Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Home › Alcoholic Fermentation in Yeast – A Bioengineering Design Challenge ›

Reply to comment

Corcoran 's picture

Proofing the yeast

Submitted by Corcoran (guest) on Tue, 10/04/2016 - 1:20pm.

I just completed part II of this lab with my freshmen biology students. I recommend proofing the yeast a few days before working the experiment with students. You need to heat up warm water (35 C) and add a little sugar and yeast. Use the same proportions as listed in the procedures. If you see a significant amount of foam produced, the yeast is alive and will likely perform for your experiment.

Sometimes the yeast we buy is dead - that's why the author suggests using newer yeast.

Also I found it helpful to spend some time the day before the experiment explaining the procedure to my students. Even then it has a lot of moving parts and kids who daydream get very confused about what they are supposed to be doing. Just a FYI.

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
1 + 6 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.

Narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)

What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio