Posted on 05/13/2020 3:26:34 PM PDT by nickcarraway
At least 60 people have died from bad liquor in three states in the past three weeks
Thirty-four people died after drinking tainted alcohol in Puebla and Morelos on Mother’s Day, local authorities report.
In Chiconcuautla, Puebla, the mayor’s office declared a health emergency and the National Guard was deployed to help identify others who may be showing symptoms of poisoning.
The 20 who have died thus far in the community drank refino, an agave distillate similar to mescal which costs 15 pesos a liter or 5 pesos a glass and may have been tainted with excessive levels of methanol.
Typically used in solvents and antifreeze, methanol can metabolize to formaldehyde and formic acid in the liver and become toxic within a few hours of being ingested.
Symptoms included dizziness, blurred vision or blindness, difficulty breathing, seizures and severe abdominal pain.
The mayor’s office appealed to the public to avoid consuming alcohol, asked those experiencing poisoning symptoms to seek immediate medical attention and announced that a full investigation would be conducted.
Meanwhile, 14 people died in the municipalities of Axochiapan and Jonacatepec, Morelos, after drinking tainted bootleg alcohol, reported Pedro Enrique Clement Gallardo of the state’s Civil Protection agency.
In Telixtac, a small, indigenous community in Axochiapan, authorities closed stores illegally selling the alcohol, despite coronavirus dry laws, and seized 86 liters of what is known locally as cachorro, amargo or damiana after nine people died. Five others died in Jonacatepec where the sale of alcohol was also prohibited due to the pandemic.
Civil Protection warned that the number of poisonings and dead could increase as the investigation continues.
In Jalisco at least 28 people have died since April 26 from drinking El Chorrito, cane alcohol tainted with methanol, and seven have died in Yucatán after drinking bootleg liquor.
I bought the album when it came out in '73. They have a DVD, but the quality is poor. Buy the CD.
The Woodshuck Festival: Three Days of Peace, Love, and Death. Some very funny songs, performed by John Belushi, Christopher Guest, Chevy Chase, etc. back before SNL and all that.
Parodies of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Bob Dylan, John Denver, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, James Taylor, etc.
Basically true if you are running a BIG still. For smaller home rigs a shot glass suffices to take off the methanol. It smells like paint thinner, because it is. Ethanol boils off at ~173.1. Once it starts running your ok. Brandy has a high content of methanol and other cogeners by nature. That's why you get horrible headaches with it.
My guess is the deaths were not from methanol. Probably in manufacturing as in adding something like ethylene glycol.
Only hundredths of a percent, and the good stuff is thousandths of percent.
It’s illegal if over .04%.
The light-ends come off of a still early - around 180 degrees F - and burn your gums quite badly. In a normal 20 gallon run of mash, toss the first pint, or better yet save it for hand sanitizer. By the time the pot reaches 190, the light ends are gone.
Typical light-ends contain some toluene, obviously methanol, and an entire range of cyclic hydrocarbons that really mess with our CNS.
For best results, take the entire first run (minus the light-ends), dilute it with 2:1 mix of distilled water, and run it again for cleanliness and pure flavor.
I don’t quite understand how continuous flow multi-plate stills manage to separate out the light-ends unless they can pull product from the top plates selectively. Just a simple shine enthusiast, not a pro, so fractional distillation is above my pay grade.
I didn’t see an DVD, they must have ceased producing them. Okay so the CD is parody songs. Thanks. 8>)
I bow to your superior knowledge on the subject.
I think Pizza Man, a parody of oldies, is my favorite, although Papa Was A Running Dog Lackey of the Bourgeoisie by the Motown Manifestos is a close second.
Beer and wine do not have the methanol removed. so the concentration of methanol must be OK per the total alcohol. If the distillation process does not concentrate the methanol the drinker is getting the same dose assuming equal alcohol consumed.
Just my thoughts not backed up by research.
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