Production of Grain Whisky and Ethanol
from Wheat, Maize and Other Cereals
R.C. Agu 1,2, T.A. Bringhurst 1 and J.M. Brosnan 1
ABSTRACT
J. Inst. Brew. 112(4), 314–323, 2006
Wheat replaced maize as the main cereal raw material for Scotch
grain whisky production 20 years ago. However, other cereals
might also have potential for use in grain distilleries and ethanol
production. Studies of the properties of wheat, maize, sorghum
and millet, showed that they had good potential for grain distill-
ing and ethanol production at comparable nitrogen levels, and
had physiological processing characteristics within the range
accepted for wheat or maize. Rapid-Visco Analysis (RVA) stud-
ies of low and high nitrogen wheat confirmed that, as well as
influencing the amount of alcohol produced, the total nitrogen
content of the grain had a strong influence on its processing
characteristics. In contrast, the alcohol yield potential of maize,
sorghum and millet appeared to be largely unaffected by the
grain nitrogen levels. The study shows that, while it is possible
for wheat to produce similar alcohol levels to those previously
associated with maize, cereals other than wheat can potentially
be used without detriment to alcohol yield or processing per-
formance. These could be possible long term alternatives, if the
economic viability of wheat was to change. The extracted cereal
starches also showed significant differences from the original
cereals, which had important implications for successful pro-
cessing, both in terms of cereal selection as well as cooking and
fermentation performance.
Key words: Ethanol, grain whisky, maize, millet, sorghum,
starch, wheat.
INTRODUCTION
In Scotch grain whisky production, maize was the tra-
ditional grain of choice until it was effectively replaced by
wheat during the 1980’s 10,24, primarily because of its more
favourable economics. Bringhurst et al.8 have summarised
the main features of raw materials employed in typical
Scotch whisky grain distilleries. In this process, cereals,
generally wheat, (although maize is still sometimes used),
normally are cooked under high temperature conditions to
release starch from the grain and liquefy it, so that it can
be broken down efficiently by the enzymes from barley
malt into fermentable sugars. These are converted to alco-
hol by yeast during fermentation and the alcohol is col-
lected by distilling in continuous fractionating or Coffey
stills.
1 The Scotch Whisky Research Institute, The Robertson Trust Build-
ing, Research Park North, Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AP.
2 Corresponding author. E-mail: reginald.agu@swri.co.uk
Publication no. G-2006-1308-464
© 2006 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling
314 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF BREWING
Although the adoption of wheat has been very success-
ful in replacing maize, there are still some concerns re-
garding difficulties with handling this cereal in the distil-
lery. These result from the higher viscosity, associated with
wheat which can affect the efficient handling of process
streams, (cooking, mashing) and, more seriously, with the
recovery of co-products (spent wash /spent grains). Al-
though the economics may be less favourable, maize is
still considered to be superior to wheat in that it produces
higher alcohol yields and presents fewer processing prob-
lems. Cereals such as sorghum and millet are considered
to have similar characteristics to maize 13. Further study of
these cereals will help to elucidate their physiological
properties in relation to their potential use for grain whisky
and ethanol production and may indicate if they can be
processed successfully compared with wheat and maize.
The general characteristics of maize, wheat, sorghum
and millet are well documented in the literature 13,18,19.
These references show that whilst the cereals studied had
similar levels of ␤-glucan (0.1%–0.5% w/w), the same
was not true of pentosans. Maize, sorghum and millet had
similar levels of pentosan (ca 3.0% w/w), which was in
contrast to wheat which had a pentosan content greater
than 8.0% w/w 19. Pentosans, like ␤-glucans are known to
cause processing problems5,7,11,20–22.
Maize, sorghum and millet starches have higher gelati-
nisation temperature ranges (70°C–80°C)19. This possibly
reflects the tropical nature of these cereals (i.e. the cli-
matic conditions under which they are found in the field).
This contrasts with the gelatinization temperature range
(52°C–54°C) of wheat starch, which is associated with
