Something I did not know until this year is that when Moonshiners would run a still, they would throw out the first gallon or so of product because the methanol comes out of the batch first, and the first gallon or so is always contaminated with methanol.
Methanol is always a byproduct of distillation, and it has to be dealt with by the big alcohol producers as well as the little ones. These people in Mexico either didn't know about methanol, or just didn't care.
Something I did not know until this year is that when Moonshiners would run a still, they would throw out the first gallon or so of product because the methanol comes out of the batch first, and the first gallon or so is always contaminated with methanol.
Known as “Heads and Ends” - this is the first and last bits that come from the distillations run - distillers normally throw this out as contaminated with all sort of nasty chemicals including methanol. Often called Fusel oils
Recently distillers been turning this to hand sanitizers
I’ll take “didn’t care” for $200, Alex...”
The Mexican moonshiners must be trying to give Andrew Cuomo a run for the money in how many people can be killed “by accident”.
Basically true if you are running a BIG still. For smaller home rigs a shot glass suffices to take off the methanol. It smells like paint thinner, because it is. Ethanol boils off at ~173.1. Once it starts running your ok. Brandy has a high content of methanol and other cogeners by nature. That's why you get horrible headaches with it.
My guess is the deaths were not from methanol. Probably in manufacturing as in adding something like ethylene glycol.
The light-ends come off of a still early - around 180 degrees F - and burn your gums quite badly. In a normal 20 gallon run of mash, toss the first pint, or better yet save it for hand sanitizer. By the time the pot reaches 190, the light ends are gone.
Typical light-ends contain some toluene, obviously methanol, and an entire range of cyclic hydrocarbons that really mess with our CNS.
For best results, take the entire first run (minus the light-ends), dilute it with 2:1 mix of distilled water, and run it again for cleanliness and pure flavor.
I don’t quite understand how continuous flow multi-plate stills manage to separate out the light-ends unless they can pull product from the top plates selectively. Just a simple shine enthusiast, not a pro, so fractional distillation is above my pay grade.