My flame is still quite yellow and not as colorful as I expected. Whats gone wrong?
There are three likely causes for this. 1) Your fuel probably contains hydrocarbons or other solvents that are producing soot in the flame, making it luminous (yellow/white). You need a purer grade of alcohol. 2) There could be salt (common salt – Sodium Chloride) in the fuel. This dyes the flame yellow like a sodium streetlight, drowning out the proper red or green color of the dye. The most likely source of this is the water used by the manufacturer to dilute the fuel (for economy) or the water you used to help dissolve the powder. Again, you need a purer grade of alcohol (or a cleaner bottle). 3) One other potential source of Sodium is from props that are constructed using water-based adhesives, many of which contain lots of salt or even competing metal salts.
