Brewing Adjuncts
(book excerpts)An adjunct is a source of fermentable material that is not malted grains such as corn, rice, rye, oats, barley, and wheat. Adjuncts can provide starch that must undergo mashing, or they can supply sugar that can be added directly to the kettle or even to the fermenter. Adjuncts are used as supplements to malted grain, seldom providing more than 30 to 40 percent of the fermentable sugar unless additional enzymes are added. Adjuncts are used mainly because they provide extract at a lower cost (a cheaper form of carbohydrate) than is available from malted barley. In addition, adjuncts can be used to impart elements of beer characteristics and quality such as color, flavor, foam, body, and drinkability. They provide a crisp, light flavor and enable high-gravity brewing. Some adjuncts increase fermentability to make beers with low final extract, like light beer and malt liquor. They are widely used in all countries, although the German beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot, prohibits their use in beers for domestic consumption.
Click on the following topics for more information on adjuncts.
Topics Within This Chapter:
- Benefits in Using Adjuncts
- Types of Adjuncts
- Cooker Mash Adjuncts
- Mash Tun Adjuncts
- Kettle Adjuncts
- Classification of Cereal Adjuncts
- Types of Milled Products
- Types of Cereal Adjuncts
- Syrup and Sugar Adjuncts
- Syrups
- Sugars
- Per Capita Consumption
- Malt Extract