I have access to liquor that is being disposed of from a Bar that has closed. Can this be used as fuel in my alcohol stoves? Of course I would stay away from anything with sugar or flavorings so I am talking about vodka, whiskey, gin, tequila, and rum. I have a pressurized alcohol stove and one non pressurized.
Why? What's the point? Here a gallon of alcohol stove fuel is under 15 bucks. It'll last a long time. The only booze worthwhile as a stove fuel is Everclear; near-pure ethanol. And no point to that, either.
151 Proof Rum might burn OK -- being 75% alcohol. Might be a molasses/sugarcane residue. One ounce of it is Very good with 1/2 oz fresh lime 1/4 oz cinnamon syrup 1/2 oz white grapefruit juice 1-1/2 oz Dark Jamaica rum 1-1/2 oz light Puerto Rican rum 1/2 oz Falernum 1 Tsp Grenadine syrup 2 dashes bitters 6 drops Absinthe 8 oz crushed ice Shaken, not stirred
I remember a ski trip to Austria in the 80-ties..... My friends supply of T-sprit (denatured alcohol) ran out and they used Stroh Rum in their Trangia. It worked but they had to clean the burner after they got home. Stroh 80 is 160 proof (80%) and burns quite well. Stroh There is a few fun ways to redistill the booze to get purer alcohol for the stoves..... /Lars
As pointed out, it depends on the proof. But I would still not put it in a stove I treasure. Cobble together one or two of the many beer/soda can stove designs, and use that to see if you like the result. Most of the designs are easy to make and surprisingly good burners and they will work with Trangia or Trangia-wannabe kits.
All of those liquors are 80 proof which means 40% ethanol and 60% water. Not a good stove fuel. However, you can use these liquors as feed stock and distill it further using an adjustable electric still. This will remove all the sugar and impurities and you'll end up with 190 proof or 95% ethanol which is a splendid fuel. A friend of mine grows grapes and makes wine. He had 5 cases of wine that was not drinkable so I took them and ran them through a still like this. It took a while to distill all that wine but I ended up with several mason jars of clear ethanol which he used to fortify some good wine to make port. Ben