel creation exceptions or small allowable amounts.
You know what I never checked the federal level. At the time I was doing this I figured if the state said it was legal in a certain case then the feds didn't have a problem either. I since realized how wrong I was about that logic, although it still makes more sense to me than the reality.
If it is illegal at the federal level, I would think it wouldn't be an enforcement priority if it was allowed by the state. On the other hand, it's probably part of the tax code and that does tend to be a powerful enforcement motivator.
How would brewing/distilling your own ethanol through fermentation create methanol? I've heard about methanol contamination, but I've always though it came about by adulteration (someone adding methanol).
When you think about the fermentation process, there isn't really a mechanism to create large quantities of methanol.[1] Yes, there are often traces of methanol and other longer-chained alcohol, but nothing that would be toxic.
If you're fermenting fruits and then distilling them, methanol is the first ingredient to boil out -- the first batch of distilled material will have nearly all of the methanol in the entire run. The background amount of methanol might be very small (<1% in most fruits), but the distilling process necessarily concentrates it and could easily provide a lethal dose if you're working on large volumes.
The very first cut (the "foreshots") really smell like something you shouldn't consume due to the presence of acetone and some other compounds that are detectable in very small concentrations.
If I were you, I wouldn't worry that much -- it's already easy enough to find on the internet the instructions for making alcohol. Additionally, it is next to impossible to censor this kind of stuff out of the internet.
As for your second point, making concentrated methanol from fruits or grains by accident is unheard of.
I wonder how often they make methanol in these stills as well. Even under semi controlled conditions this is a risk.