Ever wondered what happens to all those grains used to make Eruption ales after the brewing process has finished?
BREWERY
Just one of our 1500 litre brews uses around 200kg of Canterbury’s best malted barley (generally agreed by experts to be the best barley in the world!). The malted barley is added into the tank at the start of the brewing process. Once the brew is completed the wet barley is left over as a waste by-product, but the grains still retain high levels of nutritional value after the sugars have been extracted. Its simply too good to be thrown away!
The high moisture content of the spent grains (75%- 80%) makes it impossible to store for more than a few days and it is heavy and uneconomic to transport long distances. We wanted to find a good use as close as possible to the brewery and we found the perfect home only 1km down the road!
PADDOCK
Eruption has formed a partnership with Otaranui Farm, right here in Lyttelton, run by Jozefa Wylaars and Phil Garing. After our weekly brewing days, you will see Jozefa collecting the hefty bins of spent grains from London Street and from there she takes them to the farm where they are used to feed the Lowline breed of cows and Boer and Saanen goats.
The grains are fed to the animals a few times a week to supplement their grass and foraged diets. Jozefa invited us to come and watch at feeding time. The grain is eaten from a variety of troughs and at various locations to ensure it is shared out.
The grain is delivered by quad bike and at times the over-enthusiastic goats climb on the bike to jump the queue! Jozefa is sure that this is a really healthy and wholesome addition to their diet.
PLATE
To complete the full circle, back at Eruption, the kitchen purchases Jozefa’s premium beef mince and our chef has designed the Full Circle Burger to showcase the Otaranui beef. It’s now the most popular item on the menu and our customers say the can really taste the flavour and quality of the beef. The spent grains story is totally unique to Lyttelton, and the very short distance between brewery, paddock and plate is surely not matched by anywhere else in the world. In fact you can see the farm from the restaurant balcony and deck. Otaranui beef is also used on our spicy London Street Fire Pizza too.
Our next challenge is to create something equally as tasty using the Otaranui goat meat. The goats love the grains even more than the cows do. Coming soon - Keep an eye on our menu!
