https://www.cropenergies.com/de/Neutralalkoho...

Rubbing alcohol is an antiseptic solution that is commonly used in first aid to clean and disinfect minor scrapes. The bottle might read "Surgical Spirit B.P." or "Rubbing Alcohol" so, to find what you're looking for, it's important to be aware of the different name variations.

https://experthometips.com/uses-for-rubbing-a...

Strictly speaking, surgical spirit is Wundbenzin. It is alcohol for medicinal purposes. Brennspiritus is methylated spirits, and I wouldn't want that on my skin. However, if it's for a cleaning agent, then methylated spirits might be OK.

The Cambridge dictionary has this for surgical spirit:

a liquid for cleaningmedicalequipment or a person's skin so that it is free from bacteria

ttps://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/surgical-spirit

(for example before an injection.)

Penguin, du hast wie üblich Recht. Aber der angefragte Begriff "surgical spirit" ist m.E. medizinischer Alkohol und nicht einfach Spiritus, auch wenn das für Reinigungsmittel übertrieben teuer ist, und so wollte ich den Ausdruck anmerken.

Surgical spirit is basically 95% methylated spirit with added castor oil, diethyl phthalate, and methyl salicylate.

“Methylated spirit, also known as denatured alcohol, is a mixture of ethyl and methyl alcohols. Ethyl alcohol, commonly called ethanol or grain alcohol, is the alcohol found in adult beverages. It is a powerful and potentially addicting intoxicant, but serves other useful purposes. Methyl alcohol, also known as methanol or wood alcohol, is poisonous and renders ethyl alcohol undrinkable. Though not suitable for drinking, methylated spirit retains ethyl alcohol's ability to perform other useful functions.”

https://www.hunker.com/12515545/uses-of-methy...

Brennspiritus is indeed ethyl alcohol/ethanol treated to render it undrinkable so a reasonable equivalent to methylated spirit for cleaning purposes.

Brennspiritus wird vollständig vergällt, meist mit einer Mischung aus den Vergällungsmitteln MEK (Methylethylketon) und Denatoniumbenzoat, die äußerst bitter schmeckt.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verg%C3%A4llung...

> oder Wundbenzin aus der Apotheke

>Strictly speaking, surgical spirit is Wundbenzin. It is alcohol for medicinal purposes. 

IAN a chemist, and I don't like to disagree with penguin and Jaymack, but Wundbenzin/Medizinalbenzin is not the same thing. It's not alcohol, it’s petroleum ether (pentane/hexane).

"Als Wundbenzin (Benzinum medicinale) wird ein besonders reiner Petrolether bezeichnet."

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrolether

Re #4: Man norde mich neu ein, falls ich da falsch liege, aber Wundbenzin ist doch hochreines Benzin und enthält keinerlei Alkohol?

Die Wikipedia meint übrigens (meine Hervorhebung):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubbing_alcohol

In Ireland and the UK, the comparable preparation is surgical spirit B.P., which the British Pharmacopoeia defines as 95% methylated spirit, 2.5% castor oil, 2% diethyl phthalate, and 0.5% methyl salicylate.

Als Laie lese ich das als hochprozentiger Ethylalkohol mit diversen Vergällungsmitteln.

Surgical Spirit BP

Methyl Salicylate 0.5% v/v

Industrial Methylated Spirit 660P (95%)(contains ethanol 90.25% v/v)

Diethyl Phthalate

Virgin Castor Oil

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/4962...

>Der ist nicht vergällt und auf 70% eingestellt

Surgical spirit is vergällt (95% methylated spirit)

> I still think using "Brennspiritus" is correct in context.

I agree

Findet man das nicht unter Spiritus im Supermarkt?

It seems I was wrong about Wundbenzin and surgical spirit. It is more complicated than I thought. However, I would still differentiate between surgical spirit and methylated spirits. In the case of the OP, in which a cleaning agent is to be prepared, it is probably not important which product is used, except that surgical spirit is indeed more expensive. Surgical spirit can be purchased in a chemist's shop, whereas methylated spirits is what I know here as Brennspiritus. It can be bought in supermarkets and other stores and can be used as a cleaning agent or for a fondue burner and numerous other purposes, whereas surgical spirit is purely medicinal, used for example to disinfect the skin before an injection. (As teenagers, we used it to treat annoying pimples!) Surgical spirit appears to be known in North America as rubbing alcohol.