more temperate climates 1. The protein content of cereals
can vary, depending on many factors including the grow-
ing conditions in the field 3,17. The differences in pentosan
levels and gelatinization temperatures of wheat and maize
would also be expected to affect their processing charac-
teristics.
Sorghum and maize have long been reported to have
very similar characteristics and can be considered inter-
changeable with regard to the brewing process 13. How-
ever, it is not clear how this similarity will extend to their
processing characteristics in relation to distilling and etha-
nol production. Assessment of wheat varieties by the dis-
tilling industry and dialogue with plant breeders has led to
improved varieties which are capable of producing alco-
hol yields equivalent to those obtainable from maize. The
level of nitrogen taken up by wheat in the field is a key
factor in determining the performance of wheat in relation
to its potential for alcohol production 9,23. However, the
processing problems caused by the high residue viscosity
of wheat, in comparison with the low residue viscosity of
maize, are yet to be fully resolved and require further
study.
This paper describes work carried out at the Scotch
Whisky Research Institute to investigate more closely
some of the properties of wheat and maize and other ce-
real grains (sorghum and millet), together with their asso-
ciated starches, in order to gain a better understanding of
their processing characteristics in relation to their suitabil-
ity for distilling and ethanol production. Some of the in-
formation described below was presented as a poster at
the Worldwide Spirit Drinks Conference, held in Edin-
burgh 18–22 September 2005 4.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Cereal samples
Cereal samples were obtained from a range of sources.
High and low nitrogen wheat samples were obtained from
a plant breeder. Maize was obtained from a distilling com-
pany. Other maize samples, sorghum, and millet were
obtained from various sources including Heriot Watt Uni-
versity and an African brewing company.
Total nitrogen determination
Total nitrogen of the cereals was determined on Buchi
Kjeldahl apparatus, using a method similar to that for bar-
ley, described in the Recommended Methods of Analysis
of the Institute of Brewing 6.
Physiological properties of the cereals –
Rapid-Visco Analysis (RVA)
A study of the physiological properties of these cereals
was carried out using a Newport Scientific Rapid Visco
Analyser ® (RVA) instrument supplied by Calibre Control.
The Rapid Visco Analyser is a rotational, continuously re-
cording viscometer, with heating, cooling and variable
shear capabilities, specifically configured for starch-based
materials. A slurry of cereal flour with water can be sub-
jected to a temperature programme to analyse its pasting
and gelatinisation properties. This method measures the
starch properties which affect cereal handling during the
cooking cycle. A weighed amount of sample (approxi-
mately 3.0 g), adjusted for moisture, was slurried with a
measured amount of water (total weight 28 g) and then
processed in the RVA analyser using a programme de-
signed for unmalted cereals, as summarised in Table I.
Extraction of starch from wheat, maize,
sorghum and millet
Starch deriving from the different cereals was extracted
using a traditional wet milling process, modified from
Watson 25. Grains (100 g) were steeped in water for at least
50 h at room temperature, with a change of the steep
water at 24 h intervals, to enable the grains to absorb suf-
ficient water. The steeped grains were milled into a slurry
using a Moulinex blender, and then washed with a large
amount of water through a 250 micron mesh (Endecotts
(test sieve); Griffin and George Ltd). After settling, the
excess water was decanted and the settled starch was fur-
ther filtered using a Buchner funnel prior to oven-drying
at 50°C to a moisture of approximately 5–8%.
Alcohol yield analysis
Alcohol yield from milled cereals. The method was
based on that of Brosnan et al.9, which simulates the pro-
duction process conditions in a “typical” Scotch whisky
grain distillery. Cereal flour, (30 g), obtained by milling
the grains in a Buhler Miag disc mill (setting 0.2 mm) was
transferred into a stainless steel mashing beaker and slur-
ried with water (81 mL), and 25 µL of Termamyl 120L (a
bacterial ␣-amylase supplied by Novozymes France S.A.)
was added. The contents of the beaker were gradually
heated up to 85°C (temperature rise 2°C/min) in a water
