question: How does alcohol clean things like bacteria?
comment: Not a biologist but alcohol permeates the cell membrane due to it's small molecular size and displaces or bonds with the water molecules inside the bacterium. Leaves the cell dehydrated and unable to live basically. More here: URL_0
passages: Although yeast carries out the fermentation in the production of ethanol in beers, wines, and other alcoholic drinks, this is not the only possible agent: bacteria carry out the fermentation in the production of xanthan gum.
  
  Section::::Products.
  
  Section::::Products.:Ethanol.
   Section::::Basic technology.:Alcoholic fermentation.
  
  Sugar fermentation and ethanol oxidation occur as a two-step biological transformation of the cooked must. The first requires anaerobic conditions and the second aerobic conditions. The two biological conversions occur inside a dedicated vessel, called the" badessa". The alcoholic fermentation is carried out by yeasts belonging to a plethora of species and genera. In the past, the idea of a commensalistic interaction between yeasts and acetic acid bacteria existed, but recently the scalar fermentation has been suggested. The alcoholic fermentation is widely accepted to affect the end quality of TBV due to the several yeasts' metabolisms involved.
   Side effects of alcohols include skin irritation. Care should be taken with electrocautery as ethanol is flammable. Types of alcohol used include ethanol, denatured ethanol, 1-propanol, and isopropyl alcohol. It is effective against a range of microorganisms though does not inactivate spores. Concentrations of 60 to 90% work best.
   The ethanol produced through fermentation acts as an important co-solvent to the non-polar compound that water cannot dissolve, such as pigments from grape skins, giving wine varieties their distinct color, and other aromatics. Ethanol and the acidity of wine act as an inhibitor to bacterial growth, allowing wine to be safely kept for years in the absence of air.
  
  Section::::Other types of fermentation.
  
  In winemaking, there are different processes that fall under the title of "Fermentation" but might not follow the same procedure commonly associated with wine fermentation.
  
  Section::::Other types of fermentation.:Bottle fermentation.
   In the mid-19th century, the French scientist Louis Pasteur was tasked by the French government to study what made some wines spoil. His work, which would later lead to Pasteur being considered one of the "Fathers of Microbiology", would uncover the connection between microscopic yeast cells and the process of the fermentation. It was Pasteur who discovered that yeast converted sugars in the must into alcohol and carbon dioxide, though the exact mechanisms of how the yeast would accomplish this task was not discovered till the 20th century with the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway.
   The ability of bacteria to degrade a variety of organic compounds is remarkable and has been used in waste processing and bioremediation. Bacteria capable of digesting the hydrocarbons in petroleum are often used to clean up oil spills. Fertiliser was added to some of the beaches in Prince William Sound in an attempt to promote the growth of these naturally occurring bacteria after the 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill. These efforts were effective on beaches that were not too thickly covered in oil. Bacteria are also used for the bioremediation of industrial toxic wastes. In the chemical industry, bacteria are most important in the production of enantiomerically pure chemicals for use as pharmaceuticals or agrichemicals.
   Section::::As an ingredient.:Flambé.
  
  Flambé is a technique where alcohol, such as brandy, is poured on top of a dish and then ignited to create a visual presentation.
  
  A variation of the flambé tradition is employed in Japanese teppanyaki restaurants where a spirit is poured onto the griddle and then lit, providing both a dramatic start to the cooking, and a residue on the griddle which indicates to the chef which parts of the griddle are hottest.
  
  Section::::As an ingredient.:Alcohol in finished food.
   _Alcoholic beverages like beer and wine are fermented by microorganisms when there is no oxygen present.
  
  _Most yeast can tolerate between 10 and 15 percent alcohol, but there are some strains that can tolerate up to 21 percent alcohol.
  
  _Dairy products like cheese and yogurt can also be made through fermentation using microbes. 
  
  Cheese was produced as a way to preserve the nutrients obtained from milk, through
  
  fermentation thus elongating the shelf-life of the product. 
   On most Gram-stained preparations, Gram-negative organisms appear red or pink because they are counterstained. Because of presence of higher lipid content, after alcohol-treatment, the porosity of the cell wall increases, hence the CVI complex (crystal violet – iodine) can pass through. Thus, the primary stain is not retained. Also, in contrast to most Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria have only a few layers of peptidoglycan and a secondary cell membrane made primarily of lipopolysaccharide.
  
