And so it is said that anything other than these four main ingredients is considered to be an adjunct. Any beer aficionado will tell you that each of the ingredients attribute their own special characteristics on the finished beer and that each ingredient functions differently from beer style to beer style, bottle to bottle and from keg, to keg. It is the brewer's job to know the special characteristics each ingredient will give to their beer and to strive for greatness while artfully combining them. One major brewery in the U.S. says there are actually five ingredients, the fifth being rice. Wrong as this statement may be there are indeed other breweries around the world that incorporate adjunct ingredients such as herbs, spices, corn sugar, pumpkin, cherries, wine grapes and even hemp seeds.
Home brewers have a distinct advantage of versatility and creativity.
But while it is true that the home brewer has this freedom of creativity there is no guarantee that the results will be successful or liked by very many people. One way the brewer can ensure good beer is to have a solid understanding of the basic ingredients. I've made it into a life long pursuit Before moving on to adding adjuncts make several common beers so you can get a feel for what is going to happen. Your goal is to be happy with your results, to be successful at brewing and to not make the sewer rats happy. All rights reserved.