bath, before pressure cooking at 142°C for 15 min in an
autoclave. The cooked slurry was cooled to 85°C and
given a second treatment with Termamyl (25 μL) for 30
min to prevent starch retrogradation. The mash was then
transferred to a water bath at 65°C and mashed for 1h
with a calculated amount of high enzyme grain distilling
malt grist (Miag setting 0.2 mm), equivalent to a malt
inclusion rate of 20% (dwb) to 80% wheat. After cooling
to room temperature, the mash was transferred to a suit-
able fermentation vessel, pitched with distiller’s yeast
(‘M’ type, supplied by Kerry Bioscience Ltd, or equiva-
lent) at a pitching rate of 0.4% (w/w) pressed yeast and
adjusted to 250 g with water. The mash was then fer-
mented at 30°C for 68 h and distilled to collect the alco-
hol. The alcohol yield was determined from the alcohol
strength of the distillate, which was measured using a
Paar 5000 density meter. The alcohol yield (PSY) is
quoted as litres of alcohol per tonne (LA /tonne) on a dry
weight basis (dwb).
Alcohol yield of starch. The alcohol yield of the starch
from the different samples was determined essentially as
described for the original cereals above, but using an ex-
cess of Termamyl 120L (35 µL) to digest the starch.
Residue viscosity
The in-grains residue from the alcohol strength distilla-
tion was adjusted to 250 mL and centrifuged to separate
the spent grains from the liquid. After filtering the super-
natant through a Whatmans GF /A filter paper, its residue
viscosity was determined at 20°C using an Ostwald U-
tube capillary viscometer (Size B), and expressed as milli-
Pascal per sec (mPas).
Colour determination
The colour of the distillation residue was determined
using a Lovibond 2000 comparator (Hellige and Co.,
UK)16.
Table I. RVA programme for unmalted cereals for distilling.
Time Temperature Speed
(min:sec) (°C) (rpm)
0:00 50 960
0:10 50 160
1:00 50 160
4:42 95 160
7:12 95 160
11:00 50 160
13:00 50 End
VOL. 112, NO. 4, 2006 315
 Fig. 1. A typical RVA profile for distilling wheat.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Initial comparisons of wheat, maize, sorghum
and millet
RVA analysis. Fig. 1 shows a typical example of an
RVA profile for distilling wheat generated by the pro-
gramme which was used during the study, and explains
the terminology used. The data from the RVA analysis of
wheat, maize, sorghum and millet are shown in Table II.
The red sorghum had the highest peak viscosity, while
maize had a higher peak viscosity than wheat. The lower
nitrogen wheat had a much higher peak (2.6 fold) and
final (5.3 fold) viscosity than the higher nitrogen wheat.
Whilst the peak temperatures were similar for all the ce-
reals at above 94°C, variations were observed in their
pasting temperatures (Table II). The final viscosity was
high for all the cereals except for the higher nitrogen
wheat sample that gave the lowest peak and final vis-
cosities.
The overall trends are seen more clearly by looking at
the RVA profiles shown in Fig. 2. While the pasting pro-
files of both low (1.45%) and higher (1.93%) nitrogen
were similar, differing only in magnitude, these were both
very different from that generated by the maize sample
(1.44%), which gave a much higher peak viscosity and
was characterised by the absence of a well defined ‘break-
down’ zone. The breakdown viscosity is normally re-
garded as a measure of the disintegration of the starch
granules as they are heated 12, and during the holding
phase, the disintegration of the starch granules reaches an
equilibrium which influences the degree of breakdown 12.
Breakdown viscosity is also referred to as ‘shear thinning’,
which results from the alignment of molecules of soluble
starch in the direction of stirring 14. The degree of RVA
breakdown is related to the solubility of the starch, and
the more soluble the starch, the more it will thin on shear-
ing 14. Hence the continuing increase in viscosity after
gelatinisation observed with maize indicates that the
starch in maize is different from wheat starch, and may
show a greater degree of cross-linking. The sample of red
sorghum had higher peak and final viscosities than the
white sorghum, as well as a slightly higher total nitrogen
content (1.53% vs 1.48%). Both of these were similar to
maize, and the profile was different to that observed for
wheat (Fig. 2).
It is evident in Fig. 3, that the RVA pasting properties
of the extracted starch of these cereals gave similar pro-
files, conforming to the patterns generally associated with
starch 12,15. The main differences between them were in

