can somone please refer me to a good book or source that will help answer these questions. I am planning on distilling for fuel because that is legal with proper liscense. How do I calculate how much wheat or corn that I need for a 50 gal drum to ferment to 15-20%. This is assuming that I have the prpoer yeast that will ferment to that % and can adjust ph and other details. I do not want to do a wash like I would do for beer, I want to ferment in that barrel and distill right out of that barrel. I have build a large enough still to handle this volume but I do not know how to figure out how much grain I need to get the right amount of sugar for my target % alcohol. Thanks for your time in answering my question!

I bet if you dumped 60lbs of sugar and 1 or 2 bags of sweetfeed in there -- add enough heat to melt the sugar and melt all the mollasses on the feed --- it will make ethanol, thats kinda how they did it in the old days. You are still gonna have to still it 4 or 5 times to remove ALL the water before it will run a motor. And if it dont burn in your motor try drinking it and see what cha get.