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Celebrating diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice within the craft beer community
Celebrating diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice within the craft beer community
Beer Industry

Upcycling Spent Brewer’s Grains

Malu
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September 29, 2020
5 Mins read
Man scraping spent grain from a large kettle in a brewery.,Renegade Brewery,England

Upcycling Spent Brewer’s Grains: Good for the Industry and the Environment

by Shelly Montgomery

Like a hop vine that has finally found its ideal conditions, the craft beer industry is growing at a startling rate. In the past decade, the sector has grown from about 9 million barrels per year to over 25 million barrels in 2019[1]. The increase in production creates more than just happy consumers; it creates measurable environmental impact.

 

The good news is that craft brewers are no strangers to sustainability efforts. Some of the largest craft beer companies in the United States, New Belgium Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company to name a few, promote sustainability as an integral part of their business models. For others, unique   partnerships that create community contribute to their sustainability efforts. The challenges of creating sustainability and decreasing environmental impact vary widely depending on geographic location and size of the brewery.

 

Photo courtesy of Alliance to Save Energy.

 

Environmental Impact

The brewing industry is resource intensive. The three primary resources that must be managed in the craft brewing process are energy consumption, water use, and waste products. Energy is consumed both in brewing and refrigeration of the beer while water is consumed by both the  brewing and bottling process. The majority of the waste that comes from the craft brewing process is wastewater and by-products (spent grains, yeast, etc.).

 

In order to address the environmental impact of Colorado craft breweries, the Pollution Prevention and Small Business Assistance Programs at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment undertook an initiative to provide pollution prevention and sustainability assistance to brewers throughout the state[2].  They addressed each of the above areas of resource management and developed a report of findings. The report found that three-fourths of the participating brewers already had a culture of sustainability but half lacked formal programs.

 

In order to help craft brewers address their solid waste challenges, the Brewer’s Association published the Solid Waste Reduction Manual[3]. This manual provides guidance to craft brewers of all sizes for how to reduce, reuse, and recycle their solid wastes. One important trend is re-harvesting spent grains.

 

What are Spent Grains

Spent grains are the used grains from the brewing process that can constitute up to 85% of a brewery’s by-product[4]. Brewers are left with approximately a pound of spent grains for every six-pack of beer brewed[5]. These grains provide the flavor and the necessary for the fermentation process of beer making. Since many of the sugars are rinsed out of the spent grains, the leftover grains are high in protein, high in fiber, and low in carbohydrates. They contain valuable nutrition for humans and farm animals alike.

 

Spent grain. Photo courtesy of Bay Area.

 

Upcycling Spent Grains

The craft beer industry has always had an innovative approach to sustainability. In the early days, partnerships with farms were the cornerstone of this innovation. Not only through sourcing materials like hops and grains locally but also through returning spent grain waste products back to farmers for feed and compost. This excellent use of local resources presents challenges for urban craft beer producers. Sometimes, the resources required to transport spent grains back to a rural area where farms are located are greater than the resources required to simply dispose of the product. This is where the trend of creativity and innovation are growing to help consume brewing by-products, specifically spent grains, closer to the source.

 

An Interview with an Innovative Upcycler

In an August 2020 interview with Bertha Jimenez, CEO and co-founder of Rise Products[6], she revealed how she came to see value in upcycling spent grains from the craft beer industry. As an Ecuadorian immigrant, Bertha was surprised at the amount of usable food products that go to waste in the United States. While she was finishing her PhD in Mechanical Engineering, she and her partner entered a contest called Global Idea Exchange. The purpose of the contest was to look at the way that cities were run and come up with ideas for improvements. Bertha and her partner really wanted to explore by-products that could be used as a raw material for a different industry.

 

Bertha Jimenez, CEO and co-founder of Rise Products. Photo courtesy of Ed Lefkowicz.

 

A local brewery tour helped them understand more about spent grains, especially in an urban environment. They explored upcycling spent grains into many different products from building materials and dog biscuits to fiber and flour. Bertha shared that since the flavors are so good and the spent grains are so nutrient dense, they settled on creating a process to make flour for commercial bakeries. She states that as an immigrant and a woman of color, she has largely found acceptance among the craft beer community. Bertha identified that the biggest bias that she experiences is at waste management conferences and competitions because she says many don’t feel that women belong in waste management. She also experiences biases when talking with investors because many still don’t feel that women should be in her position. She says that she is never afraid to turn down an investor that she feels is unethical or has a negative social impact.

