Ingredients
Adjuncts
Everything added for flavour that is not malt, hops, water or yeast.
The question worth asking of any adjunct is whether the yeast can eat it. Fruit brings its own sugar and will keep fermenting; lactose cannot be fermented at all and stays as sweetness. That single fact decides what happens to the strength, the finish and, in a sealed package, the pressure.
Spice
Aromatic, potent by weight, and usually added late so the volatile character survives into the glass.
- Coriander seed
Crushed coriander seed, used in Belgian wheat beer for a lemony, floral spice quite unlike the leaf.
- Vanilla
Vanilla pods or extract, used in dark and dessert beers to add perceived sweetness and soften roast.
- Ginger
Fresh or dried ginger, adding heat and pungency, traditional in some winter and spiced beers.
- Cinnamon
A warming baking spice used in winter and dessert beers; very easy to overdose.
- Chilli
Fresh or dried chilli, adding capsaicin heat most often to dark and strong beers.
Fruit
Brings flavour and its own fermentable sugar, so it changes the strength and the finish as well as the aroma.
Lactose
Milk sugar, which brewing yeast cannot ferment. It stays in the beer as sweetness and body, and it makes the beer unsuitable for anyone avoiding dairy.
Coffee or cocoa
Shares an aromatic family with dark malt, so it reinforces what the grist already does rather than adding something separate.
Herb
Aromatic plant material, often a survival from brewing traditions that predate the general use of hops.
Salt
A seasoning in the culinary sense. Below the threshold where anyone tastes it directly, it suppresses bitterness and lifts everything else.
Wood
Contributes flavour, admits a little oxygen, and can house a microbial population of its own. Which of the three matters depends entirely on the beer.
Sugar
Ferments away almost entirely, so it raises strength and dries the finish rather than sweetening it.