Hello,
First post and new to the discussion. Just brewed my 4th batch in a 30 gal. water heater, and apparently over filled the reactor. My recipe: 21 gal. WVO, 4.6 gal. methanol, 850 g. KOH. My math gives me about 25.6 gal. biodiesel. Anyway, I overflowed through the top vent and after all was said and done I noticed I still had 1.5 gal. Potassium methoxide left over. I assume this will create an incomplete reaction. Should I remove some of this partially reacted fuel and try to rereact with more K-methoxide. Thanks in advance.
Nick

Hello Nick, welcome to the forum

It would really be handy if you could keep your discussions to metric measurement.

I've had the same problem a time or 2 but my reactions always worked out.

But...did you mix the methoxide into the reactor before heating?

If you are in the middle of this and the oil/methoxide is already heated up, finish it up. You'll probably be OK. If not, post and we'll still get you through to the end.

If you have unheated WVO/methoxide, be very careful heating it. Get some advice from this forum on how to heat it without starting a fire (or worse).

Another thing, many 40 gallon water heaters don't quite hold 40 gallons. You should calibrate your reactor by pouring in liquid and measuring how much you poured in and get a wooden dowel, maybe 3' long, and make notches every 5 gallons and every gallon at the top of the reactor capacity. You need notches instead of marks so the marks don't wash off in the WVO or biodiesel you are measuring.

Hey biofueler,
What did you wind up doing and how did it go?