Cou
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if you need ethanol, do you get denatured ethanol, or 190 proof everclear?
Denatured ethanol: Cheaper, but has denaturing agents that participate in reactions
190 proof everclear: More expensive, but much more pure
Which one do you use?
And don't admit to it on the internet, but if someone needs cheap ethanol, it's not really possible for cops to find out if they are distilling
yeast-brewed ethanol inside of their house...
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Ubya
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everclear if i need it as a reagent
denatured alcohol (once distilled to remove the red dye and the denatonium benzoate) if i just need it as a solvent
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feel free to correct my grammar, or any mistakes i make
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draculic acid69
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I think acidifying denatured alcohol and distilling to get rid of the bitterex shit and then refluxing over naoh to destroy any esters and ketones
then distilling again and drying with cuso4.u can probably skip the first step and just do the second step if naoh destroys the bitterex.theres no
everclear here and if there was it's cost as much as gold.
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karlos³
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The denat. ethanol that is usually here(at least that one brand I came to like over the years) is just 1% 2-butanone, 96% ethanol, and a tiny amount
of bitrex.
I treat it with a bit sodium hydroxide and reflux it for an hour, then distill.
So, just like draculic acid does too.
The brand I use is very well suited for this, when I distill slowly it is sufficient to do it once to remove the aldol produced from the 2-butanone
and then it is fine.
Everclear, oh man, likewise to draculic acid here... there is a shelf with polish food and stuff though in the supermarket, and they got a 0,7l bottle
of, I don't know, I think it is really 96% but drinking quality.
Cost, 35 or 40€ for that bottle with alcohol taxes.... the denat ethanol costs 2,70€ in comparison.
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mayko
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We're no longer allowed anything over 151 proof... too many young adults with bad decision-making skills were poisoning themselves. The ABC cashier
looked at me bug-eyed when I asked for 190 a couple years ago.
https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20101130/News/6050...
al-khemie is not a terrorist organization
"Chemicals, chemicals... I need chemicals!" - George Hayduke
"Wubbalubba dub-dub!" - Rick Sanchez
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morganbw
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The 95% everclear is available to me but the tax man does have his hand in it big time.
I have used the everclear but not often. I think that using the denatured and treating it similar to how karlos stated is wiser and much cheaper.
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finetune
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In my area, I have 95%EtOH denaturated with 1%MEK and possibly bitrex (I didn´t taste it) avaliable for 2Eur
To skip the reflux with NaOH, I simply dump a small amount NaOH into the bottle and let it stand for a few weeks at RT. It is important to place the
bottles in a tub or sth similar, as some bottles don´t like the EtOH/NaOH solution as I learned the hard way. A slight decolourization can be
observed and then the solution is distilled to obtain really pure azeotropic EtOH.
I do this in 4L batches about 3-4 times a year, always having sufficient amounts of EtOH avaliable for the costs of about 2.5 Eur/L
[Edited on 15-12-2019 by finetune]
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Pumukli
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You seem to be more successful with this purification than me. Although the fine print on the label of my version of denatured ethanol says 2% MEK and
nothing else as additive, I could never purify this sh*t from the spirit. I tried storing it over NaOH for several months, then refluxing, then
distilling from the lye, it always smelled unpleasant.
How is yours smelling after the distillation?
Could anyone propose a method to determine MEK in the 0-2% range in ethanol? (Besides e.g. GC-MS and other, not particularly amateur friendly
methods.)
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finetune
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The denat. EtOH I do begin with is not the bad smelling variant. They do sell this one aswell in most stores, but I did manage to find one wich
doesn´t have the typical disgusting smell. Here in germany it´s called "AHK Spiritus" made by "Walter Schmidt Chemie". I just looked online and
it´s also sold as "low-odour". On bad batches there is lower than 1% IPA contained.
For EU people:
AHK Spiritus 2,46Eur/L, shipping EU
Edit:When starting with the smelling stuff, I am unable to get rid of the smell aswell.
I didn´t try to distill it from sodium though.
[Edited on 15-12-2019 by finetune]
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G-Coupled
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What's the bad smell characteristic of? What could it be?
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Corrosive Joeseph
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I remember an iodoform test using alkalized tincture of iodine, leading to colour change on a German forum..... Unfortunately, the page no longer
exists or I would link it...... Kinda sucks really, it had some nice photos and everything.
/CJ
Being well adjusted to a sick society is no measure of one's mental health
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Pumukli
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Thanks! I tried something like that, a method to detect acetone (and MEK) in urine, is reportedly sensitive and not too complicated. Problem is the
ethanol! It also got halogenated... In urine (water) the method is reliable. 
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