The Effect of Sucrose and Starch on Ethanol Production of Baker’s and Brewer’s Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Abstract

The difference in the structure and chemical formula of sucrose and starch leads to different amounts of ethanol being produced. Four different experimental groups were run with bakers and brewer’s yeast and sucrose and starch to test how the sugar and yeast type affects ethanol fermentation. After examining other studies it was found that the complexity of the sugar can either increase or decrease the ethanol production of a yeast depending on how complex the sugar is. Our hypothesis was that using sucrose would yield more ethanol production than using starch. Our results supported our hypothesis as both baker’s and brewer’s yeast both had a higher level of ethanol production with sucrose then with starch. This also means that less complex sugars result in a higher rate of fermentation. Other studies also supported these results in different ways. In the future this experiment would benefit from more trials and further experimenting with the type of sugars and yeast used.