How Do We Produce Alcohol?
From WikiEducator
| What is this thing called Thermodynamics??? | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Questions to Consider | Why does a car's engine get hot? | How do we make alcohol? | Why can we not make 100% alcohol? | What is photosynthesis? | What is thermodynamics? |
How do we produce alcohol (beer, wine, whiskey)?
The starting material for making alcohol is plant material which contains sugar or starch, such as fruit, grain, or sugar cane. [1] The sugar or starch is then converted to ethanol by fermentation.[2]
Fermentation is a therefore a chemical reaction. Thermodynamics tells us the maximum amount of product that can be produced in from a chemical reaction. Therefore, it tells us the maximum alcohol concentration we can produce from the fermentation step.
The study of maximum concentrations due to a reaction is called chemical equilibrium.
