Brewer's spent grain
What is it?
Brewer's spent grain, our urban gold!
Brewer's spent grain,
our urban gold!
Spent grain is a byproduct of malt (i.e. grain) coming from the beer brewing process.
These cereals, mostly barley, are simply boiled in the brewing process, then disposed of and too often thrown away.
These spent grains are the urban gold of tomorrow because they are abundant and a rich source of energy, protein and minerals.
Large quantities of spent grain
1 pint of beer = 1 pint of spent grain
1 Pint of beer
=
1 Pint of spent grain
For every pint you drink, you produce the same volume of dry spent grain.
Imagine the volumes it represents each weekend, only at your scale.
If we consider the boom in the microbrewery phenomenon in Quebec (between 2015 and 2019 their number simply doubled) and more generally in Canada, the volume of residue has exploded.
Luckily the Boomerang Coop is there to save these high value grains!
Why should we care?
The environment
In most cases, the spent grains end up in landfills, for land application or feeding to livestock.
The problem is twofold. On the one hand, the decomposition of spent grain generates powerful greenhouse gases, but also other toxic substances, threatening the quality of the soil and water and thus the fauna and flora.
On the other hand, spent grain is full of unexploited value, generating unnecessary transportation to dispose of the residue and also to supply flour, wasting valuable resources and generating unnecessary CO2.
By collecting and upcycling this residue, Boomerang acts FOR the circular economy and sustainable development and AGAINST global warming.
The brewers
In urban areas, spent grain is a real problem for brewers.
Considering the volumes generated daily, storing and getting rid of it is a real headache. In addition to being a pain, it’s also a burden, since microbreweries pay for pickup services to transport the spent grain to landfill sites or fields.
There is therefore a strong need for a service that will not only collect these grains in the most efficient way possible, but will also be able to upcycle them at their true value: for US.