What kinds of pure alcohol do you have?

First of all… almost all of us know what alcohol is. What about a nice pin of beer, a glass of wine or a nice liqueur? There are several types of alcohol. We mainly talk about alcohol that you can drink and alcohol that you cannot drink. In this blog we tell you all about it.

If we are talking about alcohol that you can drink basically, we are talking about ethyl alcohol, also called ethanol. If you buy this in its purest form, you have ethanol 96%. The chance that you order this at the bar is small. Because it is a tasteless and odorless liquid. And it’s not nice to drink at all. It gives a burning sensation in your throat and there is no taste to it. In addition, it can also be dangerous to drink this. It can damage your esophagus and stomach if you drink too much of it. So be careful.

Getting started with ethanol 96%

You may think to yourself: what exactly do you use ethanol for? You can use this pure form of alcohol to, for example, infuse herbs or when you want to make yourself a nice liqueur. For example, think of limoncello. It’s good that you. Use alcohol that you can actually consume. Did you know that ethanol is also used as a fuel? It is therefore an important alternative to fuel. Provided it is organically sourced. Think, for example, of plant material.

Are you curious about this? This is a recipe for the tastiest homemade limoncello.

Extra neutral alcohol

And then you have extra neutral alcohol. This alcohol is used, for example, to clean your skin when you are pricked. But medical instruments are also cleaned with this. Unlike ethanol, you absolutely cannot drink this alcohol. That’s because this shape is denatured. This makes it dangerous and even poisonous to drink this alcohol.

With this alcohol form you can also remove perfume, glue, fruit or felt pen stains from hard surfaces. For example, think of your dining table or wall. Attacked by your kids with crayons. A well-known type of alcohol-based cleaning agent is methylated spirits. This often cleans the windows. Drinking kills.

Facts about pure alcohol

Although alcohol has been drunk for a long time, just think of the Romans who liked a glass of wine. Yet pure alcohol was not discovered until 1796 by Johann Tobias Lowitz. The first form of pure alcohol was made by activated charcoal. A combination of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen was made. This became the structure for ethanol.

Because ethanol is a universal solvent, you can always mix it with water. But also various organic solvents can be mixed with this pure alcohol form.

Alcohol is a form of fermentation. That is why most beers and wines contain only a few percent alcohol. This is because a certain type of yeast was used. It can also be distilled artificially. Then the alcohol percentage is often higher.