Patent ID: 7572353

Claim:
A method for separating ethanol from ethanol laden beer comprising the steps of: (a) fermenting a mixture of water and milled grain to produce ethanol laden beer, (b) distilling the ethanol-laden beer from step (a) in a beer column maintained at a pressure below atmospheric pressure by a condenser to produce: (i) a vapor primarily including ethanol which is condensed by the condenser into a liquid primarily including ethanol, and, (ii) byproducts including thin stillage, the thin stillage including primarily water, (c) evaporating water from the thin stillage to produce mid stillage and first effect steam, (d) evaporating water from the mid stillage produced in step (c) with heat from the first effect steam produced in step (c) to produce second effect steam and byproducts including a syrup, (e) using the second effect steam produced in step (d) to supply sufficient heat for the distillation step of (b) in said beer column.