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Dad has this old brown bottle, about 6L, it looks like an acid bottle ive seen in Chemistry labs. It dosn't say poision on the side or anything.

It should be safe to store spirits in im guessing once it had been washed out??

Its been in the shed for years. It dosn't have a label.

It might be safe, but I wouldn't do it.

If you do, wash it out with detergent/water, then an organic solvent like acetone, then water, then alcohol, then water a few times again.

I still wouldn't do it personally.

Ask Doc, he works with glass stuff in his lab (well... he is supposed to anyway). He should have a pretty good idea of how to be sure there is nothing left behind!

sathid's right.

Firstly, I wouldn't do it.

Secondly, you need to wash it out with an organic and an inorganic solvent.

Thirdly, not everything that is considered a toxicant today, was a few years ago.

Fourthly, I wouldn't do it.

for the sake of one bottle, don't risk it.

I'd much rather pay a couple of dollars for one that I KNEW was safe.

Anything can be cleaned.

I would rinse it out first with a several rinses of metho (or pure ethanol if you have it....l know i do ).

Then rinse with water, followed by vinegar (acid) then water then caustic (base) then water then soak it in bleach or napisan.

As Chris said, if you had access to a range of solvents......

You could get creative and use paint thinner (normally toluene), nail polish remover (a combo of acetone and ethyl acetate), petrol (a big range of alkanes (hexane, heptane predominantly) and metho which would ensure you had dissolved whatever was in there originally. i just happen to have the pure forms of each of these solvents in my shed......

I could be a smart arse and suggest not to worry since you plan on putting a poison it it anyway (ethanol).

Glad a science nerd like me can be of use now and then - i made sure i was wearing my labcoat and safety glasses whilst typing this, if only i had a web cam!

Thus endeth the science lesson for today
Cheers
DrSmurto

Just be careful that the solvents you use aren't worse than whatever the hell was in the bottle in the first place!

Pretty sure most of you have inhaled enough benzene (a known carcinogen) while filling up your car with petrol for the above method not to be an issue.

And thats after they removed all the lead from petrol......

But as Chris said, be careful using any solvents. And also the caustic. Make sure you only use COLD water when dissolving caustic soda. And i would tip vinegar into a caustic solution.

Bloody hell, i wash my hands in most of these at work, but my favourite was dichloromethane. That got my hands sparkly clean. And its only thought to be carcinogenic, yet to be proven!

drsmurto wrote:And i would tip vinegar into a caustic solution.

Are you sure?

ooops, typo there.

NEVER tip caustic solution into vinegar.

Cheers for picking that up Kev. Coffee levels dangerously low.

Mmmm... coffee. A triple shot Snickers Latte sounds good right about now!