Methylated spirit dye

[skate]

Just bought some meths from B&Q for my stove and was surprised to see the different shades of purple in the various bottles. Ranged from almost clear to a very strong purple. Is there any diffrence in the quality of the meths? Ended up buying the purplest as it is easier to see.

 

[soulstar1963]

ive always just grabbed the two closest and i cant say ive ever noticed any difference

 

[Paganwolf]

Nope as far as i know its just a purple dye and i think its called "Bitrex"(Sp) thats in it to stop people drinking it, now you have to pass it through a couple of coffee filters a few times to remove it then mix it with orange juice as you cant get rid of the taste, err if your that hard up fro alchohol so a local tramp told me of course......... In Sweden its clear BTW......

 

[ged]

Just bought some meths from B&Q for my stove and was surprised to see the different shades of purple in the various bottles. Ranged from almost clear to a very strong purple. Is there any diffrence in the quality of the meths?

Probably no difference because of the dye. Dyes often fade in sunlight, so the paler might be older. Or it might just be a different batch. The water contents might be different. You can easily be getting 20% or 25% water in the meths that you buy and I'm slightly surprised that there isn't some law making suppliers tell you what's in it. I generally buy it in France (since I'm there a lot) but it's generally ethanol rather than a mixture of ethanol and methanol. It isn't normally dyed. They usually sell it as "alcohol for burning" or "household alcohol" and it's marked with the percentage of alcohol. The best you usually see on sale is 90% but the thieving dogs mark it boldly as 95 degrees, using the same little circle that you use for temperature, so that you might think it's 95 percent if you aren't awake. Anyway I prefer the cheaper stuff (normally for burning) because it smells like a distillery. You'll get more heat from the more expensive stuff of course.

 

[skate]

Thanks for the replies, should be no problems for my overnighter tonight then going to use one of my coke can stoves in the woods for the first time.

 

[Aebleskiver]

Old post I know, but it's about a £ cheaper than B&Q if you get a 500ml bottle from Halfords. Checked and it's £2.50 there at the moment.

Even cheaper is a lot of fireplace stores sell bio-ethanol in 5 litre bottles for £10 or so. I got the last 5L bottle for £13.50!

 

[Teepee]

The dye fades in the light, very useful when you have stained someones best white tablecloth with it.

All my suppliers bottles are clear at the front and purple at the back.

 

[rik_uk3]

Methanol is less than £1 a litre and works fine.

 

[TFan]

I buy my meths from a "proper" builders merchants. Somewhere in the region of £8 for 5 litres I think.

 

[rik_uk3]

Just found this on the Go Outdoors site while looking for something
http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/gelert-meths-5l-camping-gas-refill-p143040

Compared to paying £3 for 500ml its a good price if you have a store near you and can't get methanol.

 

[ged]

I don't know how we let them get away with it.

I pay just under seven Euros for five litres in French supermarkets.

I think I'll start importing it!

 

[rik_uk3]

I paid £15 for 25 litres of methanol Ged which does the job, Alcool has always been cheap in France, what are coleman/white gas/Essence prices like? I'll be over in November for a long weekend.

Meths prices have more than doubled in a year in the UK, crazy prices, Wilko IIRC are £3.40 for HALF a litre !

 

[eel28]

I paid £15 for 25 litres of methanol Ged which does the job, Alcool has always been cheap in France, what are coleman/white gas/Essence prices like? I'll be over in November for a long weekend.

Meths prices have more than doubled in a year in the UK, crazy prices, Wilko IIRC are £3.40 for HALF a litre !

And it was a couple of years ago, that same bottle in the same shop was just £1.99!

But it is still less expensive than the 'big' DIY chains

 

[ged]

I paid £15 for 25 litres of methanol Ged which does the job, Alcool has always been cheap in France, what are coleman/white gas/Essence prices like? ...

No idea about the Coleman Fuel, I stopped buying it years ago and started to make my own mix of brake cleaning fluid and dodecane for the 111B. White gas is virtually unheard of at least in the areas I spend much time. I once tried to get some from an agricultural machinery place near Rennes on the way back north because they were listed as dealers for one of the well-known brands (I think it was Aspen but don't quote me on that). When I got there they looked at me as if I needed locking up somewhere safe and said "we just go to the petrol station".

Petrol prices have risen just as much in France as they have here in the UK. Last week on the motorway I saw unleaded 98 octane at E1.70 per litre for the first time. At the moment unleaded 95 octane is anywhere from about E1.50 at the supermarkets to E1.66 or so on the motorways.

 

[rik_uk3]

Ged my trip in November is with a very good friend of mine who is well into WW1 history so I'm getting my own private battle field tour so to speak. He goes over a few times year and has being moaning about prices in general. Its got to the point now that he even takes some food items over with him something he never did before

 

[comeonbabylightmyfire]

I got 5L for less than a tenner from my local pharmacist. Most pharmacists will order it for you and it'll be there the following day.

 

[ged]

Ged my trip in November is with a very good friend of mine who is well into WW1 history so I'm getting my own private battle field tour so to speak. He goes over a few times year and has being moaning about prices in general. Its got to the point now that he even takes some food items over with him something he never did before

I've thought about doing something like that but I just don't know how I'd take it. Awful times, and similar things still going on the world over.

Yes, prices for some things have been going up but I'd still much rather have a French beefburger than an English one! When you go into a supermarket in France and ask for some minced beef, they pick up a piece of beef from the display in front of you and mince it on the spot! You've no idea what you're getting in England.

The prices for some of the DIY stuff have to be seen to be believed. Earlier this year I picked up four 3 metre lengths of something like 3"x2" planed pine and toddled off to the checkout at Bricomarche. They wanted about 56 Euros. I told them to keep it.

 

[rik_uk3]

He's a factory worker (Land Rover) so has to go Friday afternoon and home Sunday night. Three of them go and they pick up a take away ruby in brum for Friday night and a cold box with meat, bacon etc and even fresh spuds/veg as he is not into paying French prices for them. Back in the 80's before we had the kid's the wife and I used to spend a lot of weekends in Paris, used to love that city, plat de jour for a couple of quid with wine, massive bowls of mussels with crusty bread in the afternoon then Pernod and water and a late supper