National Activities - UK Expanding the market potential for brewers' spent grain (AFM201[Br])

Contacts




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Biopolymers/Gums : Chemical Conversion : National Activities - UK



Introduction

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L) is one of the most important raw materials used in brewing. It is a source of the sugars used fro fermentation, as well as the proteins and many of the flavour compounds that give beer its unique chaqracter and flavour. Unfortunately, brewing results in a large amount of waste barley-grain resideu, known as brewers' spent grain (BSG). These residues constitute approximately 80% of the barley cell wall material which is poorly lignified and rich in arabinoxylan polysaccharides and simple phenolics such as ferulic acid. The rest (20%) is mainly protein.

Together, UK brewers produce over half a million tonnes of waste annually. Recent legislation, particularly that which seeks to reduce landfill, coupled with a decrease in routes for BSG use as animal feed, is making disposal of BSG more costly. This is likely to drive up the price of beer and could make the UK brewing industry less competitive.

Objectives

The main aim of this DEFRA-funded Bridge-LINK project was to investigate the feasibility of converting BSG into value-added food or non-food products. This was achieved by:

• Providing characterised and functionally tested arabinoxylans as potential stabilising agents.
• Developing protocols for modifying the mechanical properties of cell wall residues for exploitation as food texturing agents.
• Assessing the practical and economic potential of these products for further development - including both food and non-food use.

The consortium

The project was led by the Institute of Food Research and includes Scottish Courage Ltd (a brewer), Masterfoods and British Sugar.

Contacts

Contact

• Keith WALDRON / Institute of Food Research UNITED KINGDOM