Table II. RVA results for the different cereals studied (flour of whole cereal).
Pasting temperature Peak time Peak temperature Peak viscosity Final viscosity
Sample (°C) (min) (°C) cP cP
Low N wheat 60.25 5.00 94.80 440 636
High N wheat 66.10 4.67 94.40 169 120
Yellow maize 67.65 6.60 94.90 712 1390
White sorghum 76.65 6.93 95.00 495 1145
Red sorghum 72.60 5.93 95.00 795 1652
Millet 70.05 4.87 94.90 722 917

316 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF BREWING

 Fig. 2. RVA results for wheat, maize, sorghum and millet (overview).

Fig. 3. RVA Pasting curves for starch extracted from wheat, maize, sorghum and millet.

terms of the magnitude of the viscosities. For some ce-
reals, such as maize and sorghum, the profiles shown by
the starches were different from those given by the origi-
nal cereals (Fig. 2). For all the cereals, the extracted
starches not only showed well defined peak viscosity, they
also gave similar patterns of “breakdown” and “setback”.
This contrasts with the absence of the distinct “break-
down” pattern observed previously with the whole cereals
of maize and sorghum (Fig. 2), suggesting that the ex-
tracted starches behaved in a different way to the starch in
the whole cereals for reasons not fully understood. Again
millet starch gave a profile which was intermediate be-
tween maize and wheat starch.
The numerical data generated by the RVA instrument
from the extracted starches is shown in Table III. Very
high values for the peak and final viscosities of these

VOL. 112, NO. 4, 2006 317

starches, compared with the original cereals, especially in
the case of maize and sorghum were observed. This con-
firms that the extracted starches had different properties
from the original cereals. It is also possible that these dif-
ferences may also be partially explained by differences in
the composition of the starch of these cereal grains. The
lack of a well defined breakdown zone (Fig. 2) and higher
peak and final viscosities of the extracted starches of
maize and sorghum (Fig. 3) suggest that maize and sor-
ghum starches may have a greater tendency for retrograda-
tion, than wheat and millet starches. This property is nor-
mally associated with amylose 14.
Alcohol yield and residue viscosity (Ostwald vis-
cometer). The full implications of the information gener-
ated by the RVA analysis for these cereals is not yet fully
understood and the data must be considered in the context
of alcohol yield and residue viscosity. The cereals were
analysed for alcohol yield and the residue viscosities were
measured on the distillation residues. The colour of the
residues was also measured. The results are shown in
Table IV. The low nitrogen wheat, maize, sorghum and
millet gave higher alcohol yields than the higher nitrogen
wheat. As we have seen from Table II, these gave a higher
RVA peak and final viscosity reflecting the presence of
higher amounts of gelatinized substrate. This was in con-
trast to the higher nitrogen wheat, which gave a lower
alcohol yield, but also had lower peak and final viscosity
resulting from reduced levels of gelatinized substrate.
These results suggest a link between the RVA viscosity
and alcohol production, whereby a higher RVA peak and
final viscosity are associated with a higher alcohol yield.
The alcohol yield of 472 LA/tonne (dwb) obtained for
the low nitrogen wheat was unusually high for wheat and
reflects careful management of the application of nitrogen
on the growing site. The alcohol yield obtained from the
higher nitrogen wheat sample, which was from the same
variety, was approximately 20 LA /tonne lower than for
the low nitrogen wheat. However, its alcohol yield of 450

Table III. RVA data from starch extracted from maize, wheat, sorghum and millet.
Pasting temperature Peak time Peak temperature Peak viscosity Final viscosity
Starch source (°C) (min) (°C) cP cP
Maize 64.50 4.93 94.80 2361 2402
Wheat 75.00 5.33 94.90 1552 1546
Sorghum 67.65 5.33 94.85 2168 2265
Millet 70.05 5.27 94.95 1828 2009

Table IV. Total nitrogen, alcohol yield, colour and residue viscosity of wheat, maize, sorghum and millet samples.
TN (%) PSY (dry) PSY (as is) Residue colour Residue viscosity
Sample (dry) LA /tonne LA /tonne °EBC (mPas)
Wheat (Low N) (SWRI) 1.45 472 414 11.0 1.60
Wheat (High N) (SWRI) 1.93 451 401 13.5 1.74
Maize (Yellow) (SWRI) 1.44 475 417 3.5 1.15
Sorghum (White) (HWU) 1.48 472 415 3.5 1.15
Sorghum (White) (Nigeria) 1.70 480 434 — 1.09
Sorghum (Red) (SWRI) 1.53 475 415 3.5 1.16
Sorghum (Red) (Nigeria) 1.53 471 421 — 1.08
Millet (Nigeria) 1.60 462 422 3.5 1.16

