[Gasification] Methanol stove fuel

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear Tom (Reed)

Is there a simple "field test" to distinguish between ethanol and methanol?

More specifically, if someone was presented with "an alcoholic drink", is 
there any common and readily available substance that one could add to the 
drink to tell if it had a significant methanol content? Possibly something 
that would give a color change or a precipitate?

In reverse, methanol can be used to detect pectin in wine... if a home made 
wine is hazy, and the cause is pectin, a teaspoon of methanol added to a 
teaspoon of wine will result in a gelatinous precipitate, proving the 
presence of pectin. Fortunately, wine with a pectin haze is not a readily 
available material. ;-)

Best wishes,

Kevin