LAB #: 3

DATE: 12/09/19

TITLE: Alcohol Content in Beer Using Back Titration

PROBLEM SATEMENT: Two students were talking about the different beers of Belize. One
student said that Landshark beer has a higher alcohol content (concentration) and hence it is a
better beer, and student 2 said that Belikin Regular beer has a higher alcohol content. Plan and
design a lab to prove or disprove the statements above.

HYPOTHESIS: Belikin Regular Beer has a higher alcohol content than Landshark Beer
indicated by the higher amount of sodium thiosulfate used in its titration.

AIM: To use Sodium thiosulfate back titrations in order to determine which beer, Landshark or
Belikin Regular Beer, has a higher alcohol (ethanol) content.

MATERIALS:
10 mL Landshark
10 mL Belikin Regular Beer
250 mL distilled water
10 mL pipette
2 X 20 mL pipettes
pipette filler
250 mL volumetric flask
3 X 250 mL conical flasks and stoppers
10 mL measuring cylinder
small funnel
burette and stand
white tile
hot-water bath
thermometer, -10°C - 110°C
spatula
disposable gloves
electronic balance
safety glasses

CHEMICALS:
60 mL standard potassium dichromate solution (about 0.04 M)
100 mL standard sodium thiosulfate solution (about 0.1 M)
30 mL 40% sulfuric acid
6 g potassium iodide
starch indicator
APPARRATUS:

PICTURE SHOWING APPARATUS USED FOR BACK TITRATION

METHOD:
Part A - Oxidation of alcohol

1) Label Landshark beer as A and Belikin Regular Beer as B. Record the manufacturer's
specification of the alcohol content in one bottle of the respective beer.
2) Use a pipette to transfer 10.00 mL of beer A to a 250 mL volumetric flask. Make up the
volume to 150.0 mL using distilled water and mix thoroughly.
3) Place 20.00 mL aliquots of the diluted beer into each of three 250 mL conical flasks.
4) Record the concentration of the standard potassium dichromate solution supplied. Place a
10.00 mL aliquot of this solution in each flask. Wearing gloves and using a measuring cylinder,
lowly add approximately 10 mL 40% sulfuric acid solution to each flask.
5) Stopper each flask loosely and heat for 10 minutes in a water bath at 45 - 50° C. (Do not allow
the temperature to exceed 50° C.)

Part B - Determination of excess dichromate

1) After heating for 10 minutes, add about 2 g of potassium iodide to each flask.
2) Fill a burette with standard sodium thiosulfate solution. Record the initial volume of solution
in the burette and the concentration of the solution.
3) Titrate the contents of each conical flask with the sodium thiosulfate solution, adding 1 - 2 mL
starch indicator when the brown colour of the solution develops a green tinge. The equivalence
point of each titration is reached when the blue colour of the starch-iodine complex just
disappears, leaving a clear, green colour. Record the final volume of liquid in the burette.

Part C – Repetition of Titration

1. Repeat part A and part B using 10 mL of Beer B, Belikin Regular Beer. Ensure to record
the final volume of liquid in the burette.

VARIABLES:
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLE CONTROLLED VARIABLE
VARIABLE
Beer used in titrationAmount of sodium thiosulfate Volume of each beer used
used in titration Conditions of titration such as
heating time
TABLE SHOWING VARIABLES INDEPENDENT, DEPENDENT AND CONTROLLED
VARIABLES FOR THE BACK TITRATIONS

OBSERVATIONS:
Beer A Beer B
Volume of K2Cr2O7 (ml)
Moles of K2CrO7
Moles of Ethanol
Concentration of Ethanol
found (Mol/L)
TABLE SHOWING THE VOLUME, MOLES, AND SUBSEQUENT CONCENTRATION OF
K2CR207 AND ETHANOL FOR BOTH BEERS A AND B

TREATMENT OF RESULTS:
If Beer B, Belikin Regular Beer, uses a higher amount of sodium thiosulfate in its
titration, then Beer B has a higher alcohol (ethanol) content.
CALCULATION:
Calculation: concentration of ethanol in beer

