A distillery has 600 mL of fermented broth that is 12% ethanol by volume…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A distillery has mL of fermented broth that is ethanol by volume. It distils the broth and wants a spirit that is ethanol by volume.
- What volume of ethanol is in the broth?
- What volume of spirit can be made if all the ethanol is collected?
- What volume of spirit is made if of the ethanol is collected?
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
Yeast ferments sugar to ethanol. The best possible yield is g of ethanol from g of glucose, and the density of ethanol is g per mL. Wine and beer are not distilled. Whisky, brandy and rum are. Citric acid: Aspergillus niger. Acetic acid: Acetobacter aceti. Butyric acid: Clostridium butylicum. Lactic acid: Lactobacillus.
The worked solution
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Given. Broth: mL at . Wanted: spirit.
Plan. The ethanol stays the same when it is collected. Divide it by the new strength.
Step 1. Ethanol. mL.
Step 2. All collected. mL of spirit.
Step 3. collected. mL of ethanol, so mL.
Answer: mL; mL; mL.
Check. The spirit is smaller than the broth, as it should be, because the same ethanol is in a stronger liquid.
Watch out. A real still does not collect every drop of ethanol, so the second answer is a limit and the third is closer to the truth.
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