A different methodology for implementing the standard mechanism reduction technique directed relation graph (DRG) is presented and applied to develop a new skeletal mechanism for ethanol. Two combustion processes, ignition delay time and flame speed, that are mandatory for a mechanism to reproduce are used to calculate the species coupling through DRG index. Based on a detailed mechanism of 57 species among 383 reversible elementary reactions, a skeletal mechanism of 37 species and 184 reactions is obtained, which represents a decrease of 35% in the number of species and almost 52% in the number of reactions. The new mechanism is validated for ignition delay time and flame speed measurements, and also for one-dimensional burner stabilized flat and counterflow flames simulations, which were not considered in the development of the skeletal mechanism. Comparisons with experimental data and with the behaviour of other mechanisms in the literature are also displayed. The methodology presented can be useful and contribute to generate skeletal mechanisms with less effort that can reproduce a more demanding simulation.