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From: wa371@sdcc12.UUCP (Bernd Riechelmann)
Newsgroups: net.med,net.college
Subject: Re: Production of methanol: where?
Message-ID: <507@sdcc12.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 21-Jan-86 23:50:52 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcc12.507
Posted: Tue Jan 21 23:50:52 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jan-86 21:22:49 EST
Organization: Electronic Cottage, San Diego
Lines: 19
Keywords: free hangover
Xref: watmath net.med:3214 net.college:1003
Summary: Methananol can be produced accidentally.

>     Regarding the current discussion of hangovers & methanol: I know
> that alcoholic drinks containing methanol was a big problem during
> the prohibition days.  What I am curious about was whether the
> methanol was (and is) produced accidentally during fermentation (i.e.
> is there any risk of methanol production during home wine making?), or
> was the methanol added via some other pathway?

It is my understanding that methanol can be produced accidentally 
when something goes wrong with the fermentation.  This happened to
some people in our village in Europe during the Second World War.
As I remember it, methanol caused blindness, among other
nasty things.  I also remember that these people had borrowed a
zinc plated wash tub from my mother to hold the fermenting mash, and 
when they brought it back, all the zinc had been eaten away on the
inside of the tub, so that the rusting iron underneath was laid bare,
ruining the tub.

Bernd <bear-nd>
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