Answers.Body: <p>There have been studies on the effects of whiskey as a disinfectant, and it works reasonably well as so many old western stories of a splash of whisky on a bullet wound have attested, even if they probably only fictional.   </p>
  
  <p>However, as Steve indicated in his answer, as a water purifier, it isn't going to do much.  The ethanol concentrations that you need in order to kill bacteria roughly bottom at what you get in whiskey itself.  Drop below 30% or so, and I haven't seen any study that shows any effectiveness as those levels.   </p>
  
  <p>So, while you could potentially cut your whiskey with a little creek water, and after an hour or so have something that was slightly less potent and fairly safe to drink, it won't give you much in the way of what we might generally think of as purified water. For that, you'll need to stick to water purification tablets or a good filter.  </p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2016-12-27T18:51:18.943Z
Answers.Text: About 1 teaspoon of household bleach (8.25% of sodium hypochlorite) in a gallon of dirty water is enough to sterilize it for drinking. Waaaay more effective than Alcohol.
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Answers.Body: <p>well, there is a reson wine lasts a long time, it definetly won't make it 100%safe ut at 10-20% ABV I would drink most water pretty confidently, however I'd prefer solar(UV) desinfection since it's a pretty decent, though also not complete method that should generally be as good or better and alcohol is onl reccomendable as an desinfecteant unless you're actually aout to die of dehydration, then yes, make something like grog, better than pure river water, but it's only an addition to make the water less likely to make you sick, not really safe to drink. Also most water from rivers and alpine lakes is drinkable, not by modern safety stndards, but prctically you can, so some added alcohol or sunlight to kill off most of the harmful little things, especially the more celled living ones, though not as much viruses and spores, it will be a good option but ou will have to use a 2:1 ratio at most so even a bottle of whiske might only last a day and you can see how that could be a problem, so prettty much any other option is better</p>
  
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Answers.Text: Thanks for the answer. If you could edit the typos it would be appreciated.
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Answers.Body: <p>Yes and no. If you use it at 100% strength it might be a good sterilizer but just a small amount in water isn't going to do much.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/disinfection_sterilization/6_0disinfection.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Guidelines for Alcohol Sterilization</a></p>
  
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Body: <p>Can whiskey be used to purify iffy water while out in the outdoors?</p>
  
  <p>We have all seen movies were someone uses whiskey to clean those gunshot wounds and more. But I would like to know if one could use whiskey to purify water while out in the outdoors. Could it kill germs like giardia? </p>
  
Tags: <whiskey>
Title: Can whiskey be used to purify iffy water while out in the outdoors?
UserDisplayName: Ken Graham
ThreadText: # Can whiskey be used to purify iffy water while out in the outdoors?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-12-25)
  
  Can whiskey be used to purify iffy water while out in the outdoors?
  
  We have all seen movies were someone uses whiskey to clean those gunshot wounds and more. But I would like to know if one could use whiskey to purify water while out in the outdoors. Could it kill germs like giardia?
  
  **Tags:** whiskey
  
  
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  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-12-27. Score: 4 | Accepted answer
  
  There have been studies on the effects of whiskey as a disinfectant, and it works reasonably well as so many old western stories of a splash of whisky on a bullet wound have attested, even if they probably only fictional.
  
  However, as Steve indicated in his answer, as a water purifier, it isn't going to do much. The ethanol concentrations that you need in order to kill bacteria roughly bottom at what you get in whiskey itself. Drop below 30% or so, and I haven't seen any study that shows any effectiveness as those levels.
  
  So, while you could potentially cut your whiskey with a little creek water, and after an hour or so have something that was slightly less potent and fairly safe to drink, it won't give you much in the way of what we might generally think of as purified water. For that, you'll need to stick to water purification tablets or a good filter.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: About 1 teaspoon of household bleach (8.25% of sodium hypochlorite) in a gallon of dirty water is enough to sterilize it for drinking. Waaaay more effective than Alcohol.  
  
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  ### Answer by username_3 on 2024-06-21. Score: 0
  
  well, there is a reson wine lasts a long time, it definetly won't make it 100%safe ut at 10-20% ABV I would drink most water pretty confidently, however I'd prefer solar(UV) desinfection since it's a pretty decent, though also not complete method that should generally be as good or better and alcohol is onl reccomendable as an desinfecteant unless you're actually aout to die of dehydration, then yes, make something like grog, better than pure river water, but it's only an addition to make the water less likely to make you sick, not really safe to drink. Also most water from rivers and alpine lakes is drinkable, not by modern safety stndards, but prctically you can, so some added alcohol or sunlight to kill off most of the harmful little things, especially the more celled living ones, though not as much viruses and spores, it will be a good option but ou will have to use a 2:1 ratio at most so even a bottle of whiske might only last a day and you can see how that could be a problem, so prettty much any other option is better
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: Thanks for the answer. If you could edit the typos it would be appreciated.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2016-12-25. Score: 0
  
  Yes and no. If you use it at 100% strength it might be a good sterilizer but just a small amount in water isn't going to do much.
  
  [Guidelines for Alcohol Sterilization](https://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/disinfection_sterilization/6_0disinfection.html)
  
  
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