# Some Information About Yeast



## Darth_Server (Jan 9, 2017)

Hello, we are working on a science experiment is school. this experiment is working around yeast and ethanol fermentation in wine. 

It's important to note that our test tube is about the size of a finger. and the volume is 7.6ml. And that we suppose to send this experiment to the International Space Station. The astronaut that will perform the experiment has a limit of about 5 minutes to perform it.

We will measure the efficiency of the fermentation by checking the amount of the CO2. 


We need to know some things about yeast :


*1)* What is the ratio between the yeast and the grape juice ?
*2)* Will temperature around 39.2F (4C) affect the fermentation ? we would like to stop the process at the middle until it returns to Earth.
*3)* Where can we get this kind of yeast, and for what price ?
*4)* Which kind of yeast is the most effective one ?
*5)* We already know that the fermentation process emits Carbon Dioxide, will a large amount of it damage the yeast or the fermentation ?
*6)* How long will the fermentation process take ?
*7)* How long will take the yeast to begin the fermentation ?
*8)* Which amount of Carbon Dioxide will the yeast emit? 

Thank you for your help!


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## Johnd (Jan 9, 2017)

Darth_Server said:


> Hello, we are working on a science experiment is school. this experiment is working around yeast and ethanol fermentation in wine.
> 
> It's important to note that our test tube is about the size of a finger. and the volume is 7.6ml. And that we suppose to send this experiment to the International Space Station. The astronaut that will perform the experiment has a limit of about 5 minutes to perform it.
> 
> ...



We use 5.5 grams of yeast for 23 liters of juice, a 5.5 gram packet costs a buck or two. If I were going to ferment in space, I'd use Lalvin EC-1118 yeast, which should be available from any local home brew store, or on line from one of our sponsors. Temps below 40 will slow fermentation to a crawl, if not stop it. The yeast will not be damaged by the co2 it produces, as long as it is allowed to escape from the test tube, if not, it will most likely explode. 

The length of fermentation, how long it takes to start, and how much co2 is produced depends upon a great number of factors, temps, atmospheric pressure, amount of sugar in the juice, to name a few. Your class might need to conduct some trials and set up baseline parameters, I do not know of any that can predict with all of the variables. 

Please work hard on your experiment, it would comfort me greatly to know that wine can be made in space.......


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## BernardSmith (Jan 9, 2017)

Darth Server, Hi and welcome. What is the underlying question that you hope to answer? 

When you ask what kind of yeast is most effective? I wonder what you mean? Wine makers tend to use a particular kind of yeast - Saccharomyces cerevisiae - but there are dozens of strains of this yeast.

If the experiment cannot take the astronaut more than 5 minutes then I wonder how you will solve the problem of what is called lag time - the time it takes for yeast to become active and begin fermenting. To begin to ferment sugars the yeast have to incorporate all kinds of chemicals and minerals from the must (the juice) to repair their cell walls and nuclei to enable them to make alcohol - and that can take many hours after the yeast has been introduced to the sugar source


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## Mismost (Jan 9, 2017)

OK....I'm working on my grumpy old man routine this week, so bear with me. Also, note that I find space exploration to be a HUGE waste of my tax dollars....now, if your class is funding this experiment out of YOUR pocket, I'm fine with that. But, you ain't and I ain't either.

So you have another unless experiment to send into space....can yeast ferment in space? Why? Can't grow grapes or fruits or grains despite what you see in the movies...at least not enough to live on. Yeast also require oxygen, do you really want to use up oxygen to produce wine or beer? You can stay sober forever, you can only stop breathing for about 4 minutes! Space is cold, frankly I doubt the yeast will fire off and do anything.

Work out an experiment that will solve hunger here ON EARTH...or anything that will SAVE TAX DOLLARS...that I could get behind! 

How did I do on the grump old man scale? I thought that was worth a 5 at least!


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## dcbrown73 (Jan 9, 2017)

Yikes! hah @Mismost, we agree on a lot of stuff, but definitely not space exploration!  

I'm an HUGE space exploration supporter. I do not only think it's important, I believe it's absolutely necessary for the human race to survive long term.

Not to mention, NASA's work towards those goals brings us lots of benefits: NASA's Spin-off Technologies


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## Mismost (Jan 9, 2017)

dcbrown73 said:


> Yikes! hah @Mismost, we agree on a lot of stuff, but definitely not space exploration!
> 
> I'm an HUGE space exploration supporter. I do not only think it's important, I believe it's absolutely necessary for the human race to survive long term.
> 
> Not to mention, NASA's work towards those goals brings us lots of benefits: NASA's Spin-off Technologies




Dang DC...we gotta work on your basic survival skills! Water, food, shelter

Water...there ain't none outer space
Food...there ain't none in outer space
Shelter...no problem really because you freeze solid in 2 seconds which actually makes no water or air kind of a mute point.

But oh hell yeah, Let's run off to Mars, because there ain't no big three survival items there either. But we can spend huge amounts of money trying to die.

How about we take that money and fix things up down here BEFORE we run off into outer space looking for another place to screw up?

I just don't like my tax dollars wasted on this crap. A flag on the moon, while cool, is also pretty useless. If the private money rich guys want to go after it, I fully support them spending THEIR money and they seem to be much more cost effective than NASA. No telling what other great benefits the minds at NASA could have produce here on Earth given the same budget for research without the burden of space travel for a select handful of guys who get famous, run for office, and pump more and more money into the budget for NASA.

I do like the Hubble telescope space pictures and at a million per image, they are a bargain in terms of government spending.

Grumpy old man scale...think I hit a 6.5 there!


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