The world standard for gluten quantity and quality determination
When baking bread and producing noodles or pasta, the flour gluten content and strength will determine the quality of the finished product. The Glutomatic® System is the world standard for determination of gluten quantity and quality.
The effect of gluten quantity and quality in the flour used for bread, cookies, crackers, and pasta is dramatic. In the photo of bread loaves above it is clear that the wet gluten quantity of the flour strongly influences bread volume. Using the Glutomatic® System you will be able to determine the baking quality of wheat and flour.
Features and benefits
- Determine gluten quantity and quality – Improve the quality of your finished products.
- Official world standard – Ensure that trade contracts are fulfilled.
- For flour and grain – Determine gluten characteristics both for wheat and flour.
- Measure true gluten – Only the Glutomatic® can measure true gluten. In a number of situations
protein content is not indicative of gluten characteristics.
Features and benefits
The Glutomatic® System is used worldwide by thousands of grain traders, flour millers, breeders, and pasta/noodle manufacturers, who benefit from its features.
Determine gluten quantity and quality
Improve the quality of your finished products by making sure that your raw materials meet gluten specifications. Higher wet gluten content means higher bread volumes.
Official world standard
For international wheat and flour trade, gluten quantity and quality by the Glutomatic® System are typically specified. Make sure that buyer and seller agree by using the international standard. Approved according to the following standards:
- AACCI 38-12.02
- ICC/No. 137/1, 155 & 158
- ISO 21415-2, 21415-4
- GAFTA Method 34:2
Easy to use
Confidently operated by non-technical personnel.
For flour and grain
Using Glutomatic® you don’t have to produce a flour to determine the gluten characteristics for wheat. You save time and costs as the Gluten Index method works both for flour and for ground wheat.
Rapid analysis
A complete test takes less than 10 minutes.
Determines true gluten
While gluten is correlated to protein, there are a number of cases where wheat would have a high protein content, but no or very weak gluten. Glutomatic® is the only way to know for sure.
Applications
The quality of dough-based products such as bread, pasta or noodles is highly dependent on the gluten quantity and quality of the flour. This means that everyone in the wheat chain, from breeder to baker, benefit from analyzing and controlling gluten properties with the Glutomatic® System.
Breeding
By measuring the functional properties of protein at an early stage – without having to extract flour – breeders can select the appropriate wheat classes for further breeding and refinement.
Grain Trading and Handling
The ease of use and the speed of the method enable the user to classify the incoming wheat based on gluten quantity and quality, essential for maximizing trade margins and supplying products suitable for varying end-use purposes.
Flour Milling
Millers can blend flour to meet end-user demands while not selling the high-quality product at a low price thereby improving operating margins. With the Gluten Index, the Wet Gluten Content and the Falling Number® analysis results available, millers can quickly predict the final baking quality, reducing the requirement for test baking.
Baking
The gluten properties and structure are important to:
- Form elastic dough
- Retain gas during fermentation and baking
- Allow expansion
- Carry expansion
- Retain the shape of the loaf
As baking quality is both related to starch and protein characteristics, a combination of the results from the Falling Number® and Glutomatic® tests can be used to predict the baking quality. With the Gluten quality and quantity information at hand, bakeries are able to use the most cost-effective grade of flour while still meeting end-user quality. Maximizing the use of high-quality flour and minimizing the addition of expensive vital gluten results in substantial savings.
Durum and Pasta
The Gluten Index is reported worldwide in crop reports as an important quality indicator. During pasta manufacturing, gluten has great influence in:
- Forming non-sticky dough
- Achieving desired processing characteristics
- Maintaining firmness and cooking stability
- Obtaining products with desired cooking characteristics
About gluten
Gluten is the functional component of protein and determines many dough and processing characteristics of wheat and wheat flour.
Gluten consists of the two proteins “Glutenin” and “Gliadin”. It is not until the dough has been made that they actually form gluten. This is why it is not possible to determine gluten in wheat without actually making a dough. Flour, water and the energy from the kneading are all needed for gluten to form. A disulfide bond is then created between the glutenin and the gliadin as illustrated in the picture to the left. Click it to open a larger picture in a new window.
The protein content is a purely quantitative analysis that may or may not be indicative of protein quality. While gluten content and protein content are correlated, there are situations during which protein content will not be indicative of quality. These situations include:
- Variable Growing Conditions
- Yearly Growing Variation
- Wheat Varietal Variation
- Wheat or Flour Blends
- Heat Damage
- Bug Damage
- Enzymatic Addition
It is under these conditions when the reported protein content is not indicative of the quality that another set of tests is required. The Glutomatic® system is designed to measure protein quality for the following parameters:
- Wet Gluten Content
- Dry Gluten Content
- Water Binding of Gluten
- Gluten strength by Gluten Index
The Gluten Index method
Overview
Wet Gluten is prepared from a whole meal or flour by the Glutomatic® 2200 gluten washer. Gluten Index Centrifuge 2015 is used to force the wet gluten through a specially designed sieve cassette. The relative amount of gluten passing through the sieve indicates gluten characteristics. The wet gluten is further dried in the Glutork 2020 for dry gluten content and water binding in the wet gluten calculation.
The steps in detail
The steps are illustrated in the picture above. Click the picture to enlarge it.
- Weighing
10.0 g ± 0.01 g of wholemeal or flour is weighed and put into the Glutomatic® wash chamber with an 88-micron polyester sieve. When vital wheat gluten is measured, 1.5 ± 0.01 g is weighed. - Dispensing
4.8 ml of salt solution is added to the meal or flour samples. No salt solution is added to vital wheat gluten samples. - Mixing
Meal or flour and the salt solution are mixed to form a dough during 20 seconds. - Washing
After termination of the mixing phase, the washing automatically starts and continues for five minutes. For the wheat meal, the sample is transferred to a chamber equipped with a coarse 840-micron sieve allowing bran particles to be washed out. - Centrifuging
Exactly 30 seconds after completed washing, the undivided wet gluten piece is transferred to the special sieve cassette and centrifuged one minute at 6000 ± 5 rpm in Centrifuge 2015. - Weighing
The fraction passed through the sieves is scraped off with a spatula and weighed. The fraction remaining on the inside of the sieve is collected and added to the balance. The total wet gluten weight is obtained. - Drying
The total wet gluten piece is dried at min. 150°C during four minutes in the Glutork 2020. After drying the gluten is weighed on the balance. - Calculation
The amount of gluten remaining on the centrifuge sieve in relation to total wet gluten weight is the Gluten Index.
The Glutomatic® System
The Glutomatic® System consists of
- Glutomatic® 2200
- Gluten Index Centrifuge 2015
- Glutork 2020
You also need a lab mill model LM 3100 or LM 120.
Specifications
General
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Power requirements: Power consumption: Dimensions (HxDxW): Net Weight: Ambient temperature: Humidity: |
115/230 V, 50/60 Hz Glutomatic® 2200 185 W / Centrifuge 2015 90 W / Glutork 2020 840 W 415 x 300 x 400 mm Glutomatic® 2200 24 kg / Centrifuge 2015 9 kg / Glutork 2020 2 kg 5-35C 35-80% RH, non-condensing |
Analysis
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Products: Parameters: |
Wheat, wheat flour, durum, semolina, vital gluten Gluten Index, wet gluten content, dry gluten content, water binding |