The Effects of Different Sugars on CO2 Production in Baker’s Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Abstract

Paste Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is an important species in many industries because of the alcohol and carbon dioxide it produces through fermentation. The fermentation process is driven by the addition of sugar; as such, it is helpful to know what type of sugar allows the yeast to ferment most efficiently. Different types of sugars have specific chemical properties, which cause some of them to break down faster and contribute to more efficient carbon dioxide production. Research organizations like ACME Brewing and Baking (ABB) are dedicated to testing the effects of different sugars on the carbon dioxide production during fermentation. ABB tasked us to test the effects of dextrose, sucrose, and confectioner’s sugar on the carbon dioxide production of baker’s yeast, which corresponds to its rate of fermentation. We hypothesize that more complex sugars influence fermentation and carbon dioxide production (CO2). Furthermore, we predicted that CO2 production of dextrose would be the highest in a 10-minute trial, followed by confectioners' sugar and sucrose. We found that yeast fed with each of the sugars tested produced approximately a similar amount of CO2, indicating that there is no correlation between the sugar used and the carbon dioxide produced, thus our hypothesis was unsupported. This research is important because it could influence the type of sugar used with yeast if our data is proven to be true.