Making vinegar with pharmacy alcohol

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

gatewood

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Messages
53
Reaction score
3
Pretty self explanatory, is that possible?

P.D: i dont intend on drinking it or using it on food.
 
By "pharmacy alcohol" do you mean methylated spirits? Do acetobacter survive in that poison? (not a rhetorical question but it I thought that vinegar was made from the interaction of actobacter with ethanol (not methanol and other poisons) in the presence of oxygen).
However, the answer to your question is simply answered. Get a mother (of vinegar) and add some to methylated spirits and see whether the mother survives. After a month or two, if it survives you will get your answer...
 
By "pharmacy alcohol" do you mean methylated spirits? Do acetobacter survive in that poison? (not a rhetorical question but it I thought that vinegar was made from the interaction of actobacter with ethanol (not methanol and other poisons) in the presence of oxygen).
Ok, that gives me all the knowledge I wanted.
However, the answer to your question is simply answered. Get a mother (of vinegar) and add some to methylated spirits and see whether the mother survives. After a month or two, if it survives you will get your answer...
I'm already trying that
 
By "pharmacy alcohol" do you mean methylated spirits?

or isopropyl? i would imagine to get the cheapest vinegar, buy some sugar, a pack of turbo yeast, and hope the turbo pack will feed the mother....and acetobacter need oxygen, so leave the fermenter breathing space....
 
Curious- i thought the acetobacters turned sugars into acetic. Alcohol from pharmacy shouldn’t have any.

is that even possible? My Ochem is pretty old but i dont recall alcohol being a stock for vinegar/acetic. Gotta be sugars as i recall. No?
 
Well there you go.

So back to bernard question- what type of alcohol is “pharmacy” and will that work? As the man says, one easy way to find out...

so just out of curiosity @gatewood if you’re not gonna eat or drink it, whats the purpose?
 
Well there you go.

So back to bernard question- what type of alcohol is “pharmacy” and will that work? As the man says, one easy way to find out...

so just out of curiosity @gatewood if you’re not gonna eat or drink it, whats the purpose?

making acetic acid
 
Only ethanol will work to make vinegar via acetobacter. You might find ethanol at the drug store but it will be denatured (rendered un consumable) do not use that to make vinegar either. If you must start with a high proof ethanol source, use cheap vodka and dilute with water to ~6% or it will kill your mother. Cheapest and best way to do it though is start with wine or ferment your own alcohol using apple cider or even a cheap sugar wash.
 
For the record, the experiment is complete and, as can be expected, no acetic acid was produced. However, of note, some mother of vinegar actually managed to survive even with concentrations of up to 30-40% of methylated spirits.
 
For the record, the experiment is complete and, as can be expected, no acetic acid was produced. However, of note, some mother of vinegar actually managed to survive even with concentrations of up to 30-40% of methylated spirits.

Be careful with that methylated spirits the methanol content in there is quite dangerous to your health.
 
For the record, the experiment is complete and, as can be expected, no acetic acid was produced. However, of note, some mother of vinegar actually managed to survive even with concentrations of up to 30-40% of methylated spirits.

that would be odd, i'd guess acetobacter need nutes like yeast do.....
 
that would be odd, i'd guess acetobacter need nutes like yeast do.....
It didnt grow any of course, I guess most of the acetobacter was killed, but some were shielded by their fallen comrades
 
Last edited:
Back
Top