How to Make Wheat Germ
- 1). Place the wheat stalks in a container that is watertight and large enough to house the stalks in their entirety.
- 2). Stir water into the container to increase the wheat plant's moisture content to about 13.5 percent of its weight. Adding water helps improve the natural clefts that exist between the wheat stalk and the wheat germ, thus allowing for easier separation of germ from stalk.
- 3). Allow the wheat to soak in water for 6 to 15 hours.
- 4). Scour the moisturized wheat with a horizontal scouring device. This is a standard commercial device that uses a rotor to separate the wheat germ from the sides of the wheat stalk. A device with a rotor speed of 18 to 25 meters per second provides optimal separation and avoids breaking the germ. If you have an adjustable scourer then you should ideally set its rotor speed to 21.2 meters per second. This process will collect between 54 percent and 91 percent of available wheat germ, depending on the variety of wheat.
- 5). Soak the remaining wheat stalk in a second time. You should increase the moisture content to about 15.5 percent for soft white wheat, 16 percent for red winter wheat and 17 percent for durum wheat.
- 6). Scour the wheat stalks for a second time to remove additional wheat germ from the stalks.