Bavarian brewery testing a method to upcycle protein from spent brewers’ grains
In the past, spent brewers’ grains either went to farms, or brewers spent money to haul them away
For most breweries, brewers’ grains are what’s left over after brewing and often merely used as animal feed. In some cases, breweries have to pay for their disposal. But, much more is hiding in the residual materials from the brewing process. They offer not only rewarding options in terms of sustainability, but also some profitable extra business for breweries. A project pursued jointly by Steinecker (supplier of brewing equipment) and two development specialists, Prof. Waldemar Reule and Dr. Rainer Gottschalk, demonstrates how this process can be successfully managed to obtain protein in addition to energy to run the plant. The concept they have developed has been put into action at the Ustersbacher Brauerei in Bavaria.
In the past, Steinecker had developed the Brewnomic process, which was designed to be energy self-sufficient. A brewery could convert spent materials into biogas, which could be used to provide electrical and heat energy to the brewery via a combined heat and power unit (CHP).