Disruptor Wheat: 9 Mile Legacy explains how to brew smarter with biologicals

Collaboration isn’t a novelty to the craft brewing industry—it’s practically brewed in. In a setting as familiar to craft brewers as a grain sack and a hydrometer, our partnership with Novonesis didn’t begin with a pitch deck or a boardroom. It started over beers.

A spark was lit when our head brewer got into a back-and-forth about grain quality for brewing and the role biologics can play in herbicide-free growing with a senior sales manager from Novonesis’ Saskatoon team — about where your dart would land if you aimed for the middle of Canada’s grain belt on a map. 

“What excites me most about biosolutions is their ability to solve today’s brewing challenges while quietly building a more sustainable future,” said David Spector, Account Manager at Novonesis. “It’s not just about better beer – it’s about smarter systems.”

From there, it didn’t take a fermentation scientist to see the potential of brewing with biologically grown crops. But it did take the right timing to raise the stakes and take the collaboration from a creative spark to a shared outcome with real impact.

More than a wheat ale: a Disruptor by design.

Could biological brewing aids, like enzyme blends and grain grown using biologics, translate into real impact on a commercial brewing operation? Products marketed to improve flow, boost sugar extraction, and speed up fermentation carry a heavy promise. But lab-based claims don’t mean much when the reality looks like stuck mashes, under-converted starches, or stalled brews destined to swirl the drain.

With the weight of a full mash tun on our shoulders, we forged ahead, throwing caution to the wind – but not without intention. At 9 Mile Legacy Brewing, problem-solving is part of who we are. It comes from our roots in Saskatchewan farming, where two heads are better than one and neighbors help neighbors without hesitation. That same mindset led to the creation of LGCY: Innovation Hub, our in-house space for experimentation, practical questions, and data-backed decisions.

With LGCY in place, we went after the question head-on: can biologics bring real brewing benefits, from seed to sip? And because craft brewing is known for its humble roots and small personalities, we named the beer born from this collaboration Disruptor Wheat Ale. It turned out bright, citrusy, and clean – and the data we collected on process efficiencies and brewing gains was compelling enough to present at the Craft Brewers Conference in Indianapolis this past May.

Same brewhouse, different energy.

We brewed both batches on the same equipment, with the same crew, under the same conditions. One followed our trusted wheat ale recipe. The other, Disruptor Wheat Ale, pushed boundaries with nearly 50% unmalted, biologics-grown wheat and an enzyme toolset developed by Novonesis, including a new-to-us suite designed to improve starch conversion and support fermentation.

These weren’t cautious tweaks. They were deliberate risks, ones that caught attention across Novonesis. What began as a local conversation turned into a full-scale project supported by specialists across the company’s international teams. New enzymes, new grain, new approach, brought together by people excited to test the edges of what’s possible in real-world brewing.

The real test was in the mash.

Any brewer who’s worked with unmalted grain knows it can be a liability. High adjunct brewing can gum up the mash, slow runoff, and throw conversion efficiency into chaos. We built Disruptor’s recipe with nearly 50% unmalted biologics–grown wheat not as a stylistic flex, but as a challenge to the value propositions of these brewing enzymes. Improved extract efficiency, reduced wort viscosity, better mash filtration – those were the promises.

Here’s the surprise: conversion was clean. The mash bed held. And by the time we hit runoff, we weren’t crossing our fingers; we were watching it work. The wort flowed fast, gravity came in high, and we finished the transfer with time to spare. That’s when the risk started to look like an opportunity.

Samples taken throughout mashing and lautering told the same story. What we felt intuitively, after a decade behind the mash paddle, was backed up in the data. Disruptor’s wort had roughly 50% lower viscosity under both high-shear (pumping, lautering) and low-shear (mashing) conditions. It ran clearer, picked up sugar faster, and carried less particulate and precipitate. Biochemically, the batch gave us a tighter sugar balance, a stronger proportion of fermentables, and a major drop in beta-glucans. pH held steady through the mash and runoff, keeping the wort in a sweet spot for fermentation health down the line.

A faster tank turn without tradeoffs. 

Fermentation didn’t just move fast – it outran us. Disruptor reached terminal gravity by day five, a full 24 hours ahead of our control batch. It may have finished even sooner, but it outpaced our standard checks. Either way, it freed up a tank a day earlier, and with that, opened space in our brewing schedule. At our current production capacity, that shift could translate to one additional brew per fermenter per year. Applied across our system, we’re looking at a projected $150,000 CAD in added annual revenue, without any change to infrastructure, inputs, or labor.

Free Amino Nitrogen (FAN) levels were 12.7% higher at pitch and remained elevated during early fermentation. That made a difference. FAN is critical for yeast metabolism—when it’s in short supply, fermentation can stall or throw off flavors. We used a protease-based pre-treatment in the mash tun that pulled double duty: it freed up nitrogen and improved fermentable sugar extraction from our high adjunct grist.

The beer finished well – bright, with notes of mandarin and lemon, layered with subtle spice and coriander. A wheat ale we’re proud of. But a good beer wasn’t the biggest win.

We’d do it again – and we are.

The real takeaway was everything behind it: a brewing process that held up under pressure, delivered measurable gains, and proved that biologics can drive performance where it matters most.

We’d do it again. In fact, we are. Disruptor wasn’t a one-off – it was a proof point. 

“For decades, we’ve shown how biologicals help feed and protect crops as part of integrated management systems,” said Jon Treloar, Technical Agronomist at Novonesis. “The Disruptor project highlights how biology improves both farming and processing. With biologicals, farming and brewing bloom—tiny microbes, mighty allies, nurturing crops and crafting flavors for a sustainable future.”

The process improvements we saw also pointed to broader efficiencies: reduced inputs with expected higher conversion in the mash, lower resistance during transfer and lautering, and potential water savings both in–process and during clean–in–place cycles. Combined with a grist featuring a high proportion of unmalted grain, the result is a measurably lower carbon footprint. These gains might not all show up in a single brew, but they add up, and speak to the values of a craft industry that’s trending more environmentally conscious, even as it relies on a water-intensive workflow.                                                                                      

Since that brew day, we’ve continued experimenting with biological inputs across styles and scales, applying what we learned to both research collaborations and commercial recipes. The tools might be new, but the drive is old-school: better beer, smarter process, and the kind of innovation that sticks when the brew day is over.

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Cassy Appelt is the Director of LGCY: Innovation Hub, the research and fermentation facility at 9 Mile Legacy Brewing, and a PhD candidate at the University of Saskatchewan. At LGCY, she leads initiatives that fuse fermentation-based education (Learning), cross-sector innovation and commercialization (Growth), and experimental work with new ingredients and processes (Creativity)—all deeply connected to Saskatoon’s local ecosystem (YXE). Cassy is passionate about bridging scientific research and practical brewing applications, driving forward new ideas that shape the future of fermentation and craft brewing. LinkedIn Profile

Nicolai Staugaard Hansen is a Technical Service Scientist at Novonesis, where he partners with breweries to optimize production and innovate using advanced enzyme and culture solutions. A native of Copenhagen, Denmark, Nicolai brings global perspective and deep technical expertise to the brewing industry. He holds an MSc in Food Science and is a certified Diploma Master Brewer, combining scientific insight with hands-on brewing knowledge. Now based in North Carolina, he continues to support customers across diverse markets, helping them improve quality, efficiency, and sustainability in their brewing processes. LinkedIn Profile