What kind of alcohol is this

Bacardi 151 should be 75% EtOH so it would work appropriately. As far as the "denatured" products go, technically they should only be used on surfaces since the methanol is toxic and not FDA approved. I personally would not be concerned about limited use of a small amount of methanol on my skin.
RWM
 
Here in Downunder we have different laws than in USA. I can buy In the supermarket, hardware shop and paint shop. 1L bottles of Methylated spirits, we call it Metho, and it says on the label "Not less than 95% Ethanol" so I guess the rest must be Methanol. I have used some to make sanitizer by using 70% mixed with 30% Aloe Vera Gel, seams to work OK, doesn't leave the skin dry, like straight metho does. The mix should be about 66% ethanol. Many of the commercial sanitisers claim to be 65%, some 70%, but they are all out of stock now.
 
I made a batch using 75% Denatured Alcohol and 25% Glycerin. Leave the hands a little greasy but otherwise is fine.
 
Aukai said:
I have a gallon of Klean strip denatured alcohol. Since there is a run on hand sanitizer now,and this can be mixed with alovera gel. What would the alcohol percentage be for this type of mixture in the gallon? 60-70% is needed for the hand sanitizer. I'm having difficulty figuring out, here is the MSDS.

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The name "Denatured Alcohol" means ethanol adulterated with methanol (aka wood alcohol), to make it not fit to drink, the intention originally being that ethanol as an industrial solvent that evaporated completely was just so useful, and cheap from industrial sources other than brewing, and associated tax arrangements. Perhaps the authorities expected the troops would take a tipple.

You can't distill it back to booze
Methanol CH3-OH, one carbon is very similar to ethanol C2H5-OH, the two-carbon booze alcohol. Together, they form a "constant boiling point mixture". All you get is distilled pure mixture, perhaps with the color left behind. It won't separate.

Mostly purple - but can be clear.
Colored violet or purple except special sorts used in critical cleaning and some cosmetics. To let you know it is poison! Some will drink it anyway.

In bad taste!
The most bitter foulest tasting stuff that could be found is added. 10ppm is unbearably bitter to nearly all.
N-Benzyl-2-(2,6-dimethylanilino)-N,N-diethyl-2-oxoethan-1-aminium benzoate.
They call it "denatonium benzoate", a faked up name as if it was an element.
Used to deter nail-biting.

The actual stuff in it varies widely. Other solvents may be in the mix, like IPA, and methyl ethyl keytone. In USA, maybe up to 50% may be various stuff other than ethanol.

As a hand sanitizer.
Unlike proper hand sanitizer, the stuff does not have the added oils and moisturizers. IPA beyond about 70% will work as a hand sanitizer - but so will plain old soap. COVID-19 outer wall layer is like a grease that dissolves away in alkali, soaps, etc. and the virus collapses. There are some distillates from the Deep South, and no doubt other concoctions that are flammable, and will work.

About 2/3 down the page of a UK regulatory document gives the denatured alcohol recipe --> HERE LINK

I can attest that drinking the mixture of ethanol, IPA, methanol and about 10% water was a bad experience!
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/food-and-drink-in-the-work-area-ipa-ethanol-methanol.82740/
 
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Back in my wasted youth I worked in biological research. We had 2 grades of denatured alcohol, 3A had methanol, 2B had benzene (probably no longer used). Both were carefully controlled, you had to sign a log book and account for what you used. By contrast, we had analytical grade ethanol (99.99?%), called Gold Shield. It came in a pint bottle with the federal tax stamp over the cap. It was freely available from chemical stores with no accounting. The tax had been paid so the feds didn't care what you did with it. Made some killer screwdrivers.
 
MrWhoopee said:
Back in my wasted youth I worked in biological research. We had 2 grades of denatured alcohol, 3A had methanol, 2B had benzene (probably no longer used). Both were carefully controlled, you had to sign a log book and account for what you used. By contrast, we had analytical grade ethanol (99.99?%), called Gold Shield. It came in a pint bottle with the federal tax stamp over the cap. It was freely available from chemical stores with no accounting. The tax had been paid so the feds didn't care what you did with it. Made some killer screwdrivers.
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MrWhoopee, did a little kidney research myself, back in the day. We had a holiday party one year where we poured orange juice, champagne, vodka, dry ice and laboratory grade alcohol into a large crock. We called it kidney punch. We served it with urinals into specimen cups. People enjoyed it quite a bit. The Chairman, who was pretty well respected scientist, got smashed and for some unknown reason walked over to me while I was talking to several nice young ladies and unzipped my fly. I dated one for a while. We only had one party like that.
 
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You all probably know this but as long as you have access to soap and water there's no need for hand sanitizer. I've often wondered why the stuff was so popular, even before this outbreak. Almost any place where I need clean hands there's a sink available with hand soap, I got serious about making sure my hands were clean when I started cooking for our family ~20 years ago. Never made anybody sick AFAIK.

Cheers,

John
 
Working on the ambulance, and getting back in the rig after de gloving I like to "make sure". I came out of retirement, and I'm temp screening flight crews now for the bug. We're using mostly paper hand wipe style now. Flights from the mainland to here today were 7 total. 3 empty, 1 diverted, and 4 others with a total of 10 pax. The private jet that landed from Idaho had 11 souls on board, and 2 crew.
 
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