New project investigates how by-products from beer brewing can be used in food on a large scale

The project aims to develop methods for handling, processing, and using brewers´s spent grain as an ingredient in food production, focusing on bread and breakfast cereals. The project is led by RISE, and the project group includes Axfood, Axfoundation, Bageri Gruppen, Carlsberg Sverige, Elajo and Fazer.

- By bringing together actors from the entire value chain, the challenges that exist along the entire value chain can be solved, while the step from research to practical application is reduced. The hope is that the project will contribute to making brewer´s spent grain a valuable ingredient in a variety of food products, both new and old, says project leader Tim Nielsen from RISE.

Food production accounts for about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions and is the largest driver of biodiversity loss. In part of the production, large amounts of residual streams arise, and if we could utilize more of these as food, we could reduce the total environmental footprint of food.

Brewer´s spent grain is a by-product of beer production, consisting of grain residues left over after the brewing process. For every litre of beer there is appr. 180 g of brewer´s spent grain and in Sweden alone, approximately 80,000 tons of spent grain are produced annually. Currently, this is mainly used for animal feed, biogas, or composting.

Brewer´s spent grain is a by-product of beer production. Photo: Carlsberg Sverige

There is some, often small-scale, use of spent grain in food today, but it could be done on a much larger scale. Spent grain is rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and contains antioxidants with health benefits, and could be mixed into many different types of food to increase the nutritional value.

There are several challenges to using brewer´s spent grain on a larger scale. When the spent grain is handled at the brewery, it is wet and contains many nutrients, which promotes microbial growth, and the spoilage processes can proceed quickly if not handled correctly. The spent grain can be dried directly at the brewery and then ground or fermented as a wet product to extend its shelf life. The high fiber content of the spent grain can also affect the taste and texture of the final product if not processed sufficiently.

During 2025-2026, RISE, together with Axfood, Axfoundation, Bageri Gruppen, Carlsberg Sverige, Elajo, and Fazer, will run the Formas-funded project Brewed and Renewed to investigate how the entire value chain from brewery to consumer can be optimized to offer tasty, healthy, safe, and sustainable food products with a high content of brewer´s spent grain. The project builds on results and lessons from a previous project that investigated the potential of brewer´s spent grain as a food ingredient in pasta, bread, and cereals.

Media contact: Niklas Jälevik, RISE, niklas.jalevik@ri.se

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