From the ingredients we use to the vessels we pour from, we’re striving to improve our impact on the environment at every stage of the production process. Learn more about our current efforts below.
In The Brewery
At the very start of the brewing process, the major by-product is spent grain. Since our very first brew, we donate 100% of the spent grain to local farms where it’s eaten by some very happy cattle. In 10 years of operating this way, it always made perfect sense to close that loop. It was only when we received a personal note of thanks from Graham the farmer we truly realised what a difference the grain makes in years of drought.
Saving WATER
We’re working hard at our Newtown brewery to reduce, reuse and recycle the water we use to make your favourite YH frothies. We’re one of four breweries in Australia using a mash filtering system that sees us compressing our grain rather than rinsing it - reducing our water usage by 40%. We also capture and reuse water used in heating/cooling during the brewing process for cleaning purposes, and in partnership with the legends at Sydney Water, we’ve designed a trade waste system that neutralises our wastewater to lower the BOD (biological oxygen demand).
SPENT GRAIN
With the help of community-investment through our mates at Pingala Cooperative, we’ve installed two solar farms atop our Newtown brewery. In addition to the ENGIE Power Purchase Agreement - set up in 2019, and our ongoing purchasing of independently accredited, renewable energy through the team at ENGIE - 100% of our electricity needs for our Newtown site are generated through renewable energy sources. Read more here.
ALGAE TANKS
In partnership with UTS Science, we’re aiming to make brewing a more carbon neutral process with our Algae Project. Working with the scientists from the University’s Climate Change Cluster (C3), we developed a method of using CO2, which is a by-product of the brewing process, to feed algae housed in bioreactors on our brew floor who in turn release oxygen. The project is reducing our emissions as a business and playing an important part in both climate change research and industry change. Read more here.
OUR ENERGY
We give a lot of thought to the vessels we use. For packaged products, we’ve always favoured the humble tinnie and in 2016, we made the switch to use majority tinnies for our core range products. Aluminium cans are light-weight, and due to their uniform shape are far more efficient to stack, trucking 25% more beer on every pallet. They are also infinitely recyclable, chill faster and protect beer from faults far better than glass bottles. Kind of like a miniature keg.
For kegs themselves, we are proud to use Konvoy. The keg leasing program helps to reduce emissions, as shared kegs are better utilised across the country, travelling one way to customers before going back into use in local breweries instead of being freighted back empty. In this big country of ours, it makes a lot of sense.