Table V. Total nitrogen, alcohol yield, colour and residue viscosity of additional maize samples.
TN (%) PSY (dry) PSY (as is) Residue colour Residue viscosity
Sample (dry) LA /tonne LA /tonne °EBC (mPas)
Maize (Yellow) 1.39 475 416 3.5 1.15
Maize (Yellow) 1.48 477 419 3.5 1.16
Maize (White) 1.41 468 418 3.5 1.16

Table VI. Total nitrogen, alcohol yield, colour and residue viscosity additional wheat samples.
TN (%) PSY (dry) PSY (as is) Residue colour Residue viscosity
Sample (dry) LA /tonne LA /tonne °EBC (mPas)
Low N Wheat (Variety A) 1.59 457 401 13.0 1.72
High N Wheat (Variety A) 1.84 450 399 14.0 1.83
Low N Wheat (Variety B) 1.62 464 408 12.5 1.63
High N Wheat (Variety B) 1.85 450 402 13.5 1.82
Low N Wheat (Variety C) 1.51 462 406 11.5 1.63
High N Wheat (Variety C) 1.82 446 395 13.5 1.78
Low N Wheat (Variety D) 1.62 455 400 13.5 1.71
High N Wheat (Variety D) 1.83 445 395 14.0 1.79
Low N Wheat (Variety E) 1.57 453 400 12.5 1.72
High N Wheat (Variety E) 1.82 440 395 13.0 1.77
Low N Wheat (Variety F) 1.67 452 400 13.0 1.68
High N Wheat (Variety F) 2.02 441 395 14.0 1.85

318 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF BREWING

LA /tonne was still much higher than expected for a dis-
tilling wheat sample with a high nitrogen level approach-
ing 2%. This wheat variety is therefore capable of produc-
ing a high alcohol yield at different nitrogen levels.
The results obtained for the low and high nitrogen
wheat samples are consistent with the well established
inverse relationship between nitrogen content and alcohol
yield of wheat 9. Table V shows the distilling potential
analyses for additional samples of maize, while Table VI
shows the distilling potential analyses for additional sam-
ples of wheat, and together with the information on these
cereals from Tables V and IV suggest that in contrast to
wheat, high alcohol yields were obtained from maize ir-
respective of nitrogen content. Agu and Palmer 2 have
shown that a 0.2% (w/v) difference in nitrogen content
has a significant effect on extract recovery in malted bar-
ley, and the results in Tables IV and VI confirm that dif-
ferences in nitrogen content will affect the alcohol yield
from wheat. It is also clear from these results that the al-
cohol yields of maize and sorghum are not influenced by
nitrogen levels to the same extent as wheat. The reason for
this apparent trend is not immediately clear, but further
highlights significant physiological differences between
the cereals studied.
The residue viscosity data shown in Tables IV and VI
are based on the analysis of the residues from the alcohol
distillations. These were analysed using an Ostwald vis-
cometer, and are thus completely distinct from the RVA
viscosity data discussed earlier. In contrast to the RVA
analysis of the original cereals, the residue viscosity rep-
resents the composition of the material remaining after
fermentation of each of the cereal substrates was com-
plete, and thus represents unfermentable material, such as
pentosans and ␤-glucans, which survive the process 18.
High viscosity residues can cause severe distillery pro-
cessing problems. Since the ␤-glucan content of wheat,
maize, sorghum and millet are known to be similar 13,19, it
is unlikely that ␤-glucan is the major cause of the differ-
ences observed in the residue viscosities of these cereals.
However, in comparison with other cereals such as maize,
sorghum or millet, wheat contains a much higher percent-
age of pentosans 13,19. These are known to cause processing
problems, so it is highly likely that these will be major
contributing factor to any processing problems encoun-
tered when processing wheat.
The results in Tables IV and VI show that both the low
and high nitrogen wheat samples produced residues with
higher viscosities than maize, sorghum or millet. The lower
nitrogen wheat sample however, produced a slightly lower
residue viscosity than the higher nitrogen wheat sample.
The wheat samples also produced residues with darker
colour than maize or sorghum or millet. Again, the addi-
tional wheat samples (low and higher nitrogen) analysed
further confirmed that low nitrogen wheat is associated
with higher peak and final RVA viscosities (Table VII).
Alcohol yield of extracted starch
The extracted starch of maize and sorghum gave very
high alcohol yields (Table VIII), in relation to the levels of
alcohol that were obtained when whole grains of maize
and sorghum were processed (Table IV). In contrast, the
starches of wheat and millet gave lower levels of alcohol
yield but their whole grains gave higher levels of alcohol
yield. While this may in part be attributed to the extrac-
tion of the ‘pure’ starch, resulting in a lower proportion of
non-fermentable material, this further highlights that our
understanding of the physiological differences between
the cereals and their starches is not complete. The high
alcohol yields of the starches extracted from maize and
sorghum (over 500 LA/tonne dwb), in contrast to those
obtained from wheat and millet (400 LA/tonne dwb),
which are shown in Table VIII, may also suggest that the
starches extracted from maize and sorghum have greater
ability to withstand the effects of heating and shear
stresses associated with processing, than that from wheat
and millet.

