Brewers use these supplementary sources of sugar to lighten the body of a beer, boost alcohol content, or reduce production costs. Common examples include flaked corn, rice, syrups, and unmalted wheat or barley. Because they lack the natural enzymes found in malted grains, they often require a separate boiling step or must be mashed alongside highly diastatic malt to convert their starches into fermentable sugars.
We need to bump up the gravity on this batch, so go ahead and add another bag of corn adjunct to the cereal cooker.
Using more than thirty percent adjuncts usually requires adding synthetic enzymes to the mash to ensure complete starch conversion.
Related terms
Mash
A hot mixture of crushed malt and water where enzymes convert grain starches into fermentable sugars.
Wort
The sweet, unfermented liquid extracted from mashed grains that serves as the basis for beer or whisky.
Adjunctive
Serving as a supplementary ingredient or additive in a brewing or food production process.