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Effect of Steeping Conditions on Wet-Milling Characteristics of Hard Red Winter Wheat¹

¹Contribution No. 95-348-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. ²Graduate student, professor, respectively, Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. ³Professor, and former research associate, respectively, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. ⁴Corresponding author. E-mail: dschung@falcon.bae.ksu.edu

A batch-wise small-scale wet-processing laboratory for whole wheat kernel has been designed and constructed to produce wheat starch and gluten from wheat grains. Hard red winter wheat kernels were steeped in three steeping media: SO₂ solution, lactic acid, and hydrochloric acid. Acid concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5%, were used for SO₂ solutions and hydrochloric acid, and 0.1, 0.6, and 3.0% for lactic acid. After 16, 20, and 24 hr of steeping, the wheat was wet-milled. Yields and protein contents of wet-milling fractions were compared. Both high concentration of steeping media and long steeping time increased the starch yield and decreased the protein contents of the starch. However, the steeping time and acid concentration could be reduced from 24 to 20 hr and from 0.5 to 0.3%, respectively, without any statistically significant difference in starch yields or protein contents of the starch. Consistency and color of the starch were affected by both steeping time and acid concentrations of steeping media.