- 2 components: ferment (sucrose + yeast) & limewater (has white precipitate, means
reaction has occurred)
- Sucrose and water reacts to create carbon dioxide + ethanol
- Carbon dioxide then travels through tube into limewater to create calcium carbonate
(white precipitation at the bottom of flask) leaving ethanol in the original ferment
SIMPLE DISTILLATION PROCESS
- Decan yeast into a large beaker in one continuous motion (prevents any solid from going
into solution)
- Pour the clean solution into another round bottom flask, add some boiling chips with a
scapula (prevent bumping which occurs when solution is really hot), drops of octanol
(prevents foaming)
- Place flask on a hot plate, use the three finger clamp to hold it in place
- Make sure theres jelly on the three way flask lid (prevents it from getting stuck + creates
a seal)
- Place a thermometer, make sure the bottom lines up to the one handle of the 3-way
handle is pointing out sideways
- Attach the condenser to the sideways handle and clamp it in place with another stand
- Secure vacuum adaptor (VERY FRAGILE) and place a smaller, clean flask underneath
- Connect the bottom hose to faucet and the other goes into sink
- Turn faucet on CAREFULLY (water travels into tube and out via the other tube - MUST
BE COLD) & Take temp reading
- Turn heat on medium and let it distill and boil
Main objective of distillation is purification. Round flask with ferment has 2 types of liquids
(water + ethanol) and we want to separate them so that the ethanol is in it’s more pure form – we
can do this using their different boiling points. Ethanol has a BP of 70 degrees and water 100
degree celsius. As the ferment heats up, ethanol will boil first, vapour travels up into condenser
where it condenses into water droplets (why it’s important that the condenser is cold) and the
leftover ethanol travels into the clean flask. Stop at 90 degrees because we don’t want water to
boil and mix with ethanol.
