Hi Ya! How's it going, eh? Taking life with a grain of salt? Well, hoist a mug of roasted and brewed Arabica beans and grab a whole grain virtual muffin, why don't'cha? Speaking of grain, The Alaskan Brewing Company came to innovative idea to reduce its fuel
oil consumption: the beer company is using beer as a fuel source.
(Personally, I used beer as a fuel source for years!)
To be more specific, the company is using the wet grain, known as 'spent grain' -
left over from the brewing process, as the fuel source for their new steam
boiler. Alaskan is the first craft brewery in the world to use that
brewing by-product, reducing the company’s fuel oil consumption in
brewhouse operations by 60-70 percent.
"We have the unique honor of brewing craft beer in this stunning and
remote place. But in order to grow as a small business here in Alaska
and continue having a positive effect on our community, we have to take
special efforts to look beyond the traditional to more innovative ways
of brewing. Reducing our energy use makes good business sense, and good
sense for this beautiful place where we live and play," said Alaskan
Brewing co-founder Geoff Larson.
The company began the spent grain energy process in 1995 with the
installation of a grain dryer. Company's experts designed the grain
dryer to use up to 50 percent of the grain as a supplemental fuel source
to heat the dryer itself.
In 2008, The Alaskan Brewing Company became the first craft brewery to
install an energy saving piece of brewing equipment called a mash filter
press. The mash filter press, in addition to providing greater
efficiency, produces a lower-moisture-content spent grain than does the
more traditional lautering process. This form of spent grain better
lends itself to drying and for use as fuel for the brewery’s grain dryer
and, ultimately, the new spent grain steam boiler system.
Over the latter months of the last year, the company completed the final
stage of the process with the installation and commissioning of the
$1.8 million, custom-constructed spent grain steam boiler.
Alaskan expects that the new boiler will eliminate the brewery’s use of
fuel oil in the grain drying process and displace more than half of the
fuel needed to create process steam in the brewhouse. The company
expects to save nearly 1.5 million gallons of oil over the next ten
years.
Well now, I'm impressed. But it's just a different way of thinking. I mean, they had all this left over grain they were throwing out so why not figure out a way to recycle it that would save them a bunch of money. Now that's innovation! I'll drink to that...but since I'm not drinking anymore, I'll hoist my coffee cup with you!
See ya, eh!
Bob
In the USA alone, an estimated 3.2 million kids aged 5 to 12 take mixed-martial arts classes, training to administer beatdowns modeled after the adults' Ultimate Fighting Championships, according to a January report in ESPN magazine, which profiled the swaggering, Mohawked Derek "Crazy" Rayfield, 11, and the meek, doll-clutching fighting machine, Regina "The Black Widow" Awana, 7. 
Kids under age 12 fight each other without regard to gender, and blows above the collarbone are always prohibited (along with attacks on the groin, kidneys and back). "Crazy" was described delivering merciless forearm chest smashes to a foe before the referee intervened, and the Black Widow won her match in less than a minute via arm-bar submission. 
