Methanol poisoning

[Colin7]

Hey there. Anyone see in the news about the methanol poisoning in Laos? What's going on there? How are they distilling so badly?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c245243m3m9o

Colin

[Saltbush Bill]

Methanol added after distillation is the answer, as it has been in almost every know case for years.

[Colin7]

I'm fairly new to this, but why the hell would you add methanol? Even if it was cheap, surely the dangers are just too great. Where do you even get this super cheap methanol to add?

[Colin7]

OK I just googled it. You can shit tones of methanol for dirt cheap. But jesus, so stupid man

[Yummyrum]

Yes it’s a fucked up thing , but as Salty said , adding Methanol to make a quick buck has always been the reason folk have died from Methanol poisoning .

It’s these dumb fucks that give this hobby a bad name . Sorry . Gets my blood boiling .

Home distilling does not result in or cause methanol poisoning . Dick heads deliberately adding it does .
We don’t do that .

I feel for the parents of those innocent kids .
I hope they arrest those that did this and make them pay .

[Bolverk]

Bad players throughout history have adulterated spirits... look at the whiskey trust adding gns to whiskey to cut a quality product into a higher volume of ok product, or the bad guys adding shit like copper sulfates to make absinthe green.

Crazy what people will do to turn a profit...

[Forest Beekeeper]

Since prohibition ended many bottlers have been re-introducing their cuts, calling it 'blending'.

Many bottlers promote 'blending' as a method of gaining more flavor.

It causes the hangovers.

[Saltbush Bill]

Related Links
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More out there if you look around.

[seamusm53]

Fermentation of grain does not result in methanol. Fermentation of fruit especially skins produces small and measurable amounts but not toxic amounts. Distillation cannot separate ethanol from methanol to any appreciable degree but methanol is not the reason that poor cuts, foreshots, or 'blending' results in headaches. Methanol poisoning is ALWAYS due to deliberate addition of methanol to liquor. It is cheap and usually done to save a buck in a public bar environment. Other than leaving dead or blind customers, it isn't detectable by smell or taste as a warning when drinking. Most reports of this occur in the the third world but it happened in Mexico several years back.

[Forest Beekeeper]

I read a book on the history of distilling. They said that during prohibition Federal agents when they raided a still with a separate drum of foreshots, they would mix the foreshots into the barrels of whiskey, and otherwise leave the premises as is. In the weeks that followed, with every report of a 'bad whiskey' death, the feds would make a press release to say that it was due to illiterate bootleggers not knowing what they were doing and making poison by mistake.

It was done to convince the public that bootleg whiskey was poisonous.

[samwell]

I read a book on the history of distilling. They said that during prohibition Federal agents when they raided a still with a separate drum of foreshots, they would mix the foreshots into the barrels of whiskey, and otherwise leave the premises as is. In the weeks that followed, with every report of a 'bad whiskey' death, the feds would make a press release to say that it was due to illiterate bootleggers not knowing what they were doing and making poison by mistake.

It was done to convince the public that bootleg whiskey was poisonous.

To my understanding, during the prohibition, the government created denatured alcohol (alcohol with poison) with the intention of poisoning people and curbing alcohol consumption as they knew people would use the alcohol for drinking purposes. From the web pages I've read and book I was reading on the history of distilling, it always has been the interference of government bodies and greedy fucks that gave distilling a bad name and where this concept of moonshine/home distilled alcohol making you go blind and killing you came from. I think most of the fear that surrounds our hobby is caused by old stories, scum who add methanol after the fact, the government, and fear mongering.

To me, this hobby should be no different than homebrewing. It takes a certain level of skill to make a good beer... As it does with distilling a good spirit.

[NorthWoodsAb]

Quote from the article.
"but news reports and testimonies online from other tourists suggest they may have consumed drinks laced with methanol, "

Laced indicates that someone intentionally added the methanol to "good" spirits creating a deadly cocktail.

As others have stated it used to be common practice, from government representatives and unethical bootleggers, which was used to ban "moonshining" / home distilling. The smear campaigne was so effective almost 100 years ago that the majority of the population still believe that methanol poisooning is a real hazard to this present day.

Very unfortunate that these people were poisoned and died. There are a lot of unscrupulous people in this world.

[samwell]

The smear campaigne was so effective almost 100 years ago that the majority of the population still believe that methanol poisooning is a real hazard to this present day.

Well said, North.

[Jabman]

Hey there. Anyone see in the news about the methanol poisoning in Laos? What's going on there? How are they distilling so badly?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c245243m3m9o

Colin

Came here to look same info, IMO, guessing that the methanol is cheap there and any one can buy it and mix it or serve directly. Education is not greatest in that area, so maybe someone stupid thought that this is good idea.

Its nothing to do with distilling! (home products) How many things have to go wrong that with home fermentation create much methanol (deadly amount) at first place? Really want to know about this, because russia has same news time to time.

But anyway, there is always methanol present, even commercial booze have methanol, you cannot fully remove it, at least not for cheap. The cheaper the booze, more sure it has crap on it too. Drinking for a while now shop booze, not home made, but quality vodka, and I dont really remember when I had really bad hangover or even hangover at all. Also my own booze, great stuff, no hangover.

Oh, here where I live private person is hard to get methanol, they stopped using it even in windshield washer fluid, bc of misuse.