Now, best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a solvent, and as a fuel. Ethyl alcohol can cause alcohol intoxication when consumed.It is one of the oldest recreational drugs still used by humans with significant psychoactive effects.
This is going to heat to about 180. The ethyl alcohol will turn into a gas captured down here. This is ice that will cool it back down.
So as we watch, we're going to see a nice cap of carbon dioxide form as this yeast starts to convert the sugar in the honey into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. And that's fermentation in its most basic form.
So we know water, for example, boils at about 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Turns out that ethyl alcohol boils at 173. So if I heat a mixture of ethyl alcohol and water-- if I heat this mixture to about 175, the ethyl alcohol
There's methanol, isopropyl alcohol, butanol, amyl alcohol. But the only one we drink is ethyl alcohol . And yes, it's exactly the same as the ethanol you put in your car.
And that's fermentation in its most basic form. And that is where we get ethyl alcohol . Before we move on, I do want to talk to you quickly about the proof system in the US.
Turns out that ethyl alcohol boils at 173. So if I heat a mixture of ethyl alcohol and water-- if I heat this mixture to about 175, the ethyl alcohol will turn into a gas.
That's one part in every 1,250. If 8/100ths of 1% of your blood is ethyl alcohol , you are too in-- --toxicated. --toxicated to legally drive.
So score one for ethanol, which, as I mentioned, is the alcohol we've been talking about. Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol , is the type of alcohol we drink. Now, there's lots of other alcohols.
Alcohol is what makes whisky whisky. And the alcohol we're talking about is ethyl alcohol or ethanol. It's volatile. All right?
It is made through the fermentation of sugar. That's the only way that we make ethyl alcohol , folks. It's not made in the lab somewhere.
And dripping out of here in just a few minutes will be pure ethyl alcohol . And I'm going to prove that it's pure ethyl alcohol to you. How do you think I'm going to do that?
This then gets put in a barrel. If coming out of this still is 99% ethyl alcohol , there's almost nothing left of the original base
And that gets cut out and thrown away. And then what they call the heart is just ethyl alcohol . That's the good stuff.
It will boil. The water will remain liquid. If I then capture that gas, that ethyl alcohol gas, in something like this and then cool it back down below 173, I've now separated the ethyl alcohol out.
This is ice that will cool it back down. And dripping out of here in just a few minutes will be pure ethyl alcohol . And I'm going to prove that it's pure ethyl alcohol to you.
The more mass you start with, the more energy you get. Well, my equation shows that sugar can be converted into ethyl alcohol . The more sugar you start with, the more alcohol you get.
If I then capture that gas, that ethyl alcohol gas, in something like this and then cool it back down below 173, I've now separated the ethyl alcohol out. And I left back in the pot just the water.
Let's keep an eye on this and see what happens. So to generalize my original statement, sugar plus water plus yeast equals alcohol, or as I like to write it, ethyl alcohol equal sugar plus water plus yeast.
Or we're going to the vinegar maker and, by the way, 99.9%, or maybe it's 80% of that one. 80%, 85% of the people use this vinegar that's on the supermarket shelf that's made from ethyl alcohol . And a little bit of rice, by the way.
How delicious is that? I mean I don't want to eat, drink, or eat ethyl alcohol . And so, these other vinegars are actually made from sake.