Are all upcycling initiatives equally valid? I’ve received this question several times along my food upcycling journey. My answer is: no, it’s not because it’s waste that can do anything, or rather, you can, but you shouldn’t. And that’s why I bring here 3 creative beer upcycling initiatives and 1 to avoid.
The brewing industry produces a huge amount of waste. For every 100 kg of barley malt used to make beer, 110 to 120 kg of wet residue is obtained. That’s why there are so many opportunities for creative beer upcycling, to turn it all into new products.
We’ve been talking about creative beer upcycling for a long time, from Regrained‘s pioneering beer bars in this post here to 3D Fuel‘s 3D printer filament here, but let’s get to the news:
1 – Barley water
And if, instead of being just another plant-based drink on the market to compete with soy, peas (we talk about this trend right at the beginning, here), oats and even potatoes, why not enter the arena of carbonated drinks and look for a blue ocean next to kombucha and kefir? Even Take Two Foods, the best known brand of plant-based barley drink, closed down its activities permanently. Meanwhile, Joíí appears, a barley water, fermented from brewing residues, naturally carbonated and that, mixed with other grains, fruits, flowers and herbs, originates new flavors:
2 – Farofa
Did you know that there are upcycled products with waste from beer production in Brazil? I recently tasted Grão Malte‘s products and I really liked them, so I took some pictures:
It is interesting to see that they already position the product as upcycled and explain the origin of the raw material so that the consumer understands what he is consuming. Label says: “here’s proof that being sustainable is more fun than you might think! Malt seasoned farofa is handcrafted with selected natural ingredients. based on malt fiber – which is extracted from the beer production process, carefully treated and transformed into a rich source of fiber – this farofa is an excellent accompaniment to different preparations.”
3 – Vodka
Yes, we are really talking about beer, you are not in the wrong post! And when the problem is the beer that has gone bad? There’s also a way to solve the problem, the Scottish brewery Brewdog produced the vodka Bad Beer Vodka, made with beer out of specification or expired. This beer passes through a rectification column in the distillery and what was beer becomes vodka. Bad Beer Vodka is packaged in a paper bottle.
Of course, if your company has waste and you don’t know how to best value it, I’m here for that, it’s what we do every day at Upcycling Solutions, but if I could give you some advice (here it’s free, enjoy!) it would be: whatever is edible, use it for edible purposes first, we have a whole planet to feed!
What I would avoid
Colorado brewery launched two limited edition glasses made with malt pomace and vegetable oil. This example is a little old, the products have already been discontinued and were very beautiful. The reason I would avoid it is because this residue is edible, so the company could explore edible alternatives first before moving on to non-edible.
It is worth remembering that Colorado belongs to Ambev, so there is certainly a lot of residue left, in a quantity large enough to be used in the most diverse applications. If your company does not have this amount of waste, this is an excellent tie-breaker in your decision-making process. And if you need professional help, count on the experts at Upcycling Solutions!
Sources: Milk Point, Agroceres Multimix, The Dieline, Publicidade E Cerveja
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