The corn wet milling process starts with commercial grade corn, which is a much harder than grocery store corn and is grown for commercial applications.

The corn wet milling process separates corn into its four basic components: starch, germ, fiber and protein.
There are five basic steps to accomplish this process. First the incoming corn is inspected and cleaned. Then it is steeped for 30 to 40 hours to begin breaking apart the starch and protein bonds. The next step in the process involves a coarse grind to separate the germ from the rest of the kernel. The remaining slurry consisting of fiber, starch and protein is finely ground and screened to separate the fiber from the starch and protein. The starch is then separated from the remaining slurry in hydrocyclones and can then be converted in to sugars and fermented.

The corn is steeped in a bath of warm water and chemicals which causes it to swell. The swollen corn is then milled and the corn germ is removed and dried for human consumption in the the form of corn oil.

The corn is then milled again to extract the corn bran or hull which is dried to make corn gluten feed, a byproduct having approximately 20% protein and is primarily used for cattle feed.

The corn is milled again to extract the gluten to produce corn gluten meal, another valuable livestock commodity, with approximately 60%-70% protein content.

The corn is milled a final time in a centrifuge process called corn wet milling to produce a white fluffy corn starch. The corn starch is then mixed with water to produce a liquid starch solution and enzymes are added. This is the liquefaction process that converts long molecular chains in the starch to short chains.

This starch is then cooked and sent to the fermenter where different types of enzymes are added to start sacrification (conversion to sugar). Yeast is added which then consume sugar and produce alcohol.

Once the yeasts have done their job, they need to be removed in a process called yeast stripping. This removed yeast is called yeast cream. The yeast is then dried and resold as a Nutraceutical usually as a pet food additive (i.e.- dog or cat food).

This leaves us with water and alcohol (approx. 14%). The water is distilled in a two stage still which removes the vast majority of the water from the alcohol.

The final step is call pervaporation which removes all remaining water resulting in a 200 proof (100%) liquid alcohol. This pure alcohol is then combined with 5% gasoline in a process called denaturing. The result -- Ethanol.

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