This 91% Alcohol

2cats

Is it isopropyl alcohol?

Ripnem

Jet fuel? :ohmy:
Be sure and chase it with a little juice :laugh:

Morro Bay Rich

No. It is 91% alcohol (any alcohol) and 9% water.

Buxwheat

The alcohol suggested for use is indeed 91% ISO-propyl alcohol. This stuff does not contain grain/ethanol. Another name for it is rubbing alcohol. You would not want to use 91% ethanol (182 proof). Not that it wouldn't work, but that would be very expensive fuel and a waste of good 'hooch.

Buxwheat

The isopropyl alcohol that is lower concentration (around 70% I think) is not effective for lighting lump. The 91% stuff doesn't cost much more either. I have been using this technique lately and have mixed feelings. It works, but not near as fast as my MAPP torch. The lump I'm currently using snaps and pops a lot! Burnt a small hole in a shirt: a first. Decided to use the alcohol to avoid the pops. About 25 minutes to get a good batch of coals going w/ dome temp 400*. The 91% stuff is available at WalMart, right next to the other stuff.

2cats

Thanks, all. I'm a chemist, and from my perspective methyl doesn't equal ethyl doesn't equal isopropyl, etc. Specifically, I was inquiring with regards to gasket cleaning - not lump starting. But I'm sure it's the same material in both applications. The 91% level in the commercial material is sure to be a processing result, such as from an azeotrope, peculiar to a particular alcohol, like isopropyl. Apparently there is some technical ambiguity concerning "rubbing" alcohol, which can also be a name for ethanol/water blends, even though isopropyl has come to be much more commonly referred to as "rubbing" alcohol.

Rascal

Ditto on all that! My lighting method (MAPP or C3H7OH) depends on what condition my condition is in 8 - ) Here's an interesting video on the latter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWZUrtaEb-U&feature=related

Slotmercenary

yeah what he said,
i use it exclusively lately and have for a while. i use two or three kleenex in a hollow in the lump and soak with the 91. it acts like a wick and doesn't exhibit the "flash" or "whoosh"
i guess if they stop making it i will go back to the 8 cases of solid starter cubes in the shed..........

Rascal

Well, it certainly sounds as though you have the makings for a spectacular 4th!! 8 - )

Buxwheat

Rascal wrote:

what condition my condition is in 8 - )

Kenny Rogers and the First Edition (when they were psychedelic...the Good 'ol Days!)

Rascal

WTF?... 8 - )

Buxwheat

From "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition.

I woke up this morning with the sundown shining in
I found my mind in a brown paper bag within
I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

Yeah, yeah, oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in

I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in
I watched myself crawling out as I was a-crawling in
I got up so tight I couldn't unwind
I saw so much I broke my mind
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

Yeah, yeah, oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in

Someone painted April Fool in big black letters on a Dead End sign
I had my foot on the gas as I left the road and blew out my mind
Eight miles outta Memphis and I got no spare
Eight miles straight up downtown somewhere
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

I said I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
Yeah
yeah
oh-yeah

See the video here: Kenny. I think this was from Ed Sullivan show.
It was also featured in the movie "The Big Lebowski".