Table VII. RVA data for six pairs of low and higher nitrogen wheat varieties.
Pasting temperature Peak time Peak temperature Peak viscosity Final viscosity
Sample (°C) (min) (°C) cP cP
LN wheat (Variety A) 66.15 4.93 94.75 385 462
HN wheat (Variety A) 67.00 4.67 94.40 100 69
LN wheat (Variety B) 74.25 5.13 94.90 566 873
HN wheat (Variety B) 66.80 5.93 93.60 101 70
LN wheat (Variety C) 72.60 5.00 94.80 430 727
HN wheat (Variety C) 76.60 5.00 94.85 304 458
LN wheat (Variety D) 69.35 4.93 94.75 327 447
HN wheat (Variety D) 72.50 5.00 94.80 190 243
LN wheat (Variety E) 70.10 4.87 94.85 296 308
HN wheat (Variety E) 75.80 4.80 95.00 101 78
LN wheat (Variety F) 72.50 4.93 94.80 422 690
HN wheat (Variety F) 72.60 4.47 91.95 68 40

Table VIII. Alcohol yield, colour and residue viscosity of starches extracted from wheat, maize, sorghum and millet.
Moisture PSY (dry) PSY (as is) Residue colour Residue viscosity
Starch source (%) LA /tonne LA /tonne °EBC (mPas)
Wheat (Low N) 8.1 404 371 3.5 1.23
Maize 5.1 516 489 2.0 1.09
Sorghum (Red) 5.3 509 483 2.0 1.07
Millet 5.2 397 376 5.5 1.14

