Local micro-brewery plans to make beer from waste bread

Mark Hazell (53) and wife Alison set up Jaw Brew, which is named after the old miller’s cottage they live in called ‘The Jaw’ in Baldernock near Milngavie.

After a meeting, organised by Zero Waste Scotland and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce to find ways to reduce waste within Glasgow, Auds asked Jaw Brew if they would use their surplus rolls to make beer.

Alison said: “This fitted in very well with our policy of keeping all our activities as ‘green’ as we can. “Normally beer is made with malted grain, mostly barley but sometimes wheat, oats and rye which is mixed with hot water to create a sugary solution ready for the addition of hops and then yeast which ends up some time later with the finished product.

“We experimented using different quantities of rolls and malt and different varieties of hops, while even non-standard yeasts were tried in the quest for a good, balanced beer.

“It became apparent that the inclusion of the bread increased the body of the beer without adding to the alcohol content and therefore focus moved to brewing a low alcohol beer that had some depth which is all too often sadly lacking in that style – many beer drinkers want a light beer that is not ‘thin’.”

After a few more tries they achieved a suitable brew and once this had been bottled and allowed to condition for a couple of weeks it was given to a select few beer aficionadosand who gave it the thumbs up.

Next came the technical challenges of trying to brew a commercial sized batch using equipment designed for malted grain rather than bread.

Jaw Brew has two graduate engineers from Strathclyde and Glasgow Universities (Mark and Alison’s sons) investigating solutions and they hope to be brewing the first batch of the beer in January.