Hi all, I was wondering if anyone can help explain something to me. For some reason I am having difficulty wrapping my head around the concept of wood distillation.
I have read that if you distill wood you can obtain alcohol, and some people say essential oils and some say its a means of producing methanol. Are there temperature differences or catalysts that separate these various styles of distillation?
thanks
namaste
Discernment of Distillation Processes.
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Re: Discernment of Distillation Processes.
Wood alcohol is methanol. Our focus here is production of ethanol for drinking.
There are many different types of "alcohols". There are lower ones that occur at lower boiling points and higher ones that occur at higher temp ranges. They are sometimes called by other names (esters/congeners/keytones). Ethanol is the alc we are looking to concentrate...although it tends to compound with other alcohols at various temp ranges and/or separation processes. These "impurities", also contain smells and flavors. Some lower alc esters can have fruit flavors like banana, pear, etc. These are often industrially extracted through distillation and other processes to make artificial flavorings.
But, the focus here is not on industrial distillation for the extraction/separation of specific lower or upper alcs. It's to produce beverage ethanol.
As far as the temp..goes...each of these various alcohols has it's own corresponding boiling points.
From the parent site:
Acetone 56.5C (134F)
Methanol (wood alcohol) 64C (147F)
Ethyl acetate 77.1C (171F)
Ethanol 78C (172F)
2-Propanol (rubbing alcohol) 82C (180F)
1-Propanol 97C (207F)
Water 100C (212F)
Butanol 116C (241F)
Amyl alcohol 137.8C (280F)
Furfural 161C (322F)
The important theory concept to keep in mind is...we are using a "solution" of mainly water and ethanol. And the boiling point of a "solution" of 2 ingredients is somewhere in between the boiling point of the each (in this case water and ethanol). As well, these various alcohols tend to compound with each other and carry over into other parts of the run. The early (lower boiling point) volatiles that smear into the first part of the run are what form "heads". There are things about some of these that are good (ie., fruity flavors that make nice bourbon, brandy, etc) and things about them that are bad...(ie., they make you sick/hungover and can cause your distillate to burn or taste bad). So, the art here for making good whiskey, brandy, etc...is in how to capture the good stuff...while minimizing the bad. The process of pure, singular extraction (or as pure as you can get), is more of a technical process requiring specialized equipment and it is a process that is more measured than art.
Hope that helps.
There are many different types of "alcohols". There are lower ones that occur at lower boiling points and higher ones that occur at higher temp ranges. They are sometimes called by other names (esters/congeners/keytones). Ethanol is the alc we are looking to concentrate...although it tends to compound with other alcohols at various temp ranges and/or separation processes. These "impurities", also contain smells and flavors. Some lower alc esters can have fruit flavors like banana, pear, etc. These are often industrially extracted through distillation and other processes to make artificial flavorings.
But, the focus here is not on industrial distillation for the extraction/separation of specific lower or upper alcs. It's to produce beverage ethanol.
As far as the temp..goes...each of these various alcohols has it's own corresponding boiling points.
From the parent site:
Acetone 56.5C (134F)
Methanol (wood alcohol) 64C (147F)
Ethyl acetate 77.1C (171F)
Ethanol 78C (172F)
2-Propanol (rubbing alcohol) 82C (180F)
1-Propanol 97C (207F)
Water 100C (212F)
Butanol 116C (241F)
Amyl alcohol 137.8C (280F)
Furfural 161C (322F)
The important theory concept to keep in mind is...we are using a "solution" of mainly water and ethanol. And the boiling point of a "solution" of 2 ingredients is somewhere in between the boiling point of the each (in this case water and ethanol). As well, these various alcohols tend to compound with each other and carry over into other parts of the run. The early (lower boiling point) volatiles that smear into the first part of the run are what form "heads". There are things about some of these that are good (ie., fruity flavors that make nice bourbon, brandy, etc) and things about them that are bad...(ie., they make you sick/hungover and can cause your distillate to burn or taste bad). So, the art here for making good whiskey, brandy, etc...is in how to capture the good stuff...while minimizing the bad. The process of pure, singular extraction (or as pure as you can get), is more of a technical process requiring specialized equipment and it is a process that is more measured than art.
Hope that helps.