Does dipping something metal in rubbing alcohol sterilize it?

[danceswithcats]

@Q.E.D.

Try again.

My bad. That should have been CH3CH2OH. :smack:

[KP]

Hey Galt, Love your Gulch. How’s Francesco?

I was just cracking wise. All I meant was that running any good liquor through CuSO4 is likely to wreck it, for reasons unrelated to the removal of water.

To be honest, I’ve always been skeptical of “bruising gin” myself (my drink of choice the year I was 23, until a GF innocently noted that it tasted like Pine Sol ™ --a brief period, true, but if memory serves I knocked back an awful lot of it that year). However, in a few double-blind clinical trials over the years, some of my friends have been able to tell if their gin had been deliberately bruised. I think I’ve tasted a difference myself, on the few times I’ve had gin since the 1980s, but those weren’t double blind, and I don’t consider them a fair test.

My personal curiosity ended once I convinced myself that I preferred martinis stirred not shaken (As silly as it might sound to model a preference after some over-hyped self-parody of a fictional character, I had an odd aversion to that conclusion) Might I suggest that you conduct your own double-blind trial. After all, only two matter when it comes to mixing drinks:

1. knowing -really knowing- what you personally prefer
2. making a guest their drinks as they request them. It’s hospitality, not science.

C’mon, do you want to be one of those obnoxious people who keep slipping Miracle Whip™ into sandwiches on the theory that, since you don’t care which you get, anyone who says they do are faking it? Even if they usually, or always, taste it and complain?

(Someday I’m going to write a paper on that practice. I know a disturbing number of wives -is it always the wives?- who did that to their hubbies for years. All were divorced but one. If you ask me, that’s every bit as vital a topic as any experiment I could add to the literature on antiseptic alcohols.)

[David_Simmons]

@KP

My personal curiosity ended once I convinced myself that I preferred martinis stirred not shaken (As silly as it might sound to model a preference after some over-hyped self-parody of a fictional character, I had an odd aversion to that conclusion) Might I suggest that you conduct your own double-blind trial. After all, only two matter when it comes to mixing drinks:

[joke?]

A traveler who was going to the darkest Amazonian jungle described his list of equipment to a friend. It was complete and had been checked by the most experienced jungle experts.

“You forgot the gin and vermouth,” said the friend.

“What do I need that for?”

“Well, when you are lost and all alone and about to perish take out the gin and vermouth and start mixing. Someone is sure to pop out of the bush and say, ‘That’s not how you make a Martini!’ and you are saved.”[/joke?]

[Snooooopy]

@Q.E.D.

Try again.

For the curious, CH3CH2NH2 appears to be ethylamine. Try not to drink it … or, as we see from the following, shove it in your bunny’s eyes.

• Summary of toxicology

1. Effects on Animals: Ethylamine is an eye, skin, and upper respiratory tract irritant; it also causes kidney, liver, and myocardial damage. The 4-hour LC(50) in rats is 3,000 ppm, and the dermal LD(50) in rabbits is 390 mg/kg [NIOSH 1991]. Rabbits exposed to 100 ppm ethylamine for 7 hours/day, 5 days/week for 6 weeks developed corneal and lung irritation and liver and kidney damage. Rabbits exposed to 50 ppm in the same regimen developed corneal injury after 2 weeks of exposure and showed lung irritation and myocardial degeneration at autopsy [ACGIH 1991]. One drop of a 70-percent solution of ethylamine instilled in the eye of rabbits caused damage rated 9 on scale of 10, with 10 denoting the severest injury [Grant 1986]. Intermittent exposure to 50 ppm ethylamine for 10 days caused severe eye irritation in rabbits [NIOSH 1991]. Direct contact of the skin of guinea pigs with a 70-percent aqueous solution caused necrosis and deep scarring [Hathaway et al. 1991].

2. Effects on Humans: Exposure to ethylamine causes eye, skin, and upper respiratory tract irritation in humans. Workers have reported experiencing temporary blue, hazy vision after exposure to ethylamine; this effect is believed to be related to corneal edema [Grant 1986]. Eye irritation and corneal edema have been reported from occupational exposure [NLM 1992]. Direct contact of the eyes or skin with the liquid may cause permanent eye damage and skin burns. Systemic poisoning is manifested as headache, nausea, faintness, and anxiety [Clayton and Clayton 1982]. Inhalation causes respiratory irritation, coughing, and difficulty breathing [Genium 1993].

[BJMoose]

@KP

. . . a GF innocently noted that it tasted like Pine Sol. . .

So. . .did it ever occur to you to ask her how she knew what Pine Sol tastes like?

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

@galt

Interesting. I’ve always been a little skeptical of the concept of “bruising” gin, but I’ve never heard this explanation before. Can you elaborate on this? If I read you correctly, the gin is bruised by “sucking up” too much water, which the shaking somehow facilitates. Is that right? Can you bruise gin that doesn’t have ice in it (sucking water from the air bubbles that get mixed in), or is the ice necessary?

I’m really curious whether bruising is something that really affects the taste in a noticeable way, or if it just gives people something to be snobby about.

I thought that gin was “bruised” by being aerated when shaken. It’s diluted by being shaken with ice.

[robby]

@danceswithcats

The key to your query lies in the word ‘denatured’ meaning, rendered unfit for drinking without impairing other useful properties.

My comment (not query) had nothing to do with the adjective “denatured.” Instead, I was simply noting that this manufacturer was labeling denatured ethanol as “rubbing alcohol,” as opposed to isopropanol.

Incidentally, according to this MSDS, ethanol is denatured primarily by mixing it with methanol (along with small amounts of ethyl acetate and methyl ethyl ketone).