# Sterilizing water with alcohol **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sterilizing-water-with-alcohol/551276 "2010-08-24T11:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sterilizing-water-with-alcohol/551276/21 "2010-08-25T11:45:16Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Kind of of ends the theory that people used to mix water and wine to make the water safe to drink. Yep, but wine and beer would have been safer to drink than many water sources. The yeast growth suppresses bacterial activity by competition and antimicrobial compounds. When that is not sufficient, the beer/wine spoils and sours, and is not consumed. However, watering beer and wine is not going to make water safe. Si ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sterilizing-water-with-alcohol/551276/22 "2010-08-25T15:07:30Z")
yeasts are sensitive to contamination. the fermentation won’t go forward if other microbes have out competed the yeast which are slower growing. if you have fermentation of a good product then it is likely it hasn’t been contaminated, food useful to other microbes has been used by the yeast, a toxic environment to some microbes has been created. fermented product can still spoil depending on sugar content and later contamination but it does offer significant protection. ---
**Author:** ![Slightly\_mad\_scientist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba8739/32.png) [@Slightly\_mad\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slightly_mad_scientist)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sterilizing-water-with-alcohol/551276/23 "2010-08-25T20:06:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Okay, if you drink 140 proof water, is it really safe to drink, or if you drink 140 proof water, you simply no longer care whether it’s safe or not? If you leave it for a while, all bacteria inside should be dead. It would not necessarily inactivate any toxins the bacteria produced in the meantime, so it could theoretically still be dangerous. Tough I’m not sure how big the danger realistically would be. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sterilizing-water-with-alcohol/551276/24 "2010-08-26T01:35:24Z")
[quote=“si\_blakely, post:8, topic:551276”] > [@Gary\_T](#): > > The risk with high-purity ethanol is overconsumption - people get the math wrong, drink too much and poison themselves (and, sadly, others). So this is not a recommendation to try (I certainly never would), and it is actually difficult to get hold of without added denaturing agents (I’m betting you need a license to order the stuff linked above). This is pretty much untrue. “Grain alcohol” brands like Everclear can be as high as 192 (96%) proof, which is as concentrated as ethanol can get via distillation. Laboratory/denatured stuff is expensive because it’s hard to get that extra 4%, and they need to certify that it’s free of all sorts of other impurities like trace metals etc. “Pure” ethanol is readily available and in fact quite cheap. But I’m at a loss to know why anybody would want to drink it - it’s like shooting a nuclear bomb. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sterilizing-water-with-alcohol/551276/25 "2010-08-26T02:22:18Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > “Pure” ethanol is readily available and in fact quite cheap. But I’m at a loss to know why anybody would want to drink it - it’s like shooting a nuclear bomb. also is not good for soft tissue, sucks the water out of soft tissue on the way down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sterilizing-water-with-alcohol/551276.md?page=1)