 

When asked what advice she has for other women who would like to create innovative products in the craft beer sector she shared, “Try to figure out what you really like whether it is baking, building, or soap-making and then focus on that. Don’t be afraid to experiment, keep going, and adapt to the market. If you are creating a material for the end-user, keep simplicity in mind.” Bertha takes her own advice and has recently adapted her business model in response to market changes with COVID-19. About 95% of Rise Products sales were previously to commercial bakeries and professional food service businesses. Many of these businesses slowed down or shut down with restrictions required by Covid-19. In response to market changes, Bertha added baking mixes, brownies, and granola for the end-user to her product list. She says, “Spent grain flour can be more challenging to work with for the end-user,” and adds, “I should have added these products sooner.”

 

Upcycling at Home

There are many ways to upcycle spent grains at home. The first challenge is to find a local source of spent grains. Talking to smaller local craft breweries or friends who homebrew is a great place to start. Be sure to use the spent grains right away or dry in a low temperature oven to store for future use.

 

Following are just a few of the many ways that you can integrate spent grains into your home projects:

  • Baking – both human food and dog biscuits
  • Compost and mulch for gardening
  • Substrate to grow edible mushrooms
  • Worm box ingredients
  • Soap making
  • Home farm animal feed – cows, pigs, poultry

 

Whether you decide to purchase pre-made spent grain products at the local grocer or online or you decide to create your own spent grain delights, upcycling this valuable product has the potential to benefit the craft beer industry, your health, and the environment.

 

Spent grain dog treats. Photo courtesy of Appetites Anonymous.

 

Resources:

[1] https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics-and-data/national-beer-stats/

[2] https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/DEHS_Sust_BrewersReportFinal_May2018.pdf

[3] https://www.brewersassociation.org/attachments/0001/1529/Sustainability_Manual_Solid_waste.pdf

[4] https://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-muses/sustainable-uses-of-spent-grain#:~:text=Spent%20grain%2C%20the%20leftover%20malt,grain%20from%20going%20to%20waste.

[5] https://www.tastingtable.com/dine/national/what-is-spent-grain-beer-bread

[6] https://www.riseproducts.co/

beer brewing beer grain beer industry beer spent grain beer waste brew brewing Craft Alcohol craft beer craft beer industry Craft Brewing environment recycle reuse Shelly Montgomery spent spent grain spent grains sustainability upcycle upcycling waste reduction
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I am sorry to our beer community and our queer com I am sorry to our beer community and our queer community. I made a mistake, and I’d like to make an apology.

Beer is for Everyone received an email a few days ago, and I jumped to conclusions about its meaning based on my own lived experiences.

As a person who identifies as a womxn, specifically a non-binary demi female womxn, I was defensive when I read the aforementioned email. Because of my own experiences of being invalidated and attacked, I took it to mean that the person was anti-queer.

However, I never followed up to find out a deeper reason why the sender said what they did. It’s not an excuse, but it is a reason - I get messages like this all the time and are usually very much racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and the list goes on. So, I tend to just ignore them.

But, a friend brought it to my attention that they were confused as to why I used a word that can be seen as problematic.

After much discussion, I realized I wasn’t as clear as I needed to be. And, my assumption could have hurt someone.

I also needed to be more aware that just because I use that term to identify, I should have acknowledged that it, perhaps, should not be used by others, at least not if they don’t personally identify or have consent.

Identity politics are incredibly complex and ever-evolving. And, even though I consider myself well-versed and well-lived, I am wrong very often. So, I am truly sorry if I hurt anyone.

I will be following up with a longer post online at a later time once I can decompress. But, for now, I want to give this apology with my sincere sadness for any confusion or hurt that I may have caused.

-Lindsay

P.S. Pride release is still happening because our Pride is unwavering 🏳️‍🌈
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We received a message from someone saying, “What a great idea and group! I was ready to support until I saw the use of the word “womxn”. Sorry…” 

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And, to celebrate our love for our diverse, intersectional community, we are doing a surprise PRIDE drop. 

But, it’s not June. How could we be releasing Pride merch? Well, guess what, Pride is 365/24/7 here 🌈 As it should be. 

Cheers! Stay tuned for much more - We might be making this a double drop special. 