VOL. 112, NO. 4, 2006 319

 This is an important factor for many processes and the
time and temperature at which starch starts to paste (past-
ing temperature) is related to the conditions that are nec-
essary to cook a given material 15. The data supports the
view that maize and sorghum will therefore require inten-
sive cooking to produce high alcohol yields compared
with wheat, and will have implications for both energy
efficiency and the thermal stability of other components in
the substrate, such as proteins and amino acids. More in-
tensive cooking will also facilitate the breaking of cross-
linking bonds in resistant starch, and in turn, is likely to
allow the release of more sugars from the dextrins, and
hence lead to a higher potential for alcohol production,
but may also result in increased losses due to Maillard
(browning) reactions.
In contrast to maize and sorghum, the starches associ-
ated with wheat and millet, appear to be more readily ac-
cessible (see Fig. 2) and ideally may not require the inten-
sive cooking process used in this study to give high alco-
hol yields. This work therefore suggests that wheat and
millet might require a less intensive, processing (cooking)
regime compared with maize and sorghum. This is sup-
ported by the slightly higher colour value for millet starch
which gave a darker residue than wheat, despite the resi-
due from the whole grain having a much lower colour,
comparable with maize and sorghum (see Table VIII).
It is worth noting that for the extracted starches derived
from all the cereals studied (wheat, maize, sorghum and
millet), the colours of the residues obtained from the pro-
cessing were much lower, in comparison to when whole
wheat was processed. The darker colour associated with
the wheat residues may be partly due to the presence of
darker pigmentation, but could also result from an in-
creased susceptibility to the effects of Maillard reactions.
This observation is important because it suggests that
some cereals are more suited to high temperature /pressure
cooking than others.
The role of nitrogen during the processing
of wheat, maize, sorghum and millet
The differences between the processed cereals and the
extracted starches, are difficult to explain fully in the con-
text of these experiments, but may be related to the prop-
erties of the nitrogen components. In the extracted
starches, the removal of the protein fraction, might ac-
count for some of the differences in colour and processing
characteristics which were observed, since this, provides
essential substrates for Maillard reactions. Maillard or
browning reactions take place as a result of thermal degra-
dation of sugars and proteins and will have an adverse
effect on alcohol yield, since some of these components
will no longer be available for yeast to utilise during fer-
mentation.
Additionally, the removal of the grain nitrogen compo-
nents from the extracted starch, coupled with the fact that
nitrogen will be denatured during the cooking process 2
would also potentially reduce the free amino nitrogen
available from the starches of these cereals. However,
there were no fermentation problems during the labora-
tory processing of these starches. This suggests that under
these conditions, the nitrogen components of the cereal
starches, on their own, were not important in influencing
320 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF BREWING
the yeast activity associated with these fermentations. On
this basis one might speculate that in these fermentations,
nearly all of the free amino nitrogen required to support
yeast growth during fermentation is derived from hydroly-
sis of the soluble nitrogen material from the malted barley
used during the conversion (saccharification) process,
rather than from the main cereal substrate. In the Scotch
grain whisky process, wheat is cooked at a high tempera-
ture prior to mashing (conversion) and this cooking pro-
cess will denature the proteins in the wheat, thus inactivat-
ing any potential proteolytic enzymes in the cereal which
would contribute to the availably of free amino nitrogen 2.
This observation is extremely important since it has se-
rious implications for distillery efficiency. This empha-
sizes the need to ensure adequate malt inclusion during
grain whisky production 8, particularly when low nitrogen
substrates are used, since the malt inclusion rate is a “criti-
cal factor” or “process limiting factor” in achieving high
alcohol yield during grain whisky production.
Further studies on the relationships between
RVA viscosity and alcohol production from
high and low nitrogen wheat samples
The hypothesis that low nitrogen wheat is generally as-
sociated with higher RVA peak and final viscosities, re-
sulting from larger amounts of gelatinized substrates, thus
producing higher alcohol yields, than the higher nitrogen
wheat was investigated further. The hypothesis was tested
by further looking at the sets of low and higher nitrogen
wheat samples (Varieties A–F), representing nationally
listed (NL) wheat varieties (Tables VI and VII). The RVA
pasting data in Table VII together with the data in Table
VI show clearly that in every case, the lower nitrogen
wheat samples have higher peak and final viscosities when
compared with their respective higher nitrogen counter-
parts. The results in Tables VI and VII are interesting be-
cause they confirm that a definite pattern is emerging,
which suggests that the hypothesis might be correct. The
alcohol yield results together with the Ostwald residue
viscosity and the RVA data, confirmed that the lower ni-
trogen wheat samples which produced more alcohol than
the higher nitrogen wheat samples were also associated
with higher viscosity levels, and that conversely, the lower
nitrogen wheat samples produced residues that have lower
viscosity than the higher nitrogen samples.
To further test the validity of the hypothesis that the
RVA pasting properties are related to the alcohol yield,
correlation analysis between the pasting viscosities (RVA
peak and final viscosities) and alcohol yield was carried
out. The results obtained are shown in Fig. 4 for alcohol
yield versus RVA peak viscosity and in Fig. 5 for alcohol
yield against RVA final viscosity. Also, the relationship
between peak viscosity and final viscosity was examined
(Fig. 6). The correlations between peak viscosity (Fig. 4),
and final viscosity versus alcohol yield (Fig. 5), (80% and
75%) were significant and give strong support to the hy-
pothesis that there is an important relationship between
these parameters. A much stronger correlation of 98% for
the relationship between RVA peak and final viscosities
(Fig. 6) also provides additional support to the hypothesis,
since this shows that the two viscosity parameters are
closely interlinked. Since both the RVA peak and final
 Fig. 4. Correlation between wheat alcohol yield and RVA peak viscosity for six
pairs of low and high nitrogen wheat samples (A–F).

