A Melbourne-based brewery has developed new technology to turn surplus bread into beer.
Local Brewing Co recently received a $400,000 Coles Nurture Fund Grant to help with the development of their EcoCrumb technology. The news comes after Hang 10 Distillery in Sydney became one of the first in the world to craft whiskey from leftover sourdough bread.
Local Brewing Co-Founder Nick Campbell told Drinks Trade, “EcoCrumb upcycles surplus bread by dehydrating and milling it down into a crumb that then substitutes the traditional grain used in brewing. Our biggest challenge has been using the bread in the short window of time before it spoils.”
Nick said the brewery will invest the grant funds into further research and equipment, which will hopefully produce 100 times the current volume of EcoCrumb. During this process, Campbell also hoped to increase the shelf life from just 48 hours up to six months.
“Not only will this enable us to introduce EcoCrumb across our full range of beers but also produce a shelf-ready product on a national scale to encourage Aussie breweries to reduce their environmental footprint by using our grain substitute,” he said.
Local Brewing Co and Hang 10 Distillery have both partnered up with bread suppliers to source the base grain for their products.
Already, Local Brewing has upcycled more than two tonnes of excess Coles Brand bread for its limited-edition, Surplus Series. Hang 10 used leftover sourdough from local Sydney bakery Berkelo, which was then mixed with Schooner malt barley to produce the 180-bottle The Goofy Barrel run.
Coles Liquor Business Category Manager for Beer Nick McArdle told Drinks Trade the decision to fund Local Brewing’s EcoCrumb innovation was made following the in-store success of Local Brewing Co’s EcoCrumb products.
“Our customers have loved the limited-edition Surplus Series, the Citrus Hazy Pale – a delicious, easy drinking-beer that’s also a product of the recent trials of EcoCrumb,” he said.
“By further investing in the development of the EcoCrumb, we look forward to seeing Local Brewing Co.’s impact scale across their range nationally, minimise food waste and best of all deliver some great tasting beer.”
Millions of tonnes of bread are wasted annually not just in Australia, but around the globe, due to its limited shelf-life.
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