Glossary
Dextrin
Medium-length carbohydrate chains that brewing yeast cannot ferment, contributing body and mouthfeel and keeping final gravity up.
Dextrins are produced by alpha-amylase during the mash, which is why a hotter mash makes a fuller beer. They are only slightly sweet, so their main contribution is texture rather than sugar.
They are also what enzyme-carrying dry hops break down in hop creep, and what glucoamylase converts in a "brut" or fully-attenuated beer.
Related
- Mash temperature — What controls how many are produced.
- Final gravity — What dextrins keep elevated.
- Hop creep — The process that breaks them down unintentionally.
More vocabulary
Adjunct · Aroma hop · Base malt · Bittering hop · Black malt · Brettanomyces · Candi sugar · Chocolate malt · Crystal malt · Dual-purpose hop
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.