Fig. 34.—Kedzie’s Farinometer Showing the Parts.—(Bulletin 13, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.)
Gluten Tester.
—A simple test for determining the approximate percentage of gluten in flour may be used, based upon the principle that the viscosity of dough is a measure of its practical gluten content. The name applied to a gluten tester is farinometer.
A convenient form of farinometer devised by Kedzie is shown in the accompanying figure. It is patterned somewhat upon the plan of Jago’s viscometer. The instrument is shown in parts in [Fig. 34]. The instrument as in use is exhibited in [Fig. 35]. Parts shown in [Fig. 34] are as follows: No. 1 is the stand or support of the parts. No. 2 is the cap of No. 1, and discloses the half-inch opening (half closed by the slide) through which the dough is forced by the pressure of the rod No. 4. The slide by which this opening is closed is plainly shown; also the socket for holding No. 3. No. 3 is a brass tube 3 inches high and 1 inch internal diameter, with a small knob to fit into the notched opening in the side of the socket seen in No. 2, to hold No. 3 firmly in place. No. 4 is a steel rod 15⁄16 inch in diameter and 12 inches long, with a thin brass cap 1 inch in diameter, beveled slightly so that the front edge fills the barrel of No. 3 without friction, and is yet dough-tight. Near the top the rod is marked into inch spaces.
In using the farinometer two points are considered:
1. The water-absorbing power of a flour, or the percentage of water it will take up to form a dough of a certain consistency.
2. The viscosity of such dough, or its resistance to change of form under a uniform force; e. g., the length of time in seconds required to force a cylinder of dough 1 inch high through a hole one-half inch in diameter under the pressure of a vertical steel rod 13 inches long and weighing 21⁄2 pounds avoirdupois.
Fig. 35.—Kedzie’s Farinometer in Use.—(Bulletin 13, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.)