Fig. 5. Correlation between wheat alcohol yield and RVA final viscosity for six
pairs of low and high nitrogen wheat samples (A–F).

viscosities are correlated with alcohol yield, they will be
linked to the properties of the substrates which are avail-
able for alcohol production, and together, they will have a
strong impact on the distilling performance of the wheat
samples.
CONCLUSIONS
These studies have given us a better understanding of
how methods such as RVA can be useful in assessing ce-
reals for distilling. The rheological (RVA) properties of
wheat, maize, sorghum and millet, showed that the RVA
pasting curve for millet was similar in some respects to
that for wheat, which was different from both maize and
sorghum. The resemblances between the profiles of maize,
sorghum and millet indicate that sorghum and millet
would perform in similar ways to maize during processing
in the distillery, and suggest that no unusual problems
would be expected with front end processing of these ce-
reals (i.e. with cooking and conversion (saccharification)),
other than those associated with the mechanical handling
of small grains. The RVA properties for the extracted
starches showed that the actual starches from each cereal
gave similar profiles, but were different in the magnitude
of the viscosities resulting from each cereal starch. This
suggests that some other factors within the cereal grain

VOL. 112, NO. 4, 2006 321

 Fig. 6. Correlation between RVA peak and RVA final viscosity for six pairs of
low and high nitrogen wheat samples (A–F).
have a mediating effect on the RVA properties which were
observed for the whole cereals.
In the context of the production of Scotch whisky grain
spirit, the cooking process which is currently used for
wheat was originally developed to handle maize, and on
the basis of this work, should be able to efficiently pro-
cess all of the cereals studied. The residue (Ostwald) vis-
cosities of sorghum and millet were similar to maize, indi-
cating that distillery co-products deriving from these ce-
reals would perform in a similar manner to maize. The
importance and complexity of the role that nitrogen plays
in determining both the distilling quality and processabil-
ity of cereal grains, especially with wheat, was confirmed
in this study. Low nitrogen wheat gave higher RVA peak
and final viscosities and produced higher alcohol yield,
compared with high nitrogen wheat, and underlines the
importance of the nitrogen content in defining the quality
of distilling wheat. With careful management of nitrogen
application in the field during growing it is now possible
to produce locally grown wheat with low nitrogen levels
which can produce similar levels of alcohol as maize, as
well as an acceptable harvest yield. In the UK, this may
help to maintain the competitive edge that wheat may have
over the other cereals studied.
The influence that the level of nitrogen has on alcohol
yield production with regard to wheat did not seem to
apply to the same extent to the other cereals (maize, sor-
ghum, and millet) because these cereals produced high
alcohol yields regardless of nitrogen content. Further
work is necessary to establish this unequivocally, but if
this is the case, this highlights important physico-chemi-
cal differences between wheat and these other cereals.
The problems regarding the impact of high residue vis-
cosity on downstream distillery processing still have to be
fully resolved and could still prove to be a disadvantage
for wheat. The ability of a distillery or ethanol producer to
process a range of cereal types depending on favourable
322 JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF BREWING
market conditions would be a distinct advantage. In the
current economic climate, Scotch whisky grain distillers
would prefer to use wheat, since it is easily and econom-
ically obtained from the local market. However, the pro-
duction of ethanol is a worldwide activity and this paper
has demonstrated some of the advantages that might be
obtained by processing locally produced cereals available
in other parts of the world, which might result in reduced
transport costs and promote other local benefits for these
areas.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of
Elizabeth Glasgow. We would also like to thank Dr Gordon
Steele, SWRI Director of Research, and the Board of the Scotch
Whisky Research Institute for permission to publish this paper.
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