These groats are then further processed to make an edible food product from a raw grain. The mixture of groats and loose hulls flow into another set of aspirators, where the much lighter hulls are blown off. The groats enter scouring machines where brushes clean the groats. During the heating process, steam inactivates several undesirable enzymes present in raw grain, the groats are given a roasted nutty flavor, starch gelatinization occurs, and moisture level is reduced to a point acceptable for project storage. Adjustments are made to the conditioning system depending on the desired finished product characteristics.
Product then enters the sizing system where width graders are used to size the individual pieces.
Large groats enter the groat stream, while small groats and broken pieces are sent to the cutting system. In the cutting system, steelcut is produced from the groats and broken pieces. A small sifter is used to segregate the large and small pieces of steelcut. The large pieces are just called large steelcut. The flaking system uses steelcut or groats as raw material and produces flakes.