How To Produce Your Own Fuel

In the event of a crisis situation, you never know for how long you will be isolated in your home, and how scarce the resources will be. You can be forced to live off your stored goods for months in a row, even years, and as a proper survivalist, I am sure you will not lack food or fresh water.

However, you might be missing another crucial resource for survival: fuel.

Overview

First off, you will need an alternative to gasoline. When society will suffer a breakdown, fuel will be on a high demand, for obvious reasons. Gas will be hard to find and extremely expensive, and you will need a cheap and renewable resource that you will be able to use for both personal reasons, and for bartering.

What if I told you there is an alternative fuel that is renewable and cheap to produce? You would probably shake your head in disbelief. However, there is such a product and it has been available for the past century. It can be used with small vehicles, engines and lawn tractors and its name is ethanol.

The benefits of ethanol are never-ending. It has been proven to reduce greenhouse emissions, it is eco-friendly and it can be produced at home with very little effort.

I mentioned this fuel could be produced in your community. However, in the United States, you need to apply for a permit with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). After the legal procedures will be completed, you will be free to produce and consume ethanol.

You will need the following tools and materials:

• 1 large container (around 20 lbs)
• 5 pounds of rotten fruit, corn or cereals
• 2 pounds of Distillers’ yeast
• 1 hydrometer
• 1 large distillery container
• 2 fuel filters

Here are the steps you need to take in order to produce ethanol on your premises:

1. Gather the rotten fruit from your local grocery store. You can get it for free, as these foods will most likely end at the cesspool, anyway.

2. Place it in a large container, until a quarter of the barrel is full. This procedure must be followed accordingly, as the barrel might overflow during fermentation, if the quantity of waste is higher.

3. Add the yeast and mix well. The main benefit of using distiller’s yeast is that it increases the speed of fermentation and can cut in half the total time needed for this production. Contact a local brewer or distillery for this product, and use at least two packs for every 5 lbs.

4. Pour warm tap water and fill the container, but not up to the brim. Cover the container and leave the fruit and the yeast in a fermentation process for the next 10 days.

5. Use a hydrometer to check the level of sugar in the mixture. This process should be repeated on a daily basis, as it will provide you with accurate data regarding the necessary time left for production. Once the sugar is eliminated, the product is ready for distillation.

6. Begin the distillation right after the sugar has been removed. Otherwise, chemical compounds could develop in the product, which might later turn the fuel ineffective.

7. Pour the mixture into the distillery container and place it over a small fire. The special plates contained by the distillery barrel will slowly evaporate the remaining water, while the alcohol vapors will journey in a vertical direction inside the container. The most powerful fumes will be collected at the top and form the basis of your fuel.

8. Use the fuel filters to get rid of all the impurities that might still be in the resulting product. This way, you will prevent water molecules from remaining in the ethanol.

9. Add gasoline. This is only an optional procedure and it can be used if your engine requires an E85 type Ethanol, which is composed of 85% Ethanol and 15% Gasoline. Therefore, you will have to add the necessary amount of gas, depending on the quantity that you want to use.

10. Store the resulting product in tight closed barrels and store them in a safe place, away from any possible fire hazard. Also, make sure that your family is perfectly aware of the dangers that might result if this substance is used improperly.

There you have it! Now you can fuel your lawn tractor, your motorcycle or any other small engine that you have in your backyard. You are no longer dependent on the oil companies and you can use this technique to produce and store fuel for darker days.