Water in my DNA - what to do?

[mark mcfarlane]

I just bought a fresh gallon of Klean Strip DNA. I transferred one quart into a separate container then rinsed out the funnel with the open gallon can of DNA still in the sink...

The open can of DNA may (or may not) have received a few drops of tap water. There definitely was some splashed water sitting on the top of the can.

What to do?

1) Dispose of remaining 3/4 gallon of DNA
2) Don't do anything
3) Relegate the contaminated DNA to a cleaning solution

My suspicion is the DNA is fine with a couple drops of water in it. I use DNA primarily for mixing shellac flakes and occasional cleaning.

I'd hate to have a shellac finish fail.

[Mel Fulks]

I would test it right now with some shellac flakes , or “crumbs” to see if it will dissolve them. The tops on DNA are often suprisingly loose
when you buy the stuff. I don’t buy DNA if I can’t find a can with a tight top. I doubt that a couple of drops of splashed water has hurt .

[roger wiegand]

Seems unlikely to be a problem; I doubt that any alcohol you can buy readily is anhydrous, surely not the cheap cans of DNA. (Anhydrous ethanol normally costs about 10X the price of 95%) Any ethanol you have will be at most 95% (eg 5% water) unless you take special measures to remove the water and keep it from getting back in from the atmosphere.

[mark mcfarlane]

Thanks Mel and Roger. The potentially contaminated DNA still dissolves shellac flakes. I guess I'll just keep it in stock for future projects.