Cheaper alternative to vodka for tinctures

[dude1]

It takes a surprisingly large amount of vodka to make tinctures for my Russian Imperial Stouts and vodka is certainly not cheap.

Is there any alternative such as producing cheap booze by fermenting sugar and water in a bucket or using pure ethanol from the Home Depot (!) and solve it with 50% water in case that's not lethal?

Thanks

 

[brewslinger]

Alcohol sold at Home Depot is not drinkable! Please don’t try that!
You can buy vodka pretty cheap around here if you stick with the cheaper varieties. Stay away from brand names and surely the cost isn’t that high. Just fermenting sugar and water is pretty nasty stuff. Used to do that to generate co2 for my aquarium and I tasted it once. You end up with a low alcohol nastiness really. Can’t imagine that would help with making a tincture.

 

[SanPancho]

Everclear. Pure alcohol almost. Dilute it to 80 proof and it’s vodka, more or less.

 

[gunhaus]

Yea, I just saw 1/2 gallons of cheap 80 proof vodka at the grocery store for just over 10 bucks, i am not sure what you could make for less.

 

[MaxStout]

DON'T use the ethanol from home center stores. That is denatured by the addition of methanol, to render it undrinkable.


I don't think you can get much cheaper than this. About $11 for 1.75L.

 

[Calder]

I recently bought some cheap vodka for about $12 for 1.75 liters (half gallon) at the local liquor store. This seems like a pretty good price to me, not sure you can get much cheaper.

I use it for tinctures, and for the airlocks on my Sours.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I bought a giant bottle of sky vodka 20+ yrs ago when i first started brewing and used it for my fermentation locks.
the tag on it says $13
Still got it since it's god awful and nobody ever wanted to drink it. lol.

but there is a sale on a 1.75 liter of Kentucky Bourbon for $15 in the local liqueur store flyer.

 

[Calder]

I bought a giant bottle of sky vodka 20+ yrs ago when i first started brewing and used it for my fermentation locks.
the tag on it says $13
Still got it since it's god awful and nobody ever wanted to drink it. lol.

20 years ago $13 was pretty pricey, even for a large bottle. I'm not a vodka drinker, but I thought Sky was supposed to be a decent Vodka.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

20 years ago $13 was pretty pricey, even for a large bottle. I'm not a vodka drinker, but I thought Sky was supposed to be a decent Vodka.

not a vodka drinker either and I honestly don't remember why I bought it. but it seemed like a good thing to use since I wasn't drinking it.