is it ok to use EtOH or MeOH instead of Butanol? - for sds-page, ran out of butaol (Jun/16/2010 )

hi,
I just ran out of butanol and only have ethanol and methanol in the lab. is it ok to use those to make a smooth surface for lower gel?

Yes, it is.
In my lab we do it always with ethanol.

Chakchel, do you have phase interface between ethanol and buffer/acrylamide solution?

In my lab butanol is usually "borrowed" by people who use it for TLC so we switched to amyl alcohol.

When EtOH is pipetted too fast onto the freshly poured gel, you may see a slight interphase, but after a short time the EtOH is only one phase above the polymerizing gel.
We never had any problems with EtOH.
Some groups I've been at also use water.