Samson: learning fermentation
I'm learning chemistry from Kevin M Dunn's book, "caveman chemistry". Dunn had put together 28 projects for his students and Hamden-Sidney College, that took students from the creation of fire through metal and glass to the development of plastic. Along the way, the book explains through imagery and history the development of practical chemistry.
Tonight I did the chapter on fermentation. I mixed up a wort of honey and water, added proofed yeast, and cranked on an ad-hoc fermentation lock built of a latex balloon and a coke bottle cap with a hole in it. Six hours later, the balloon is starting to fill with carbon dioxide. I won't know for several weeks if I've produced ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) or acetic acid (CH3COOH). But one way or another, I've initiated fermentation. The Druid in me is kind of excited that I may have mead I brewed myself at the next lifting of the Hirlas Horn.
Samson: learning fermentation
I'm learning chemistry from Kevin M Dunn's book, "caveman chemistry". Dunn had put together 28 projects for his students and Hamden-Sidney College, that took students from the creation of fire through metal and glass to the development of plastic. Along the way, the book explains through imagery and history the development of practical chemistry.
Tonight I did the chapter on fermentation. I mixed up a wort of honey and water, added proofed yeast, and cranked on an ad-hoc fermentation lock built of a latex balloon and a coke bottle cap with a hole in it. Six hours later, the balloon is starting to fill with carbon dioxide. I won't know for several weeks if I've produced ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) or acetic acid (CH3COOH). But one way or another, I've initiated fermentation. The Druid in me is kind of excited that I may have mead I brewed myself at the next lifting of the Hirlas Horn.