Cereal Chem 42:288 - 298.  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Corn Dry-Milling: Effect of Temper Time and Moisture Level on Degerminator Performance.

O. L. Brekke. Copyright 1965 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

In pilot-plant tests, yellow dent hybrid corn from a single lot was tempered to moisture levels of 18, 21, and 24% at room temperature and processed in a degerminator of the studded-cone type. Temper time ranged from 0.3 to 8 hr. As temper time increased regardless of the moisture level, degerminator throughput climbed sharply to a maximum in 2 to 3 hr. and then fell off; yield of -4 + 6 grits dropped sharply and then climbed slowly; fat content of these grits climbed and leveled off; and yield and oil content of -16-mesh fines fell rapidly during the first 3 hr. As the moisture level was increased for temper times beyond 1 hr., degerminator throughput increased; yield of -4 + 6 grits decreased while the effect on their fat content was indefinite; also effect on yield of -16-mesh fines was indefinite although their fat content decreased. Data were also obtained on degree of hull release and oil recovery.Since millers prefer short temper times and minimum moisture addition and since no single set of conditions is known to give optimum degerminator performance, the data developed will help a miller select the most practical conditions for his operations.