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Hey,
Is laboratorial ethanol (100 %) is safe to drink?
Thank you!

eaea3013 wrote:Hey,
Is laboratorial ethanol (100 %) is safe to drink?
Thank you!

Seeings how you can't get 100% ethanol. That would mean there is something added to it to dry the water out. So that it can be 100% ethanol. What was added?

Even if no other chemicals were added to it wouldn't be safe to drink without being proofed down to an except able level

Theoretically, if you had a bottle of 100% ethanol and left it open it would absorb 3.5% of its volume in H2O from the atmosphere, increasing the total volume by that same 3.5%... That means 1000ml of 100% ethanol would end up being ~1035ml of ~96.5 ethanol... Atmospheric pressure and temperature would play into the mix which is why there could be minor variations in volume and %ABV...

As for being drinkable, that would depend... Is it pure or denatured...??? At any rate it would need to be diluted to drinking strength...

diluted down to 35-40% it makes an very good neutral

1bottler wrote:diluted down to 35-40% it makes an very good neutral

You should have added a disclaimer to this.

Disclaimer:
If it is fact pure ethanol. With nothing added to it.

Making a generic statement like this. Could get someone hurt.

Forgot to mention earlier that you should stop by the welcome center for a proper introduction.

Read the jug an don't assume if you ain't got the
jug leave it the hell alone.


So I'm Tole

The government requires ethanol alcohol to be denatured (basically poisoned) if there is any way it could be obtained and used in a beverage. I don't know how you would obtain pure laboratory grade ethanol that is not denatured and I don't want to know but I would be shocked if it wasn't denatured.

http://www.ttb.gov/industrial/sda.shtml

The other side of the coin is why? Laboratory grade ethanol is not going to be superior than distilling your own azotype ethanol. Anything made in a lab is not going to focus on flavor. There is not much flavor in 95 but there is flavor. Take a sniff of all bran produced 95 and then a sniff of Everclear. I know which one I would dilute and enjoy

Back in my lab tech days when I was in the military - we would put in an order every 3 or 4 months for a bottle of ethanol. It was pure - not denatured because it was required in certain extractions that we did. We would make sure to put enough aside so that at Christmas we could could each take a bottle home to make our liqueurs. Perfectly good stuff!

PP,

thanks for the 'disclaimer.
my apologies everyone, being associated with the wine industry I was talking ethanol as used for fortifying and sterilizing.

I once new a guy who worked in a hospital and he used to bring a Nitrous Oxide bottle to parties. They'd seal up the room with towels and crack it open just for a laugh.

"They'd seal up the room with towels and crack it open," oh my, this will be good...

Let's see how do I subscribe to a thread and wait for replies...

Prairiepiss wrote:

eaea3013 wrote:Hey,
Is laboratorial ethanol (100 %) is safe to drink?
Thank you!

Seeings how you can't get 100% ethanol. That would mean there is something added to it to dry the water out. So that it can be 100% ethanol. What was added?

I've heard they use benzene. Nasty stuff.

Non-denatured 100% pure ethanol (actually over 99.5%+) does exist for laboratory use. Some experiments require pure ethanol with no denaturing. However it's expensive because it's not collected through distillation. You also need a special permit (or to pay the federal tax) and be able to prove you're a laboratory to buy it. Here is one example: https://us.vwr.com/store/catalog/produc ... id=8920900

Since most things that require alcohol don't need it to be pure ethanol (just a functional equivalent) most laboratory alcohol (even labeled 100%) IS denatured, usually with another alcohol like methanol or isopropanol. It's way cheaper and easier to get. This FAQ from Fisher Scientific gives a pretty good explanation of laboratory alcohols: http://www.fishersci.com/ecomm/servlet/ ... difference

An aquaintence worked at an "ocean o' graphical" institute where they got pure (ie not denatured) ethanol with the water factor being pure distilled h2o. They needed it for preservation of organic substances. It came in 55 gallon drums. Yow! When drums got down to little more than a gallon or two, it was 'empty' and they rotated who got to take the barrel home. The barrels could not be reused. I never imbibed of it, the drums were lined with some straw colored plastic material, prolly ok, but, not for me.

you could probably drink it straight at 100% or 96% ... it will go down yer gullet easy enough ... now, your mouth will probably go numb, your throat will burn, and if you have not just immediately chugged water or mix before the drink, your stomach will revolt.

Now, watered or mixed down, your ethanol is probably fine ... I keep mine at 80% and instead of adding 100ml to a can of coke, I add it to 2 cans of coke. point is the initial proof is irrelevant if you are mixing it properly. Shooting it straight is just goofy (ok, a small little sip to say you tried it is probably fine ... )

Doogie wrote:you could probably drink it straight at 100% or 96% ...

Where is Rad?...

Think of it like a sunburn. You might get one everyday of your life and be fine. Or your first one could cause skin cancer.

You might take your first shot of pure ethanol and enjoy a diagnosis of esophageal cancer shortly afterwards...

Sorry, were is your proof that doing this causes cancer? Does this mean that everyone here that has taken a quick taste off the still to determine the production stage is going to get cancer? Heck, I collect hearts starting at 85% - does this mean when I rub a bit on my tongue to get a sense of when the heads are done - and maybe I do this about 5 times - does that mean my tongue is going to get cancer? Will it fall off? Will I talk all weird like and will my wife leave me because my tongue disappeared (or will she stay when it grows in size?) :O

Or are you just guessing and spouting it like it is a fact ??

As the rest of my statement indicated (and the part you conveniently removed) was that it would numb yer mouth, burn yer throat and hurt yer stomach. No difference watering it down with mix or water ... adjust ratios accordingly

The issue with high proof alcohol is that it dries and damages the throat and stomach tissue which can cause bleeding, further deterioration and, yes, even cancer... Perhaps not from the first ingestion, but permanent damage is a possibility from the first ingestion... Drinking high proof spirits is about as safe as drinking sulfuric or hydrochloric acid... Just don't do it...!!! I've had far too many friends drink themselves to death over the years so safety is big with me... I drink responsibly at home these days because all of my bar drinking buddies are dead or dying...

Nuff Said...!!!