Yeah sodium, now that's nice to have on hand :)

alistair

On 13-Mar-11, at 4:29 PM, Karl Ploessl wrote:

> Little sodium will make it water free and distillation will give u
> 200% proof.  or you just buy it as we do in the lab :-)
>
> Karl.
>
> On Sunday, March 13, 2011, Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:
>> If boiling, all the ethanol will be gone from the pot if boiled
>> long enough. You are right about the azeotrope, but that is present
>> in the distillate. The remains in the pot will be alc free (pretty
>> well).
>>
>> the problem arises when you want pure alcohol, and due to the water-
>> ethanol azeotrope you can't get better than around 95% alc. by
>> distillation. Unless you add benzene, which forms a higher bp
>> azeotrope with water. Not a good solution for making 100 % alc.
>> that you want to drink though, chances of benzene traces in
>> distillate.
>>
>> That's why 180 proof is as high as you get for drinking.
>>
>> btw, this knowledge gleaned from lab, home, and commercial booze
>> making :)
>>
>>
>> alistair
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 13-Mar-11, at 4:11 PM, Karl Ploessl wrote:
>>
>>
>> Actually it will not boil off. Ethanol and water form an azeotrop,
>> meaning you can't separate by distillation. Before water boils, all
>> azeotrop will be boilded off first (azeotrop is 95.68% EtOH/4.39%
>> water with a boiling point of 78.2 C)
>>
>> Karl
>>
>>
>>