One brewer proudly describes it as 'the perfect cycle'.

Victorian Eric Walters has taken to using spent grain from the brewing process to feed his Angus cattle, which, in turn, are served as steaks by the brewery’s kitchen.

It is a system that only came about after years of seeing his grain depart to eager cattle-farming friends.

“A lot of cattle farmers were always keen for my spent grain, and they started bringing me in bits of steak and telling me how the cattle were doing fantastic and it’s the best they’ve ever had,” said Mr Walters, from Gippsland’s Grand Ridge Brewery.

“After all these beautiful steaks I was eating, I thought we should do this.”

Mr Walters sees it as the archetypal case of transforming a problem into an opportunity.

“The first day of brewing is when you take all the starches and fermentable sugars naturally out of the grain, and then it is a waste product that you want off the premise,” he said.

“It’s really high in protein and it’s great cattle feed.”

It forms part of Mr Walters' attempts to develop a fully sustainable brewery, with Grand Ridge now fully powered by 384 solar panels.

“I’ve been wanting to do it for several years, and just watching the price of the panels and the payback period and the reality of it.

“It is a huge task, but really rewarding, because it is part of our ethos of sustainability.

“It’s making those meters hum backwards, and that’s what you’ve got to love.”