Bacon Porter Help?

My roommate was inspired by the breakfast beers in the last issue of Brew Your Own and decided he wanted me to make the bacon porter. I brewed up the standard porter kit from Midwest and followed the directions in the article about "dry-hogging" the beer. Basically, adding crispy bacon to the beer while in the secondary. I had it in there for about 2 weeks with 2 lbs of crispy bacon in it but there was no bacon flavors. I then transferred it into another 5 gallon carboy, leaving the old bacon behind, and added another pound of fresh crispy bacon to it. Still, no real bacon flavor.

Is there any way to help with the flavors? I was thinking about adding a hint of liquid smoke and some maple syrup. Is this a good idea, do you have any other ideas or should I just rack this one up to a great idea with a not-so-great ending?

Thanks for any tips you have!

Well you likely destroyed your head by putting greasy bacon in your secondary but you'll be fine. Try these to add bacon flavor:


If you know how to do water profile adjustments, use this instead of non-iodized NaCl and maybe just use a bit more of it. Or you can just add it to your finished pint like some do to Coronas. Plus IT'S KOSHER!


Haven't tried it but it would probably work.

this is dissapointing... i was looking foward to making a maple bacon porter. did you have 2 lbs AFTER cooking or prior to? i was going to go with the recomendation from byo and go with 2 # post baking. (did you bake or fry the bacon?) i was also going to use a lb or 2 of maple syprup to add to the maple bacon.

Sorry to bring this thread back from the grave. I was wondering if any of you thought about "oaking" with some applewood or something. I think that might help it along some. Also how did the beer eventually turn out? I've had plenty of friends ask about bacon beer.

My buddy made a pretty good bacon infused bourbon. He cooked a pound of bacon and poured all the bacon and fat into a large canning jar then poured the bourbon into the jar. Refrigerate a few days then then freeze the fat will form a hockey puck on the surface of the bourbon remove and discard. Then pour remaining liquid through a coffee filter to remove particulate. The bourbon had a very strong bacon flavor and when mixed in coffee with maple syrup it makes a complete breakfast experience. A few cups of the bourbon (or you could make it with vodka or grain alcohol if bourbon flavor is undesirable) would probably give decent notes of bacon and increase abv.

Ventucky805 said:

My buddy made a pretty good bacon infused bourbon. He cooked a pound of bacon and poured all the bacon and fat into a large canning jar then poured the bourbon into the jar. Refrigerate a few days then then freeze the fat will form a hockey puck on the surface of the bourbon remove and discard. Then pour remaining liquid through a coffee filter to remove particulate. The bourbon had a very strong bacon flavor and when mixed in coffee with maple syrup it makes a complete breakfast experience. A few cups of the bourbon (or you could make it with vodka or grain alcohol if bourbon flavor is undesirable) would probably give decent notes of bacon and increase abv.

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This sounds like the best way to do it. I would think that vodka would give a nice clean flavor. I imagine a simple oatmeal stout with these additions would make delightful breakfast.

If you are worried about putting meat product in your beer, you could smoke your own malt with applewood.

I'm bottling a Maple Coffee Bacon Porter tomorrow. I added a pound of dried up crispy bacon to the secondary. I used some smoke grains in the grain bill too to kinda help it along. I'll update you guys about it tomorrow when I try it.

Surprisingly my bacon smoke porter was one of my most popular. It started with AHS smoked porter partial mash,as per the directions. After primary fermentation we baked a Pound of lean shoulder cut salt cured bacon from a local butcher, which we baked at 350 on parchment paper. After it was done baking we let it sit on the paper for awhile to soak up some more grease. We then froze it till it was ready to use. When the Porter was ready we transferred it to a corny onto the bacon and let it age for a week. Everyone from none beer drinkers to none bacon lovers have enjoyed it and requested extra bottles. Hope this helps in anyway

Maybe use some malt that was smoked over Hickory(Bacon is smoked with this) this might get you a very close flavor without the oils.