Fermentation

Everyone knows that fermentation of sugar solutions aided by the enzymes in yeast produces ethanol. This process by the action of fungi breaks down the large sugar molecules in fruits into ethanol:

The bubbles in champagne are the CO2 given off in this reaction. Some sugars also give side reactions to produce other compounds. These can be slightly toxic and ‘head splitting’ in their after-effects. Home brewed wines and beers often contain these unwanted compounds. These unwanted side products are removed by professional wine makers by prolonged storage in wooden barrels, which absorbs the more toxic materials.
Methanol, CH3OH, is water soluble.‘Meths’ is an industrial solvent mixture of ethanol and methanol. It often contains a purple dye and an additive to make it unpalatable to drink. Methanol is poisonous (one spoonful of neat methanol can kill). It can produce similar physiological symptoms to ethanol if consumed in very small quantities in diluted form. It has the additional hazard that it sends people blind and insane and can become addictive.

The alcohols as a group or homologous series of compounds are widely used industrially as a starting point for making other compounds, including drugs, detergents, dyes, plastics etc. The higher alcohols, with three or more carbon atoms, are certainly not consumable. They have unpleasant smells, tastes and are toxic.

They are used as industrial solvents for paints and dyes etc. The higher members of the alcohols are waxy materials. Only the first few alcohols are water soluble; the rest are insoluble in water.