Apple - Can I clean my Macbook Pro keyboard with vodka?

The type of alcohol is less important than what other contaminants are in it.

Even strong vodka is 50% water and unknown contaminants.

After many comments & other answers on what may or may not be in vodka -
From The Chemistry of Vodka – Structure, Additives, and Impurities

The final factor is additives. Though we think of vodka as just ethanol and water, it’s actually permitted in a number countries to add small amounts of other additives. Mostly, these are to improve the smoothness of the vodka, so they’re likely to be found in higher amounts in cheaper vodkas containing more impurities. Compounds used for this purpose include citric acid, glycerol, and sugar.

I'd wait until you have something better to clean it with, like perhaps a micro-fibre cloth [3 for a pound/buck/shekel in any supermarket] Get the general purpose fluffy ones with little loops of fibre rather than the smooth ones specifically for glass, as they're a bit hard for plastic.

Wet under the cold tap, then wring out as dry as you can possibly get it. It should be dry enough that you can barely tell it wets the surface... no dribbles.
Wipe gently, repetition is better than force.

Cheaper than vodka too... & you're even less likely to want to suck the cloth afterwards ;-)

See also Will alcohol or soap damage plastic or rubber? from Chemistry Stack Exchange for another good reason I recommend nothing more than water & a micro-fibre cloth.


Vodka is distilled, the fermented sugars are left behind from distilling. There are zero sugars in vodka. I don't know where "Tetsujin" got his statistic that it's 50% unknown contaminants. Vodka is mostly ethanol alcohol plus water and a bit of glycerol.

There are different kinds of alcohol produced from fermenting. Ethanol alcohol is the most drinkable kind. There's other alcohols that can be poisonous or give a rough taste, but the amount is very small. The better vodkas have been filtered to remove these, so they taste smoother. However for your purposes, this doesn't matter.

It's probably better than water for cleaning. Find out for sure by spraying/wiping some on glass, and see if there's a residue. The alcohol is a bit more of a solvent, and will evaporate faster than plain water.


OF COURSE you can clean your keyboard with vodka. However, the keyboard may show ill effects after the treatment just like anyone having vodka, and - if excessive amount is applied, the keyboard (and notebook) will die.

In contrast with humans, the keyboard won't suffer so much from the alcohol within the vodka. It is the water, sugars and other constituents of vodka, that have ill effects on keyboards.

For cleaning keyboards, the best is to use a paper towel or cloth, damp (never wet or dripping!) with very mild detergent, and light cleaning movements. If you have patience, then after 3-5 minutes of such cleaning, you'll have a shiny keyboard.

I hope this helps!

Tags:

Macos