Turning by-products from beer brewing into chips and dip

A team of beer enthusiasts at DTU dream of brewing the world’s most circular beer. Part of the answer is to turn by-products from the brewing process into chips and dip.

What could be better than the classic combination of beer and chips? Well, sustainable chips made almost exclusively from by-products generated when brewing sustainable beer of course—at  least if you ask the beer enthusiasts from Science Brew. They have come up with that very idea in their endeavours to produce a Zero Waste Beer.

Science Brew is a DTU spinout from the DTU Brewery at the National Food Institute.

By-products become beerchos and dip

After brewing a batch of beer, the company—like all other breweries—is left with large quantities of the by-product called brewer’s spent grain, which contains a considerable amount of protein, sugars and antioxidants. The Science Brew staff put the spent grain through a filter press developed at the DTU Brewery to separate it into a liquid and a dry matter.

They can then grind the dry matter into a flour, which they mix into a dough using some of the liquid from the spent grain, some spices and some corn flour. The dough is rolled out, cut into triangle shapes and baked. The resulting chips in many ways resemble and taste like nachos and the inventors have aptly called the product ‘beerchos’.

But chips should be dipped in something if they are enjoyed with a beer. So using flour and liquid from the spent grain and some of the hops and yeast used to brew the beer, the company has developed a dip that has a consistency similar to a tapenade. The first two ingredients give the dip a high fiber and protein content, while the last two add antioxidants and give it the basic taste, umami.

The prototype products have been well received

Those who have so far had a chance to taste the chips and dip have given the products the thumbs up. In order to help evaluate the product, selected businesses received chips and dip samples along with their deliveries of Science Brew beers during the month of December

From the autumn of 2020, it will be possible for anyone to try the goods, when they will be available from both the actual and the virtual shelves at the Polyteknisk Boghandel book store at DTU. Customers who order Science Brew’s beer on tap will also receive some beerchos for people to enjoy with their beer.

Brewer’s spent grain has lots of potential

The world’s breweries generate almost 40 million tonnes of brewer’s spent grain annually. Ideas like Science Brew’s beerchos and dip are just some of the many ways that breweries can gain greater value from a by-product, which today usually ends up as animal feed.

However, the company is hatching many other ideas for using the by-product—ideas that will eventually help the company get closer to their vision of producing zero-waste beer. The beer enthusiasts will e.g., keep working on incorporating brewer’s spent grain into fiber-rich muesli bars and using it to replace some of the meat in sausages.

Source: DTU Food