Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi guys.
So started cooking with a weber style charcoal bbq but Ive struggled to get my heat beads going in the bbq chimney. Its more for smoking and char grilling and so far, though Im a noob, Im impressed.
Anyway, I built one of those soda can burners that burns alcohol and put that underneath the chimney. Works like an absolute charm.
Highly recommend it and its a good use of waste spirit.

Fantastic :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Now go mow your lawn :laughing-rolling:

We use cotton wool balls soaked in ethanol as firelighters...we have used them for years and have found them great fire starters.
Doc

the Doctor wrote:We use cotton wool balls soaked in ethanol as firelighters...we have used them for years and have found them great fire starters.
Doc

Spent my formative years lighting the fire in the potbelly at home. Fire startings easy compared to getting these charcoal briquette thingies started. :handgestures-thumbdown:

Burner looks interesting have bookmarked this as I am just starting on my low and slow adventure :handgestures-thumbupleft: i see a cheapo kettle bbq in my immediate future..

Now that really is what this forum is about ... I love it. Very well done. Gunna make my self one this week. :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

What do they mix with ethanol to give the flame colour rather than it being clear? Is it readily available..

You can play lots of, quite safe games with the flames. As an example a little copper sulphate should provide a blue/green flame. All minerals "burn" at a slightly different colour. This is basically how we find the composition of stars and meteorites by analysing the light emitted when the minerals turn from a solid to a gas when heated.

The good news is that any minerals that you use to colour flame will not explode at the burning temperature of ethanol.

This is of course the basis of how pyrotechnics (fireworks) are made.

Could i soak some copper in vinegar till blue then add that to fores/heads, or does it need to be ethanol hearts?? Guess I need to try it myself love the idea just dont want invisible flame :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Just add a little copper trace elements from Bunnings to the ethanol (heads) from your next still run.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

you can also add some salt, rock salt works best. Just put some in the bottom of the burner to give a yellowish flame

Ahh that might be easier. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I used cleaning alcohol, heads, and i think its got enough impurities to burn some sort of colour. Yellow in this case.
Wouldnt dream of burning hearts. Would the salts (copper etc) vaporise and burn or just get left behind when the alcohol is eventually exhausted? And if it does burn woild you want it under coals youre using to cook food?
I'll note that ive been putting a 5 cent piece on the center hole before lighting the puddle of etho in the middle but once its hot it doesnt matter. A small one full burns for 10-15 mminutes.
Warra

we have 4 ethanol fires...1 in our Speakeasy and 3 heating our house... we measure and ensure sufficient air exchange in every room and have monoxide & gas alarms... in short we are very careful....We live in a bloody freezing spot in the highlands.... As much as we love our ethanol fireplaces, I am loathed to ever recommend them to others for the simple reason that they burn clear for the first minute and sometimes for up to 7 minutes as they slowly expire... I have thought about this and watched the fires as I light them The reason I have deduced is that the flame has to reach a certain heat output to suck in enough air to supply the oxygen which i believe to be what makes a flame burn orange.....Once the fire is hot enough the thermal flow of air is guaranteed...but the opposite happens as the fire runs out of fuel, as the volume of thermal airflow decreases the flame again becomes clear...This where the danger comes with these fires..... All our staff are trained to never re fill a fire if they cannot put their hand into the burner... if it is lit they feel the heat in time to stop and remove the hand... if they were to not do this test they could be lighting a molotov cocktail as the try to re fuel.
Doc

the Doctor wrote:we have 4 ethanol fires...1 in our Speakeasy and 3 heating our house... we measure and ensure sufficient air exchange in every room and have monoxide & gas alarms... in short we are very careful....We live in a bloody freezing spot in the highlands.... As much as we love our ethanol fireplaces, I am loathed to ever recommend them to others for the simple reason that they burn clear for the first minute and sometimes for up to 7 minutes as they slowly expire... I have thought about this and watched the fires as I light them The reason I have deduced is that the flame has to reach a certain heat output to suck in enough air to supply the oxygen which i believe to be what makes a flame burn orange.....Once the fire is hot enough the thermal flow of air is guaranteed...but the opposite happens as the fire runs out of fuel, as the volume of thermal airflow decreases the flame again becomes clear...This where the danger comes with these fires..... All our staff are trained to never re fill a fire if they cannot put their hand into the burner... if it is lit they feel the heat in time to stop and remove the hand... if they were to not do this test they could be lighting a molotov cocktail as the try to re fuel.
Doc

Hmmmm. Molotov cocktail.
Be a great name for a drink doc! :))

Short chain alcohols like methanol and ethanol burn colourless because they need less oxygen from the air around them, this is because there is an oxygen atom in every molecule already. When the flames are smaller they will be the most colourless because the flame is less hot. As the flame gets larger and hotter, there are reaction intermediates (no longer ethanol but also not carbon dioxide or water either) that glow when hot. This glowing is the colour you see. Due to the ready supply of oxygen in alcohols the intermediates burn much faster compared with other fuels, not allowing them to glow as much as in other fuels. Also, as the flame gets bigger, the oxygen from the surrounding air doesn't make it into the middle part of the flame and the intermediates only burn completely as they rise to the top of the flame where they get the oxygen they need.

the Doctor wrote:we have 4 ethanol fires...1 in our Speakeasy and 3 heating our house... we measure and ensure sufficient air exchange in every room and have monoxide & gas alarms... in short we are very careful....We live in a bloody freezing spot in the highlands.... As much as we love our ethanol fireplaces, I am loathed to ever recommend them to others for the simple reason that they burn clear for the first minute and sometimes for up to 7 minutes as they slowly expire... I have thought about this and watched the fires as I light them The reason I have deduced is that the flame has to reach a certain heat output to suck in enough air to supply the oxygen which i believe to be what makes a flame burn orange.....Once the fire is hot enough the thermal flow of air is guaranteed...but the opposite happens as the fire runs out of fuel, as the volume of thermal airflow decreases the flame again becomes clear...This where the danger comes with these fires..... All our staff are trained to never re fill a fire if they cannot put their hand into the burner... if it is lit they feel the heat in time to stop and remove the hand... if they were to not do this test they could be lighting a molotov cocktail as the try to re fuel.
Doc

Where would you buy the ethanol and what would it cost if did not produce your own.

you can buy fuel ethanol from Eco-Smart fires in Alexandria Sydney mate. Sorry I have no idea of the cost as I have never had to buy it. We burn over 50% of our spirit, nothing is re processed.

Doc

the Doctor wrote:you can buy fuel ethanol from Eco-Smart fires in Alexandria Sydney mate. Sorry I have no idea of the cost as I have never had to buy it. We burn over 50% of our spirit, nothing is re processed.

Doc

Did you buy yours new or second hand some of these ethanol fire places are very expensive and when try to buy ethanol they find is not a good heating solution sydney solvents sell but have none of the 200 l drums and not even cheap if buy big drum.