AWARD YEAR
2023
CATEGORY
Body
GOALS
Zero Hunger, Responsible Consumption & Production, Climate Action, Partnerships for the Goals
KEYWORDS
upcycling, food waste, beer, food production
COUNTRY
Denmark
DESIGNED BY
Aviaja Riemann-Andersen & Karin Beukel
WEBSITE
https://en.agrainproducts.com
Agrain®
Upcycling brewer's spent grain from beer and whisky production to food
How does it work?
Beer and whisky is brewed with grain, mainly barley. However, beer can also be brewed from other types and mixes of grain, which means that some of our flour contains rye, wheat and oats.
Agrain® processes the spent grains into four types of Agrain® Super Grain speciality flour. First, the water is separated from the grains, then dehydrated, and lastly, the dry grains are ground into flour. The four types of flours combine many different types of 100% organic spent grains.
Why is it needed?
Brewers' spent grain is one of the food industry's largest side streams. Every year, breweries around the world dispose of more than 40 million tonnes of brewer's spent grain. For every 100 litres of beer, the brewery produces 20 kg of brewers' spent grain. This nutrient-rich mix of grain and water could cover 8% of the food deficit the world is estimated to face in just 8 years!
Today, brewer's spent grain is disposed of differently from country to country and from brewery to brewery. In Denmark, some brewer's spent grain is used for animal feed, in other places it is used for biogas, but in the vast majority of places in the world these options are not available and the worm is discarded as waste.
How does it improve life?
The aim has been to develop four types of flour that each has a unique taste. In their assortment you will find 01 Pilsner, 02 IPA, 03 Stout and the 04 Whisky. The name indicates from which grain the flour is produced.
For every 500g bag of Agrain flour, 2m² of farmland can be saved. Agrain don't use water in the production of their flour. CO2 emissions from production are 0.59 CO2eq per kg of flour (unpackaged)* - far from the global average for wheat flour, which you can replace with Agrain Super Grain Flour.