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Thread: Alcohol Content for Brands of Denatured Alcohol

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Virginia had Everclear until 9/11. A cousin used to tell of his fraternity useing it in their party punch which was always mixed in a new plastic garbage can...much better than having to wash the old one.
    Me thinks just because they used it at the fraternity doesn't mean Virginia allowed its over the counter sales. It is just too easy to cross state lines to have that stop a determined frat house.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #17
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    If you want Ethanol without water, look for anhydrous ethanol (or anhydrous ethyl alcohol). It will be more expensive, since water and ethanol form an azeotrope which means you can't get purer than about 95% by weight by distillation. That is why ever clear is 190 proof. As Joel indicated you can use molecular sieves to dry it or use a co solvent to try to get the water out. But as soon as you open the container it will be absorbing moisture from the air.

    John

  3. #18
    ...But as soon as you open the container it will be absorbing moisture from the air.

    Anhydrous Ethanol requires specialized storage beyond the resources of most households.

    95% ethanol, which is about equilibrium in my plant, is fine. The presence of the water doesn't make a practical difference in any application I have found from solubility with different oils, solvents, or shellac.

    It is hard to know what you are getting if you by generic DNA. If you ask for the "SD" number, the Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau has charts that'll convert the "SD" number to a formula. In practicality, almost all of them will be similarly compatible with shellac. You won't notice the difference. But if you are concerned with dealing with phthalates, or methanol or other items, then you should know your SD number. FWIW, anyone selling it is supposed to be licensed for particular formulas of it.

  4. #19
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    Have you seen the recent commercial about whiskey(I forget the brand) that mentions "The Angels'Cut" and "The Devil's Cut"(or,the whiskey that penetrates the wooden barrel?). They advertise selling "The Devil's Cut",which is the whiskey that had penetrated into the wooden barrel.

    I don't understand this at all. Our coopers said that coopers would sometimes put some hot water into an empty barrel and roll the barrel (Is that where the old song "Roll Out the Barrel" came from)? but,this was dangerous to drink because it had wood alcohol in it. Of course,alcoholics didn't pay much attention to what was good for them!

    So,how can they advertise selling whiskey that had soaked into the wooden barrel? How is it not poisonous?

  5. #20
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    Soaking ethanol into wood doesn't make wood alcohol (methanol). If the coopers were telling you that I think they wanted it all to themselves.

  6. #21
    Soaking ethanol in wood extracts flavor and odor compounds from the wood. Alcohol is a pretty good solvent for this. It is also used to make vanilla extract.

  7. #22
    ...aka whiskey!

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    Have you seen the recent commercial about whiskey(I forget the brand) that mentions "The Angels'Cut" and "The Devil's Cut"(or,the whiskey that penetrates the wooden barrel?). They advertise selling "The Devil's Cut",which is the whiskey that had penetrated into the wooden barrel.

    I don't understand this at all. Our coopers said that coopers would sometimes put some hot water into an empty barrel and roll the barrel (Is that where the old song "Roll Out the Barrel" came from)? but,this was dangerous to drink because it had wood alcohol in it. Of course,alcoholics didn't pay much attention to what was good for them!

    So,how can they advertise selling whiskey that had soaked into the wooden barrel? How is it not poisonous?
    Jim Beam.

    If you read their ad copy closely they're playing some interesting games with wording. They talk about extracting "liquid" from the barrel, but are very vague about just what part of the Bourbon they're recovering and what percentage of the final product is extracted. If there were an issue with wood fermentation (I don't know) then it looks to me like they could remove the alcohol (both kinds) from the barrel extract without having a truth-in-advertising issue.
    Last edited by Patrick Chase; 03-14-2016 at 12:58 PM.

  9. #24
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    The coopers were in Williamsburg by the time they related the story. No empty whiskey barrels here to roll about! In England they had worked at a brewery. They worked in a small shack WITH NO WINDOWS by CANDLE LIGHT! (How inefficient could they be? ) They had to make 2 casks a day to support themselves. In Williamsburg,they took MUCH longer than that!

  10. #25
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    My understanding is that they're washing the inside of the barrels with water then using that water to cut the whiskey from cask strength down to their typical strength.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  11. #26
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    Next thread: What is the average alcohol content of people who post in Neanderthal Haven?

    But seriously, much was learned in this thread regarding alcohol content. I guess now I also know why I can never find 100%. I thought they were either being cheap, or tryin to keep the flashpoint to shipable levels.

  12. #27
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    Similar threads can be found on YouTube regarding fuels for alcohol-burning backpacking stoves...ranging from rubbing alcohol to Everclear and lab-grade alcohols, both ethanol and methanol, down to energy content and cost per ounce. We are not alone in attention to minutiae.

  13. #28
    With our products even 5 pct ethanol in a product can cause it to become hazmat flammable.

  14. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    My understanding is that they're washing the inside of the barrels with water then using that water to cut the whiskey from cask strength down to their typical strength.
    Yeah, that's what I sort of suspected based on their wording. It's "cut" all right :-).

    One of the downsides of having spent a career designing products is that I have a deep appreciation for hinky ad copy...
    Last edited by Patrick Chase; 03-14-2016 at 3:47 PM.

  15. #30
    If anyone is interested, and as I recently posted on another thread:

    While you can't get everclear in about 15 states, not even delivered from the internet, you CAN get Graves 190 proof grain alcohol, which is of course the same thing. (Foolish lawmakers.... )

    I just ordered some from "International Wine Shop."
    Two 1 liter bottles (I couldn't find the 2 liter bottle anywhere) delivered to NY State for $94, all-in.
    That's not too bad, considering how long it will last me.

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