That's right. You guessed it. I am going to apply for a Small Alcohol Fuel Plant Permit so that I can legally distill my own ethanol - a.k.a. ethyl alcohol, "grain alcohol", moonshine. I know what you are thinking. But, don't worry I will not be excommunicated for it. The all important "F" in SAFP stands for fuel and the way they make sure that the distilled spirits that you produce are used for fuel is that they require you to add a percentage of petrol to the blend so that it is undrinkable.
Before I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning of this crazy fun tangent that I have found myself on. I mentioned in my MacGuyver post that I like to read gizmodo.com to keep up on the latest gadgets and gizmos. Well one of those gadgets is the e-Fuel MicroFueler that turns sugar or stale beer into ethanol. This handy gadget will run you about $10,000 once they start producing them. You can reserve your spot on the pre-order list right now. Tax incentives and rebates will take the cost down to around $7,000 but they say you can save as much as $4,200 in fuel costs per year so just under two years is the break even point.
This got me looking at other home brew (home distill) options. There are a plethora of sites that talk about back yard stills and how to make them and run them. So as I reading this I thought of my buddy at work, Dave Larsen, who is a home brewed beer enthusiast. I thought I would pick his brain to see what I could learn about the process. As I talk to him about it he says, and I quote, "Distilling spirits is illegal". My heart sunk. I thought I had found another feasible way to strengthen my sustainable path and all I heard was the word illegal. Later in the conversation he clarified the statement by saying that it is illegal without a permit. So, what did I do? I googled it and found out about the SAFP permit. I have not totally researched it but I have found that there is a relatively simple way to clear that hurdle. The SAFP Permit allows me to make 10,000 gallons of ethanol per year which is way more than I will ever use so, if you're ever out in the Mescal area and your drive a flexfuel vehicle, stop on in and fill 'er up.
Before I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning of this crazy fun tangent that I have found myself on. I mentioned in my MacGuyver post that I like to read gizmodo.com to keep up on the latest gadgets and gizmos. Well one of those gadgets is the e-Fuel MicroFueler that turns sugar or stale beer into ethanol. This handy gadget will run you about $10,000 once they start producing them. You can reserve your spot on the pre-order list right now. Tax incentives and rebates will take the cost down to around $7,000 but they say you can save as much as $4,200 in fuel costs per year so just under two years is the break even point.
This got me looking at other home brew (home distill) options. There are a plethora of sites that talk about back yard stills and how to make them and run them. So as I reading this I thought of my buddy at work, Dave Larsen, who is a home brewed beer enthusiast. I thought I would pick his brain to see what I could learn about the process. As I talk to him about it he says, and I quote, "Distilling spirits is illegal". My heart sunk. I thought I had found another feasible way to strengthen my sustainable path and all I heard was the word illegal. Later in the conversation he clarified the statement by saying that it is illegal without a permit. So, what did I do? I googled it and found out about the SAFP permit. I have not totally researched it but I have found that there is a relatively simple way to clear that hurdle. The SAFP Permit allows me to make 10,000 gallons of ethanol per year which is way more than I will ever use so, if you're ever out in the Mescal area and your drive a flexfuel vehicle, stop on in and fill 'er up.
One cool side note is that I have found some info online about a solar still so I will be able to distill the ethanol by the power of the sun. Talk about sustainable. One of the more expensive pieces in the distillation process is the heat source and I can overcome that by using the sun. Man I love Arizona.
Did I mention that the Arizona State Flag is the best Flag in the Union?
4 comments:
Love that state pride, I agree we have a rocking flag! I love the mini plant idea, as long as we add the petrol so that Holman and JJ don't get into trouble....and yes it would be the boys and not the girls. I don't know why maybe its the cowboy boots that bring out the rebellion in my mind.
I would have to agree with Lesley. Although I see Holman and JJ convincing poor Parkin into doing all the crazy things for them.
The whole thing sounds brilliant. You are moving into the middle of nowhere though and Benson has their fair share of parties. So, even if your boys did nothing, the second others heard about your plant, you would be in trouble. :)
I can hardly wait to see you putting around in your wind/solar/electric/ethanol/flubber/sound/boll wevel snout powered car. You spend WAY too much time on the internet, mijo. Oh, and the flag, evidently you haven't seen Idaho's flag. I don't remember what it looks like, but it has to be way cool.
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