How to Distill Wood Alcohol
- 1). Set up the distillation apparatus and fill the boiling pot with wood alcohol. The distillation apparatus includes a boiling pot, a distillation column, thermometer and a condenser.
- 2). Add a few boiling chips to the boiling pot. These chips will help the methanol to maintain a smooth boil and prevent bumping of the alcohol up the distillation column.
- 3). Turn on the water flow to the condenser and place the collection vessel under the drip tube of the condenser.
- 4). Raise the temperature of the boiling pot until the methanol begins to boil. Maintain the temperature of the pot at this temperature until you have distilled the methanol off and only the other fractions of the mixture remain in the pot. Methanol boils at between 64 and 65 degrees C. You should not exceed approximately 68 degrees C at the head of the column.
- 5). Allow the collection vessel to fill with the distillate, emptying it when it fills up and replacing it back under the drip tube.
- 6). Continue to add more wood alcohol to the boiling pot to avoid running the pot dry. The liquid remaining in the boiling pot after the distillation will be a combination of the other components of the mixture from burning wood.
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