Making your own Hand Sanitizer

 Making your own hand sanitizer is easier than you think.  Collecting the ingredients may take a little waiting time, but all of them are readily available from local stores and mail order such as Amazon.

The Aptiva version of the product has four simple ingredients: 

1. Ethyl Alcohol (Ethanol), which is drinking alcohol. The strongest easily available version being 190 proof (95%) Everclear (Liquor Store)
2. Food Glycerin (obtained from Amazon)
3. Aloe Gel (Obtained from Amazon)
4. Food Dye (local Grocer)

The recipe I used was very simple - Mix the Good Glycerin and Aloe Gel at about a 10 to 1 ratio for the Everclear, for example 30 ML of Glycerin, 30 ML of Aloe Gel and 300 ML of Everclear.  Any ratio in these amounts work - you can do a half cup of Glycern and half cup of Aloe with 5 cups of Everclear.  This blend produces a sanitizer which is about 78% alcohol; slightly above the recommended minimum alcohol concentration of 70%. Everclear does contain a small amount (5%) water, which is why the ratio is slightly less than 80% alcohol.

If you prefer, skip the Aloe Gel, and use a 5 parts alcohol to 1 part glycerin ratio. I found a drop of vegetable food dye helped to see the volume in the containers when measuring and filling.

Alcohol - Everclear

Vegetable Glycerin

Aloe Gel