Ethanol: A Piece of cake

Source of errors

             The solutions for the fermentation procedure cannot be left too long. If this is so, more acid is produced than ethanol. When this happens the test results are negative because of the highly acidic state of the solution.

            

             During the acid hydrolysis, the vapor and boiling solution often reached a higher temperature than was needed. This could result in either the boiling off of useful product or in the breaking down of useful product because of the high temperature.