Alcohol left in a open container for quite some time

[N0N4M3]

I've been busy at school lately so I totally forgot about my glass carboy in my bedroom
It's a 25l carboy holding about 20 litres of 70% spirit. It's been open for about three months.
I believe it tastes the same as when I left it there, I'm just wondering if any bacteria could come in contact with such high strength alcohol and ruin it or form any undesireable chemicals
I live in a relatively cold climate so there are pretty much no insects here

[Fastill]

Nothing can survive in 70% that can hurt you, but I bet you lost a bunch to the angles. Probabally helpled to smooth out the flavor some also. Airing out is a big deal when it comes to aging and flavoring hooch. Hopefully you didn't kill too many bugs or mice by drownding in alchahol

[N0N4M3]

There has nothing bigger than a bacteria gotten into it, I lit it on fire and it burned so I guess its fine.
I tend to over worry when it comes to my health

[Fastill]

There has nothing bigger than a bacteria gotten into it, I lit it on fire and it burned so I guess its fine.
I tend to over worry when it comes to my health

Yet we drink the equivlent of gasoline!!

[Dnderhead]

very little can survive,bacteria cant some molds/mildew can but takes years to develop.

[Bull Rider]

Take a alcohol reading just for curiosity. I'm wondering how much you lost, if any.


Bull.

[SingaporeSling]

Hopefully no mice got stuck into it.

[N0N4M3]

It had lost 3% from 70%, there was not a big opening on the container which played a part in the lack of evaporation I guess..
I made the same foolish mistake again and left a gallon jug open almost filled up with 50% and noticed two dead flies on the bottom. Should I be worried about that? Something inside me tells me to dump it...

[ozone39]

would you drink it?????? would you eat soup with a dead fly in it???? follow your gut instinct....I would run it in the lawnmower before dumping it....put your shit on a calendar, blackberry or something so you know whats up...

[blanikdog]

I found a drowned rat in a couple of gallons of very nice whisky many years ago. I shit myself, panicked - which I have an unfortunate habit of doing - and dumped the lot. If it happened again I'd run it again - with the rat removed. It's only vapour that we collect and not much of any consequence can survive in boiling 70abv surely.

Maybe if I were many decades younger I would worry about the result, but certainly not now.

My 'advice' is to run it. Wasting good piss in an over-populated world is criminal conduct.

[The Baker]

It had lost 3% from 70%, there was not a big opening on the container which played a part in the lack of evaporation I guess..
I made the same foolish mistake again and left a gallon jug open almost filled up with 50% and noticed two dead flies on the bottom. Should I be worried about that? Something inside me tells me to dump it...

Well, it's too late to worry about the flies, they are dead!

Would I drink the wash with the flies in it??
Probably not.
Would I drink the vodka or whatever after distillation is finished??
Yes, no problem.
If alcohol hand-wash clears my hands of bacteria, I have no doubt the vodka (whatever) would be sterile too.
And if it is the right thing to put worms in tequila..........

[rad14701]

I found a drowned rat in a couple of gallons of very nice whisky many years ago. I shit myself, panicked - which I have an unfortunate habit of doing - and dumped the lot.

Leave it to you, blanikdog, to waste a perfectly good rat...

On a serious note, I've know bars in my area to have strained the fruit flies out of liquor bottles and continued to serve the spirits... The local liquor inspectors would frown upon that just as much as if they were to find them in the bottles...

I don't know about a rat but I'd strain and re-distill if I found any insects in my hooch...

[Bushman]

On a serious note, I've know bars in my area to have strained the fruit flies out of liquor bottles and continued to serve the spirits... The local liquor inspectors would frown upon that just as much as if they were to find them in the bottles...

I don't know about a rat but I'd strain and re-distill if I found any insects in my hooch...

Rad you have made several references in the past to bars in your area and things they have done! Sounds like your bars are in an area we would call Skid Row!
Makes me want to stick to my home made stuff at least I know where it's been.

[rad14701]

On a serious note, I've know bars in my area to have strained the fruit flies out of liquor bottles and continued to serve the spirits... The local liquor inspectors would frown upon that just as much as if they were to find them in the bottles...

I don't know about a rat but I'd strain and re-distill if I found any insects in my hooch...

Rad you have made several references in the past to bars in your area and things they have done! Sounds like your bars are in an area we would call Skid Row!
Makes me want to stick to my home made stuff at least I know where it's been.

I used to frequent all of the bars, from the best to the worst... They all tried to cut corners in an effort to keep their heads above water because of the amount of taxation, etc... The higher class bars cut the most corners because they weren't as busy as the working mans corner bar... If only all those fake snobby customers knew what went on before the doors opened and after they closed...

[Barney Fife]

I'd toss anything that had a critter die in it. Even re-running it through a still won't kill everything. Prion protein, for example, will survive very high temperatures, much higher than our boiling stills reach. I read this some time back regarding mad cow:

One misconception is that some people think if you cook beef that makes it safe. That's absolutely untrue because the prion protein can survive extremely high temperatures, so cooking will not protect anyone from this abnormal prion protein

Now, it's very unlikely that a mad cow infected cow will end up in any of our barrels, but the simple fact that some things can survive very high temperatures and still kill or harm us would keep me from re-running anything with critters, especially something as dirty as a rat, back through my still! It costs us what, $10 to make a gallon of drink; I ain't risking my life for 10 bucks... I take enough risks already

[N0N4M3]

I've had a fly in my soup, I just yanked it out and finished my soup. So that being said I'm not really a sissy...I'm sure it's fine, I'm not drinking it though, I've labeled it clearly and I'll use it if I need to clean something or on a cleaning run on my next still . It's just a few liters and hardly worth the amount I make in a hours work.

[sluggo]

You have a shortage of lids? Try some plastic wrap and a rubber band, at least.

[N0N4M3]

No shortage of lids and I know the awesome powers of plastic wrap, I just had to run away to do some other stuff