I have seen many references to producing ethanol from waste bread but cannot find a recipe anywhere. I would be grateful for any recipe with possible required enzymes, yeast type method etc. As it breaks down easily does it require cooking and so on. Still not exactly sure if I want to run car on ethanol or use ethanol to make biodiesel. Both have problems with first requiring flex fuel car and the second requiring the finding of stable WVO supply. Was set to go with biodiesel a couple of years ago but of course human greed being what it is some people could not possibly stand by and let the ordinary bloke make enough fuel for himself but had to corner the market in WVO and profit from it selling biodiesel at prices very little different to the pump prices. To me they are no better than the terrible oil companies.

Just ask an ex-convict , I think !!!

I know use rice can make alcohol. bagssky

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Is it true that you must remove the first bit of liquid thats boils off at 64 as its methanol.

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Joe Morgan
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Reading through this thread two things stick out.
Firstly bread is mostly starch. Sugars will ferment but starch will not. It has to be converted to sugar first. There is a process to do this. The process can be used to produce ethanol from your lawn clippings. i'll have to go digging and will post more when time permits.

The 'heads' (first off product) when distilling are not methanol. They may contain a small percentage of methanol but this will depend on what was fermented in the first place. If you only fermented sugar there will not be any methanol in the brew. But if you have fermented lots of grain then you will produce a very small percentage of methanol.

The thing to realise is that the professional distillers use a pot still and would not discard anything.

To convert starch to sugar the enzyme amylase is required but where does one get this enzyme. Interested in the lawn clipping one. Did not realise it could be converted to ethanol. Had thought of turning it into methane and using it to power the still. However the whole idea is probably out of the question as getting a vehicle that runs on ethanol in NZ is rather difficult unless one wants a new one. If I could afford that I could afford petrol.

Ethanol can be made from almost any plant material ranging from sugar cane to grass clippings to even wheat stubble. There are two main types of plant material - sugar based and starch based. Sugar based material can be fermented without any prior preparation but starch based has to be treated to convert the starch into sugar. There are 3 methods.

1. Boil up the mashed up starches gently for about 1 hour or until it gets to a slimy, gelatine consistency, in a dilute (5%) solution of Hydrochloric acid. 5% is 1 litre acid to 20 litres water, and only use enough water to cover the starches.

2 Use enzymes. Several types are used. Best source is a Home Brew Shop.

3. Malt can be used as it contains the enzyme diastase. Cook up the mash until they are slimy, then cool to 50 - 55oCand add 5% of finely ground malt. Stir in and hold the temp at 50 - 55oC for 2 to 3 hours, gently sturing occasionly. The enzymes act on the gelating mass and makes it thinner and more liquid as the starches are changed to sugar.