Fermentation

Leslie Gutierrez, Kelly Diep, Shirley
Ms. Malonek
Biology 1/2
25 November 2014

Fermentation Project: Yogurt

Task: 

• a recipe in metric
• pictures of you making the product and tasting the product
• a paragraph describing in detail what type of fermentation is going on

Recipe

1. Place 0.946353 Liters of 2 percent milk in a large saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until it reaches 180 degrees, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool to 115 degrees.
2. Whisk together 0.236588 Liters of the heated milk and 0.0443603 Liters of plain low-fat yogurt. Stir into remaining milk.
3. Transfer to a 0.946353 Liters mason jar. Wrap jar (without lid) in 2 clean kitchen towels, completely covering sides and top. Let stand undisturbed in a warm place until yogurt has the consistency of custard, 4 to 5 hours.
4. Refrigerate uncovered jar; when it's cool to the touch, about 30 minutes, screw on a tight-fitting lid.

• What type of fermentation is going on?
• The type of fermentation that demonstrated by creating yogurt is lactic acid fermentation. One produces yogurt through the lactic acid fermentation of milk with harmless bacteria. By decreasing raw milks pH it causes the milk to congeal, or increase in temperature, causing it rot and become yogurt. The bacteria in lactic acid fermentation, lactic acid bacteria, are a diverse group of bacteria that are able to ferment various sugars which then produces lactic acid plus other waste products. In general, lactic acid fermentation is the "anaerobic microbial breakdown of sugar, yielding energy in the form of ATP and releasing waste products, specifically lactic acid." In other words, yogurt is simply milk fermented by lactic acid bacteria. The two species of bacteria that are most commonly used to make yogurt are Lactobacillus bulgaris and Streptococcus thermophilus. These types of bacteria then ferment the sugar found in milk, or lactose, into lactic acid and other compounds with unique flavors. In addition, the lactic acid causes the milk proteins to clump together, giving the yogurt its characteristic thick texture and  its delicious taste. According to education-portal.com, if you pulled out 1 gram of finished yogurt, you could find up to 100 million lactic acid bacteria,  which illustrates overall just how well lactic acid bacteria "are able to thrive by fermenting just lactose." 
• 
  

Source: http://www.marthastewart.com/948811/homemade-yogurt

Leslie cooking the yogurt!

Leslie tasting the yogurt! YUM! 

Extra Credit Water Conservation

Leslie Gutierrez
Ms. Malonek
Biology 1/2
19 November 2014

Water Conservation

As the drought continues on, California water supply continues to decrease. One can save up to 25 gallons per day by installing flow restriction and fix leaks in indoor plumbing and outdoor sprinkle systems. In addition, you can turn off the water when washing dishes, brushing teeth, and for guys, when shaving. Taking a shorter shower and using a broom instead of a hose to clean patios, driveways and sidewalks are other ways you can help conserve water as well. One can save up to 25-50 gallons of water by using a shut-off nozzle and water bucket to was your car and by watering your lawn and gardens in cooler morning or evening house.  Installing high efficiently toilets and water-saving toilets and water-saving clothes and dish washers. plus covering pools and spas to reduce the amount of evaporation also helps conserve water. To save 50+ gallons of water per day you can reset or turn off automatic sprinkles in the late Fall or Winter and run only full loads in dish and clothes washers. These are many methods that people can help save water during this drastic drought!

Source: http://www.epa.gov/greeningepa/water/

MY SELFIE (:

Single Celled Organims

Leslie Gutierrez
Ms. Malonek
Biology 1/2
12 November 2014

Task:  Pick a single cell organism from http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/dlc-me/zoo/i... (The Microbe Zoo) Do a blog about that organism. Where does it live, what does it do , include a picture.

The organism algae lives in the water. Algae are photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. They are multiple different colors of algae which include golden, yellow, brown, red, green  and yellow-green. 

Diatom, which is a type of algae, are protists that grown a silica shell around themselves. When diatoms divide, each offspring of the diatom takes half of the original shell with it, and grows another matching half. Diatoms are frequently found in wet environments, such as ponds and can also grow on the surface layer of soil, where they can use sunlight sunlight to produce food with photosynthesis. There are two basic types of diatoms: elongate ones and round ones, like the one demonstrated in the picture. While Elongated diatoms can move themselves, round diatoms cannot. In addition, there may be as many as 10,000 species of diatoms.

Source: http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/dlc-me/zoo/index.html

Source: http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/dlc-me/zoo/zwp0530.html