I was able to snag a few bottles of “Corn Huskers Lotion.” If you don’t already know, Corn Huskers Lotion is a “moisturizer” of sorts that’s been around for about 100 years. The first three ingredients are water, glycerin and alcohol. I figured I’d be able to blend it with additional alcohol but it really doesn’t want to mix no matter how vigorously it is shaken (even after sitting for 24 hours). Instead it’s like oil and water. Why? There’s already alcohol in there.
Ok, first of all I am not a chemist, but I believe that when you add the alcohol you are changing the ph of the solution. The ph is being raised and the emulsion is broken.
But the lotion already contains alcohol. And many commercial hand sanitizers are mostly glycerin and alcohol.
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I’m definitely not a chemist either, but it seems to me that you’ll need to add an emulsifier. I’d bet that lotion doesn’t separate prior to adding extra alcohol.
Doesn’t it stand to reason that the emulsified lotion is saturated (or nearly so) prior to your spiking it? If so, you may be exceeding the capacity of the emulsifier to incorporate alcohol.
In other words, you might look at adding more glycerin (or another emulsifier) to your spiked lotion.
But the lotion already contains alcohol. And many commercial hand sanitizers are mostly glycerin and alcohol.
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Why not just shake it up really well before you use it each time?
“I have a finished cake. I feel it’s not dense enough, so I dumped a bag of flour on top of it. For some reason, the flour doesn’t want to incorporate into the cake. But it’s already got flour in it, so what’s the problem?!”
You are missing the point. If you are baking a cake and want more cake you just can’t add more flour and get a bigger cake. You need more of everything to keep the ratios the same.
The hand sanitizer you are trying to make is not in the proper ratios if you only adding one of the ingredients.
I blend a lot of alcohol (mainly with cream). The pH is extremely important and just because you are just adding more of ingredients that are already present doesn’t mean you aren’t destroying carefully balanced rations. Think of it like making pancakes you take 2 cups of mix and add 2 cups of buttermilk if you then add 2 more cups of mix even though its already in there you’re screwing up your pancakes.
I am. Kinda works.
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I get it. Makes sense. Thanks.
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You could leave them in 2 parts and combine them during use.
Now flour and alcohol are going to be forever linked in my mind thanks to this thread.
A stack of hand sanitizer pancakes and a case of Corona.
Breakfast of [DEL][COLOR=“Black”]Champions[/DEL][/COLOR] Contagious.
CMC fnord!
Alcohols don’t typically disassociate in water, so their pH is neutral. Adding alcohol should therefore not change the pH.
Cite. 
I’m also not a chemist, but if you add a neutral (pH=7) liquid to something with a non-neutral pH, won’t that bring the pH of the solution closer to 7? Which is a change.
Man, that just isn’t true. Most distilled spirits have a low pH.
That’s your cite? :rolleyes: An article on the pH of vodka? Vodka is only acidic because manufacturers add citric acid to it. Also, vodka is not actually pure ethanol and water. There are other byproducts of the fermentation, distillation, and filtering process.
Sidebar: I also note that your cite is full of numerous other inaccuracies, such as its reference to neutralizing vodka “with water or fruit juice with a neutral or alkaline pH [that] can reduce its acidity.” Please show me a fruit juice with an alkaline pH. Good luck with that.
Your cite goes on to state that this “reduces the likelihood of metabolic acidosis, or the buildup of lactic acid, which can lead to rosacea, body fat, tooth plaque and artery plaque, or cholesterol.” This is a bunch of pseudoscience at best.
Your cite then brings up blood pH, which is even less related to the pH of what you are drinking.
Actual data on the pH of ethanol:
There are a couple of things to note about this. First off, a non-chemist would never encounter 100% ethanol. You would instead be dealing with a solution of ethanol in water (i.e. an aqueous solution). Because ethanol is a weaker acid (or base) than water itself, the pH of an aqueous solution of ethanol is very nearly neutral.
In any event, the OP is more likely referring to rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol).
Again, because isopropyl alcohol is a weaker acid than water itself, the pH of a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water is is very nearly neutral.
https://www.columbuschemical.com/MSDS/287500.pdf
The pH of pure isopropyl alcohol would be slightly acidic, but this is also not anything that would ever be encountered by a non-chemist. The rubbing alcohol sold in drugstores is either a 70% solution in water (i.e. an aqueous solution) or a 91% solution.
Not necessarily.
As I stated above, most alcohols are very weak acids (or bases), even weaker than water itself, and so do not really affect the pH of an aqueous solution. Another way of stating this is that alcohols do not disassociate in water to any great extent.
Upon reviewing my earlier post, I don’t believe it’s actually correct to refer to the pH of pure ethanol (or isopropyl alcohol), since pH (by definition) is only defined in an aqueous solution.
With that said, the major point still stands. While alcohols are miscible in water, they do not readily dissociate in water, so solutions of alcohol in water would have a neutral pH.