MTH 253

Graded Problem 4
Justin Drawbert
November 23, 2010

In our fourth graded problem we are given the following:

A vat at a small brewery contains 1000 gallons of beer that is initially 8% alcohol by volume
(ABV). Beer with 6% alcohol is pumped into the vat at a rate of 10 gal/min and the mixture is
pumped out at the same rate (assume thorough and instantaneous mixing; ie. the mixture in the
vat is homogeneous).

We are asked to first find an expression for dy dt , then find an expression for y(t), and finally to
find the percentage of alcohol in the vat after 1 hour and after 3 hours.

We first let y(t) be the volume of alcohol in the vat after t minutes. Thus y(0) = 0.08(1000) = 80 gal.
Since beer is being pumped in at the same rate at which it is being pumped out, we know the amount
of beer in the vat will be 1000 gallons at all times. So the percentage of the alcohol in the vat at
time t is y(t)/1000 × 100 = y(t)/10.

By (5) of Section 7.3 of our textbook, we know that, in a mixture problem such as this

dy
= (rate in) − (rate out)
dt
We then list what else we know, so that we can plug it into this formula.
   
gal gal y(t) gal y gal
rate in = 0.06 10 = = 0.6 and rate out = 10 =
min min 1000 min 100 min

We note that the units of dy dt are gallons per minute and therefore y(t) will be in gallons. So,
ignoring the units for now, we have
dy y 60 − y 1 1
= 0.6 − = ⇒ dy = dt ⇒
dt 100 100 60 − y 100
1 1 t
Z
dy = dt ⇒ − ln|60 − y| = +C
60 − y 100 100
Since y(0) = 80, we have
0
− ln|60 − 80| = +C ⇒ − ln|−20| = C
100
Thus
t −t
− ln|60 − y| = − ln (20) ⇒ ln|60 − y| = + ln (20) ⇒ |60 − y| = 20e−t/100
100 100
We now need to deal with the absolute value in the equation. We first realize that we’re not
concerned with time less than 0 and that y(0) = 80. We then realize that since the beer that is being
pumped in is always 6% ABV > 0, there is always going to be a positive amount of alcohol in the vat.

1
    
Or, in other words, ± 60 − y(t) > 0. If we consider y(0), we have ± 60 − y(0) = ± [60 − 80] > 0.
From this we can deduce that |60 − y| = −(60 − y) = −60 + y. Therefore

y(t) = −60 + 20e−t/100

Now note that this is the amount of alcohol in gallons with respect to time. And we want a
percentage. As stated before the percentage of the alcohol with respect to time (in minutes), which
we express as p(t), is y(t)/1000 × 100 = y(t)/10. So we have

y(t) y(t)
p(t) = (100) = = −6 + 2e−t/100
1000 10
So the % ABV after 1 hour (60 min) is

p(60) = −6 + 2e−60/100 ≈ 7.0976, or 7.10% ABV

And the % ABV after 3 hours (180 min) is

p(180) = −6 + 2e−180/100 ≈ 6.3306, or 6.33% ABV

As we would expect, as time goes on, the percentage of alcohol in the vat decreases and eventually
approaches 6%. As long as the alcohol being pumped in remains a constant 6%, this is the lowest
it will be. We can see this is true of we plot p(t).

p(t) = -6 + 2e-t/100

8.5

8.25

7.75

7.5
Percent Alcohol (by Volume)

7.25

6.75

6.5

6.25

5.75

5.5
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 540 600
Time (in Minutes)