Beer may be a new weapon scientists use in the fight against red tide! The laboratory awarded more than $1 million in grants to scientists looking for innovative ways to combat Karenia brevis. This project will test natural compounds from “brewer’s spent grain” (BSG)—a readily available byproduct of beer breweries—for their potential to fight K. brevis and degrade its brevetoxins. Scientists know that a related product, barley straw, produces compounds that can fight certain algal blooms as the straw decomposes over time. However, the slow release of compounds is not practical for K. brevis blooms that form in ocean waters offshore because it must be deployed well ahead of algal-bloom formation and remain near the bloom. Also, it is not clear that the barley straw would degrade or produce the same compounds in saltwater that it does in freshwater. In contrast, BSG has five times greater concentrations of certain barley compounds—phenolic acids and flavonoids—that can fight algae in the lab, and BSG is already releasing these compounds when it leaves the brewery, so project partners aim to assess its practical use for controlling K. brevis and its toxins.