A CPU based moonshine maker. The basics of distillation are simple, you heat alcoholic fluid until the alcohol starts to evaporate, then you cool it so it condenses elsewhere into pure alcohol. To put it simply, the key components are a heating device and a cooling device. Now the average PC, has both a heating device (The processor) and a cooling device (The fan). The question we asked was “By separating the processor from its fan and adding a few small components, could we convince an ordinary PC to distil alcohol?” [via] Link.
Update: Here’s a note from MAKE reader…
“I have read this article that was linked to your site. This is not only dangerous it’s deadly. Ethanol(Consumable) Alcohol his distilled between 172 F and 204 F. Processors don’t get hot enough for Ethanol Production. Processors run between 100 F and 165 F. This is not enough heat for proper and safe ethanol production. However 148 F is enough for methanol Production (Deadly to Drink). Someone is going to do this experiment and die from drinking it and thats if all goes right. As if the methanol wasn’t poison enough it’s being distilled in plastic tubing which is poisoning it further. Also he used copper for the case and some tubing but what was it saudered together with? Was it lead free sauder? Does the average person visiting the page even know to ask? This is all assuming that everything came out ok. What if it didn’t!
If just one thing goes wrong… Alcohol+Pressure+Heat = BOOM! Even with professional distilling in an approved facility there is still a very short distance between Booze and BOOM!
Imagine some mental giant trying this in your apartment complex next to your childes room…
If people are interested in building stills and producing alcohol they should look at books like: The Lore of still building or The Alaskan bootlegger. These two books have enough to get you started. They also prepare you for the dangers both physical and Legal. It is a federal offense to produce ethanol without a permit from the ATF to do so…
David White
Illinois Valley Fire Department”
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What a psychotic American over-reaction. The “poisoning by methanol in moonshine” thing is a myth – if you brew a wash of sugar and water there isn’t enough methanol to hurt anyone, otherwise you would contract methanol poisoning when you drank beer. It’s true that the author should have mentioned things like the problems with plastic tubing and lead free solder, but where can you even find lead solder these days? Calm down and be happy that someone is thinking creatively.