DC Homebrewers Experiment Successfully with Adjuncts

Adjuncts, grains widely used in brewing on the industrial and hobbyist levels alike, play an important and often overlooked supporting role to malted barley in the creation of our favorite beverages.

In January, a group of DC Homebrewers Club members participated in an experiment to determine the pros, cons, and differences of brewing with various grain adjuncts. In a very generous showing of commercial and homebrewing solidarity, the District Chophouse donated Citra hops and DC Brau donated American ale yeast–enough for 3.5 barrels of beer, to support the experiment.

The guiding questions were broad: “What can flaked adjuncts do?” and “What adjunct do people like best?” The list of adjuncts to be tested in the experiment soon increased from 6 to 11 as club members brought up more exotic and obscure grains from across the globe. After sharing their beers with other brewers clubs in the Washington DC area at the February Jam-beer-ree, DCHB looked for unsuspecting test subjects for a se