Mark your calendars for 3/31 at noon PST on Transgender Day of Visibility- As a direct response to the anti-trans, anti-queer legislation and rhetoric surrounding our nation, we combat them with awareness, advocacy, and radical joy.
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Read Ruvani de Silva's book review on our website now.
I am sorry to our beer community and our queer com I am sorry to our beer community and our queer community. I made a mistake, and I’d like to make an apology.

Beer is for Everyone received an email a few days ago, and I jumped to conclusions about its meaning based on my own lived experiences.

As a person who identifies as a womxn, specifically a non-binary demi female womxn, I was defensive when I read the aforementioned email. Because of my own experiences of being invalidated and attacked, I took it to mean that the person was anti-queer.

However, I never followed up to find out a deeper reason why the sender said what they did. It’s not an excuse, but it is a reason - I get messages like this all the time and are usually very much racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and the list goes on. So, I tend to just ignore them.

But, a friend brought it to my attention that they were confused as to why I used a word that can be seen as problematic.

After much discussion, I realized I wasn’t as clear as I needed to be. And, my assumption could have hurt someone.

I also needed to be more aware that just because I use that term to identify, I should have acknowledged that it, perhaps, should not be used by others, at least not if they don’t personally identify or have consent.

Identity politics are incredibly complex and ever-evolving. And, even though I consider myself well-versed and well-lived, I am wrong very often. So, I am truly sorry if I hurt anyone.

I will be following up with a longer post online at a later time once I can decompress. But, for now, I want to give this apology with my sincere sadness for any confusion or hurt that I may have caused.

-Lindsay

P.S. Pride release is still happening because our Pride is unwavering 🏳️‍🌈
#Repost from @goldspotbrewing • Two new beers fo #Repost from @goldspotbrewing
•
Two new beers for y’all!  First: Out Loud Maibock - collaboration with @fictionbeer has notes of honey, bread and a refreshing finish. Benefiting @transformative_freedom_fund and @everywhereisqueer  Second: Our newest West Coast IPA with notes of mango, pine and orange 🥭🍊🌲
In response to the events transpiring in the world In response to the events transpiring in the world, we thought we’d share this reminder: Beer is for Everyone. All of us; not some of us 🍻

We received a message from someone saying, “What a great idea and group! I was ready to support until I saw the use of the word “womxn”. Sorry…” 

So, in case you didn’t know, beer is for everyone! And, we unequivocally mean it.

Beer is for…

Trans folx
Queer folx
Non-binary folx
LGBTQIAA2S+
QTBIPOC
Womxn

Beer is for Everyone

And, to celebrate our love for our diverse, intersectional community, we are doing a surprise PRIDE drop. 

But, it’s not June. How could we be releasing Pride merch? Well, guess what, Pride is 365/24/7 here 🌈 As it should be. 

Cheers! Stay tuned for much more - We might be making this a double drop special. 

Mark your calendars for 3/31 at noon PST on Transgender Day of Visibility- As a direct response to the anti-trans, anti-queer legislation and rhetoric surrounding our nation, we combat them with awareness, advocacy, and radical joy.
An event from @rhythmbrewingco • Brewing Change: An event from @rhythmbrewingco
•
Brewing Change: A Conversation & Beer Tasting with Alisa Bowens-Mercado @ladylager1 Tuesday, March 28th 6-7:30pm, Location @ontherocksqu, 305 Sherman Ave, Hamden, CT.

We will also be showing a short clip of the documentary @onepintfilm which highlights Black brewers, brand owners, and influencers across the country who are reshaping the craft beer industry. This event is being co-sponsored by the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement, M&T Bank Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and the M&T Bank Center for Women & Business.

*No person under the age of 21 years will be served or allowed to consume alcoholic beverages at the event. Proof of age will be required. 

Please use form (link in bio) to register for the event and submit questions you would like answered during the Q&A portion.
Our “Beer Unites” shirt on our amazing @ladies Our “Beer Unites” shirt on our amazing @ladieswhobrew
•
#repost 
Drinking beer in my @beerisforeveryone shirt. @skeletonkeybrewery
#crazyhairdontcare
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Beer is for Everyone is a grass roots project that was born from the need for more diverse bodies, spaces, and voices within the craft beer community. We look to encourage the inclusion of all people who love craft beer.

Most Popular

Lone Star Riddles

Yellow plastic crates with beer bottles in a brewery.,Bairds Brewery,Japan

The Beer Boom

Sharing beer

Colonialism and the Legacy of Lager in Mexico

Mexican alcohol cocktail chelada with light beer and lime juice
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