Powdered Alcohol

[Dondo .]

If beer or weed isn't your thing, try Palcohol. Discuss amongst yourselves.

[John Hillyer]

Not that I want to snort it, but half a cup per drink seams like a lot of volume:

From their website:

11. Can I snort it? We have seen comments about goofballs wanting to snort it. Don't do it! It is not a responsible or smart way to use the product. To take precautions against this action, we've added volume to the powder so it would take more than a half of a cup of powder to get the equivalent of one drink up your nose. You would feel a lot of pain for very little gain. Just use it the right way.

[Jerry Adams]

Maybe there's a kickstarter campaign : )

(Something tells me this is just a gag)

[rmeurant]

Here in Korea, we have recently developed dehydrated water, which comes in various sized pellets, as well as in a powder. Just add water, and hey presto! Water! Instantly! Anywhere, anytime!

[John Donewar]

;-)” height=”538″ src=”https://dpcr19kltm61a.cloudfront.net/backpackinglight/user_uploads/1398075377_103542.gif” width=”550″ />

http://www.bernardfoods.com/foodservice/beverages/dehydatedwater.htm

It's been available in the U.S. since 1964. LOL

Party On,

Newton ;-)

[Marko Botsaris]

I think it would be a superior product if they had packaged the dehydrated water in a more UL container, but probably they want to market to more stationary disaster victims less concerned with the weight of the packaging. Anyway, personally I make my own dehydrated water at home – it is cheaper, does not have artificial additives, and the packaging is lighter. :-)

Palcohol was mentioned in a brief "dog story" on NPR this morning. This make be think of one review of white chocolate I read a while back – "White chocolate is for people who don't want the experience of taste to interfere with the enjoyment of the texture of chocolate." An analogous thing could be said for Palcohol!

Not sure of the chemistry of this, but they would have to bind the ethanol molecules to some sort of solid granular substrate such as sawdust for this to actually work – unless there was an additive that could bind with the molecule and transform to create something that is a solid. Anyway, 200 proof Everclear is already dehydrated Alcohol.

[Bob Gross]

"Anyway, 200 proof Everclear is already dehydrated Alcohol."

This does not exist.

The 190 proof version is the best that exists, and you can't even purchase it in California. You have to go with the low octane stuff.

–B.G.–

[John Donewar]

"Anyway, 200 proof Everclear is already dehydrated Alcohol."

"This does not exist.

The 190 proof version is the best that exists, and you can't even purchase it in California. You have to go with the low octane stuff."

–B.G.–

Bob,

It's available in Louisiana.

You could move. ;-) LOL

Party On,

Newton ;-)

[Marko Botsaris]

Not a problem if you have a backyard still ;-)

But yeah, I knew that stuff you buy in the stores, especially in CA, is watered down. Lets just say chemical grade %100 ethanol then.

Unless I'm missing something here, the process of "dehydrating" alcohol means ADDING something in addition to subtracting water.

[Gary Dunckel]

Marko, you're missing something here. 100% ethyl alcohol only exists for a very short time. Almost immediately after being created, it imbibes (absorbs) water vapor from the ambient air, to the tune of 5%. So, functionally, the purest form of ethyl alcohol is 95%, which is 190 proof. That's the stuff that John and I can buy, but -B.G.- can't. Unless he moves.

[Marko Botsaris]

Yes, but I think this is entirely besides the point I was trying to make. 200 proof or 190 proof Ethanol is a liquid at room temperature. You can't dehydrate it in the conventional sense.

[Jerry Adams]

Ethyl alcohol is C2H6O with a molar mass of 46

Ethylene is C2H4 with a molar mass of 28

If you could add water to ethylene to make ethyl alcohol, you would have saved 18/46th of the weight

Except, I think you can't just add water and voila – requires chemistry lab, ethylene is gas so you need a tank,…

[Richard Gless]

"Anyway, 200 proof Everclear is already dehydrated Alcohol."

"This does not exist. The 190 proof version is the best that exists, and you can't even purchase it in California. You have to go with the low octane stuff."

Actually 200 proof ethyl alcohol does exist and can be purchased, if you are a chemistry lab and have the appropriate license (even in California). It is 100% ethyl alcohol.

190 proof ethyl alcohol can be either 95% ethyl alcohol with 5% water or "denatured" which means it's 95% ethyl alcohol as well as a total of 5% of water, methanol, and other hydrocarbons. Denatured alcohol is poisonous so you shouldn't drink it. It's for stoves, paint stripping, etc.

If you want 100% ethyl alcohol, make friends with a chemist or chemistry grad student.

[Michael Gunderloy]

A few notes:

1) A little sleuthing turns up one of the label applications at http://www.bevlaw.com/bevlog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/powder.pdf : 58% alcohol by weight, 12% alcohol by volume. So yeah, not gonna be as UL as just taking Everclear.

2) Powdered rum was tried a few years ago. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/powdered_alcohol

3) From the label picture this stuff looks "fluffy". Perhaps if it will keep that fluff in field conditions it could be used as sleeping bag filler and be multi-use…

[Bob Gross]

"Actually 200 proof ethyl alcohol does exist and can be purchased"

Richard, you changed the subject.

There is no 200 proof Everclear.

–B.G.–

[Richard Gless]

Bob,

Sorry. I thought you were equating Everclear with Ethyl alcohol in a generic sense.

Richard

[Bob Gross]

"Sorry. I thought you were equating Everclear with Ethyl alcohol in a generic sense."

No, Everclear is a brand name of the Luxco company. Anything else that is similar is just moonshine.

I had a chem major for a brother, so I knew exactly what could be had from the chem stock room.

–B.G.–

[Anonymous]

"Discuss amongst yourselves."

If these guys manage to stay in business longer than it takes them to exhaust their startup cash, it will have been proven yet again that H. L. Mencken was right when he commented, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the American public".

[Marko Botsaris]

"Except, I think you can't just add water and voila – requires chemistry lab, ethylene is gas so you need a tank,…"

Yeah, maybe there actually is some organic chemistry involved, since if that is in fact how it is done there is a least one covalent bond involved. Which would make me worry more about it, not less. They presumably would have to bind/combine the volatile component to something else to keep it solid. What is that? And then there are possible other extra ingredients like catalysts. Yup, sounds like just the ticket. Yum! :-O

Plus the issue of snorting the reactants could potentially be a lot more than just not being the best way to intake the "alcohol".

By the way Bob, I referred to it as "Everclear" because I always got beat up as a kid if I mentioned chemistry. However I discovered I was inextricably popular with the older kids if I ever mentioned Everclear. This type of habit still gets me in trouble when I play with kids even nerdier than I am.

[Bob Gross]

If you want to refer to 100% ethyl alcohol, then call it "Absolute." Then we know what you mean.

I'm still disgruntled that I can't buy anything steeper than 150 or 151 proof in California. I had my grunt removed.

–B.G.–

[Jerry Adams]

This was just featured on national network news. I won't embarras them by naming them specifically : ) They fell for the scam. Unlike us more clever BPL people.

(acknowledging some slight possibility this will be a real product)

[Jeff Hollis]

I would use grain alchohol to make this and I bet it is lighter than any bottled grain alcohol. http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/how-make-powdered-booze-home

[David Drake]

"I would use grain alchohol to make this and I bet it is lighter than any bottled grain alcohol. "

Um–how closely did you read the recipe?

[Jeff Hollis]

Yep, adding the grain to the powder will equal the weight of the grain plus the powder. I didn't think it through. I guess it only helps if you prefer to snort you alcohol.

[David Drake]

Kids these days, with their e-cigarettes and their snortable alcohol…

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