Abstract
The effects of final warm steeping at 40°C and air-rest cycles on malting loss and other malt quality parameters of three improved Nigerian sorghum cultivars were investigated. Grains were steeped for 48 h under four different steep regimes then germinated for 4 days at 30°C. The effect of final warm steeping on kernel growth, malting loss, diastatic power, α and β-amylase and extracts of the malts was significantly affected by air-resting, cultivar and the pair-wise interactions of cultivar and steep regime. Generally, malting loss and kernel growth reduced significantly (p< 0.001) when the steep cycle was a combination of air-resting and final warm water steep at 40°C. Diastatic power, α-amylase, β-amylase and extract also improved significantly in both ICSV 400 and KSV 8 when these grains were malted by a steep regime which combined both air-rest cycles and final warm water steep. However steeping these grains under a final warm water steep without air-resting led to a decrease in extract recovery and enzyme activity. Conversely steeping SK 5912 by a combination of air-resting and final warm water steep generally, inhibited rather than enhanced extract and enzyme development.

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