  Section::::Specific techniques.:Endospore staining.
   Reagents useful for the transformation of primary alcohols to aldehydes are normally also suitable for the oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones. These include Collins reagent and Dess-Martin periodinane. The direct oxidation of primary alcohols to carboxylic acids can be carried out using potassium permanganate or the Jones reagent.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Enol
  
  BULLET::::- Ethanol fuel
  
  BULLET::::- Fatty alcohol
  
  BULLET::::- Index of alcohol-related articles
  
  BULLET::::- Polyol
  
  BULLET::::- Rubbing alcohol
  
  BULLET::::- Sugar alcohol
  
  BULLET::::- Transesterification
  
  BULLET::::- Viktor Meyer test
  
  BULLET::::- Lucas test
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- Alcohol (Ethanol) at "The Periodic Table of Videos" (University of Nottingham)
   Section::::Diagnosis.:Biochemical tests.
  
  Biochemical tests used in the identification of infectious agents include the detection of metabolic or enzymatic products characteristic of a particular infectious agent. Since bacteria ferment carbohydrates in patterns characteristic of their genus and species, the detection of fermentation products is commonly used in bacterial identification. Acids, alcohols and gases are usually detected in these tests when bacteria are grown in selective liquid or solid media.
   The area surrounding Willowyards and its whisky bond are characterised by a black staining that covers all living and non-living surfaces to varying degrees. The research that first led to the scientific identification of the organism causing this black and velvety encrustation was partly carried out using samples from Willowyard. The organism causing what is commonly known as 'Warehouse Staining', is a black fungus, "Baudoinia compniacensis" which is harmless and feeds upon the 'Angels's Share' of alcohol evaporating from the whisky barrels.
  
  Section::::Demographics.
   Applied to the skin alcohols are used to disinfect skin before a needle stick and before surgery. They may be used both to disinfect the skin of the patient and the hands of the healthcare providers. They can also be used to clean other areas, and in mouthwashes. Taken by mouth or injected into a vein ethanol is used to treat methanol or ethylene glycol toxicity when fomepizole is not available.
  
  Aside from these uses, ethanol has no other well-accepted medical uses. This is partly because the therapeutic index of ethanol is 10:1.
  
  Section::::Mechanism.
   Section::::Types.:Metabolosomes: aldehyde oxidation.:EUT BMCs.
   Section::::Uses.
  
  Section::::Uses.:Medical.
  
  Section::::Uses.:Medical.:Antiseptic.
   Section::::History.
   In the 19th century, when studying the fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeast, Louis Pasteur concluded that this fermentation was catalyzed by a vital force contained within the yeast cells called "ferments", which he thought functioned only within living organisms. He wrote that "alcoholic fermentation is an act correlated with the life and organization of the yeast cells, not with the death or putrefaction of the cells."
   BULLET::::1. Gasification — Complex carbon-based molecules are broken apart to access the carbon as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen
  
  BULLET::::2. Fermentation — Convert the carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen into ethanol using the "Clostridium ljungdahlii" organism
  
  BULLET::::3. Distillation — Ethanol is separated from water
  
  A recent study has found another "Clostridium" bacterium that seems to be twice as efficient in making ethanol from carbon monoxide as the one mentioned above.
   Section::::Process.
   The French chemist Louis Pasteur founded zymology, when in 1856 he connected yeast to fermentation.
  
  When studying the fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeast, Pasteur concluded that the fermentation was catalyzed by a vital force, called "ferments", within the yeast cells. The "ferments" were thought to function only within living organisms. "Alcoholic fermentation is an act correlated with the life and organization of the yeast cells, not with the death or putrefaction of the cells", he wrote.
   Section::::Other acids.
   Section::::Types.:Metabolosomes: aldehyde oxidation.:PDU BMCs.
   Controlled fermentation with microbes in brewing, wine making, baking, pickling and cultured dairy products such as yogurt and cheese, is used to modify ingredients to make foods with desirable properties. The principal microbes involved are yeasts, in the case of beer, wine, and ordinary bread; and bacteria, in the case of anaerobically fermented vegetables, dairy products, and sourdough bread. The cultures variously provide flavour and aroma, inhibit pathogens, increase digestibility and palatability, make bread rise, reduce cooking time, and create useful products including alcohol, organic acids, vitamins, amino acids, and carbon dioxide. Safety is maintained with the help of food microbiology.
   Section::::Process.:Other compounds involved.
   Wine is a frequent topic in English literature, from the spiced French and Italian "ypocras", "claree", and "vernage" in Chaucer's "The Merchant's Tale" onwards. William Shakespeare's Falstaff drank Spanish "sherris sack", in contrast to Sir Toby Belch's preference for "canary". Wine references in later centuries branch out to more winegrowing regions.
  