A beer-making microbiologist noticed that no matter how long the brewing process took, 3% alcohol was the maximum produced. Hypothesize what is causing this low level of alcohol in reference to the brewer's recipe and recommend how a higher alcohol yield could be achieved.

The microbiologist beer-making may not be providing sufficient conditions for the yeasts present in the system to be able to produce a greater amount of alcohol.

Explanation:

As you owe to produce beer, alcoholic fermentation of organic matter must take place. Alcoholic fermentation is carried out by yeasts (and some bacteria) that are added to the beer's raw material, consume all glucose and release alcohol as a product of their metabolic reactions.

For these yeasts to be able to produce large amounts of alcohol, two things are necessary. The first is that the raw material of the beer is placed in a location that does not contain oxygen and does not allow oxygen to enter. This is because the production of alcohol is done through fermentation, which is an aerobic process. If there is oxygen at the site, yeasts will die and will not promote fermentation, leaving alcohol production low, or even zero.

Another thing that can decrease alcohol production is that the raw material does not supply substrates in sufficient quantities for its metabolism. The raw material may have a deficient supply of glucose, preventing the yeast from being able to ferment, which will generate little or no alcohol.