- Calculate the average titre:

Calculate the moles of sodium thiosulfate that reacted with the iodine:
concentration (mol L-1) = moles ÷ volume (L)
moles (Na2S2O3) = concentration (mol L-1) × volume (L)
- Calculate the moles of iodine (I2) present in the flask that have reacted with the
thiosulfate solution (S2O32-):
Balanced redox equation:
I2(aq) + 2S2O32-(aq) → 2I-(aq) + S4O62-(aq)
1 mole of I2 reacts with 2 moles of S2O32-
therefore ½ mole I2 reacts with 1 mole S2O32-
- Calculate the moles of dichromate that were in excess in the flask:
Balanced redox equation:
Cr2O72-(aq) + 14H+ + 6I-(aq) → 2Cr3+(aq) + 7H2O(l) + 3I2(aq)
1 mole dichromate (Cr2O72-) produces 3 moles I2
therefore 1 mole I2 is produced by 1/3 mole Cr2O72-
This amount was present in the flask AFTER all the ethanol had been oxidized.
- Calculate how much dichromate was added to the sample intially:
concentration (mol L-1) = moles ÷ volume (L)
moles = concentration (mol L-1) × volume (L)
- Calculate the moles of dichromate in excess in the flask (after all the ethanol has been
oxidised)
- Calculate the moles of ethanol that reacted with dichromate in the flask:
Balanced redox equation:
3C2H5OH(aq) + Cr2O72-(aq) + 8H+ → 3CH3CHO(aq) + 2Cr3+(aq) + 7H2O
3 moles ethanol (C2H5OH) reacts with 1 mole dichromate (Cr2O72-)
Remember the first step in the experiment when a 20.0 mL aliquote of diluted beer was placed in
the conical flask?
This means that that 20.0 mL sample contained the same number moles of ethanol.
- Calculate the concentration of ethanol in the conical flask at the start of the experiment:
concentration (mol L-1) = moles ÷ volume (L)
- Calculate the concentration of ethanol in the beer
Remember that the original beer was diluted, 10.0 mL of beer was placed in a 250.0 mL
volumetric flask and water was added up to the mark.

Then a 20.0 mL aliquot of this diluted beer was used in the titration.

It has so far been calculated the concentration of ethanol in that 20.0 mL sample.

That means that the concentration of the diluted beer in the 250.0 mL volumetric flask was the
same.

Calculate how many moles of ethanol must have been in that 250.0 mL volumetric flask:

concentration (mol L-1) = moles ÷ volume (L)

moles = concentration (mol L-1) × volume (L)
All number of moles of ethanol must have come from the original 10.0 mL aliquot of beer that
was added to the 250.0 mL volumetric flask.

Calculate the concentration of ethanol in that 10.0 mL beer sample (before it is diluted)

concentration (mol L-1) = moles ÷ volume (L)

Since the 10.0 mL aliquot came directly from the beer to be tested, the concentration of ethanol
in the beer must be the same.

Assume the density of ethanol is 0.79 g mL-1

This means that 1 L, or 1000 mL, of beer contains the number of mol of C2H5OH
Calculate mass of ethanol in 1 L of beer:
moles = mass ÷ molar mass
mass (g) = moles × molar mass
- Calculate the volume of the g of ethanol:
density = mass (g) ÷ volume (mL)
volume (mL) = mass (g) ÷ density (g mL-1)
- Calculate the concentration of ethanol in beer in %(v/v)
% (v/v) = (volume of ethanol ÷ total beer volume) × 100

LIMITATION:
A limitation for this lab could have been that the analyte may have contained impurities
which may have interfered with direct titration. Also, some ethanol may evaporate away from the
reaction mixture.

SOURCES OF ERROR
A source of error for this lab could have been the improper measurement of the volume
of beer used as sample.

ASSUMPTION:
An assumption in this lab was that the density of ethanol is 0.79 g mL-1.