can u use heads to make bugspray or fragrances

[Chevystairs]

could you use your heads ( methanal, and other chemicals) to make things that are not ingested, like bug spray, fragrance, or extracting oils? could you boil the methanal out? would it be safe of your skin.

[MooseMan]

I think it would de-fat your skin unless you mixed it with some kind of moisturiser.

[NZChris]

Possibly, but most folks around here are more interested in drinking the good stuff.

Heads make a great fruit fly attractant and some drown themselves in it, if that helps

[zed255]

I give all my foreshots / heads to my wife to use as cleaner. She tells me it removes soap scum really well and she has a few other uses.

I don't think a fragrance would play well because heads don't usually smell neutral or 'clean', but then the carrier is meant to evaporate leaving the oils, so I don't really know.

Also, read about the methanol myth. There's vanishingly little methanol in a typical ferment and therefore in your distilled product. Most people will consume more methanol in a glass of orange juice than anything home distilled.

[Stump Lake]

I've been wondering about this also. I use my foreshots and early heads as cleaner around the shop. It's the best cleaner I've ever used. Even compared to store bought cleaners.

I've been wondering if it could absorb into my skin.

Another use is I give it to my son. He's into 3D printing. He wipes it over his 3D prints and it soothes out the surface and gives it a better appearance.

[still_stirrin]

I've been wondering about this also. I use my foreshots and early heads as cleaner around the shop. It's the best cleaner I've ever used. Even compared to store bought cleaners.

I've been wondering if it could absorb into my skin.

Another use is I give it to my son. He's into 3D printing. He wipes it over his 3D prints and it soothes out the surface and gives it a better appearance.

There are several “solvents” in the heads and foreshots. Those will thin or reduce oils, especially those oils that protect your skin. So, they can and will irritate the skin.

Likewise, the reason that heads “smooth” the surface of 3D printings is again due to the solvents. Just keep that in mind.
ss

[The Baker]

A very well-known and very popular pressurised spray disinfectant
hereabouts has an active ingredient of 60% ethanol.

Geoff

[OlympicMtDoo]

Agreed I use and give it out to family members for cleaner, great stuff for that.

[jonnys_spirit]

I save my fores/heads jug mostly for firestarter but also use to to keep a small bottle in the bathroom for shaving where I'll add several drops of fragrance into the bottle when I top it up. Gives a nice clean shave and smells good - not like heads/likker... Just pour a little into a glass and clean / dip my razor into this mixture when I shave...

Cheers,
jonny

[Renhoekk]

Ethanol for fragrances is sold denatured to keep the tax rate down - however it is essentially food grade ethanol that has been rendered undrinkable. It has minimal discernible smell….basically the opposite of waste product streams from distillation.

So heads for bug spray and soap scum cleaner, yes. Fragrances, no.

[jake_jimmylegs]

I stored up some heads/tails in empty 4 liter / Gal. HDPE molasses jugs. After a few months I ran the 4 gallons through the still and got some of the best likker I ever made. I guess the HDPE must be permeable to the lighter fractions and some of it escapes during storage.

[The Baker]

Hand sanitiser is 70% alcohol (some say 'ethanol') by volume.

Geoff

[Yummyrum]

Heads make a great fruit fly attractant and some drown themselves in it, if that helps

True fact NZChris
Could be a new way to making heads cut

[jedneck]

For shits and giggles i used fruit flies to make cuts before. Every jar that had flies in it was rejected on heads end. Tails was cut on oily film floating. Was damn good bottle o uj

[OldRanch]

could you use your heads ( methanal, and other chemicals) to make things that are not ingested, like bug spray, fragrance, or extracting oils? could you boil the methanal out? would it be safe of your skin.

Look up "concretes" and "absolutes", two different fragrance extraction methods. Those will be a good way to use your heads.

[Demy]

I use them for cleaning (especially glass), I don't think they're good as a perfume because they have a strong smell...better to use a neutral for that.

[Bushman]

There is a thread somewhere that members list uses. Some of them that I remember are:
Fuel for camp stove
Windshield wiper fluid
Weed killer
As NZ stated a cleaner

There were others but this old brain isn’t what it used to be!

[IMALOSERSCUMBAG]

I have been saving my heads for years. I use them to start fires and the grill. I haven't bought lighter fluid in years.