Help me with “Pulled Pork Ale” idea

This may very well be the most sick, twisted, hair brained idea I have ever had… I want to do a “pulled pork” beer…. I’m thinking an American Amber Ale with Hickory smoke. The base recipe is:
8.5 pounds Pale Malt (2-row)
1.25 pound light Munich
1.25 pound Crystal 75
1.25 oz Cascades (pellets) 60-min.
1.25 oz Cascades (pellets) at flame-out
S-05 yeast
Single infusion mash at 155 degrees.
O.G. around 1.055 or so
IBU in the neighborhood of 36
(pretty cool what a guy can come up with on a yellow sticky and a calculator… does it look OK?)
I was thinking smoking a portion of the grain with hickory… say half a pound? more?
Soaking some toasted hickory in Bourbon with a couple of dried red peppers for a month or so, and adding (everything) after initial fermentation is complete.
My questions are:
How much grain should I smoke? I don’t want it to be overwhelming, just easily identifiable as hickory smoke. I’ve never brewed a smoke beer before, so I am basically clueless what to expect…..
Would it be OK to smoke milled grain? I can do it at very low temperatures, not much heat just smoke.
I’ve never brewed with peppers before… do I have the right idea soaking them in Bourbon? Or should I add them to the boil?? I just want a little “bite” and flavor to balance the smoke… I would kill to use Hungarian Paprika (base of my dry rub) and cayenne, but I can only get it ground… sounds like one heck of a mess to me…..
I would also love to get a little onion and/or garlic in there … would this have a negative impact on head retention? Too over the top?
Have I just gone insane????
I figure this will either be really good, or I’ll be stuck with 5-gallons of marinade……

I've used 3lb Rauchmalt in a recipe for 5 gl of porter and I could hardly detect any smoke at all.... I know others here have had similar results, but if you're smoking your own malt, I suppose you can adjust the amount of smokiness in it.

I like hickory smoke but I don't know what soaking it would taste like... I like the idea of the peppers though... Keep us posted!

I don't have any other input than to say I am an avid BBQ'er and I support this idea.

The soaking is in addition to the smoked malt... just using Hickory cubes instead of Oak. I'm afraid as strong as Hickory smoke is in comparison to Beech it could easily become overwelming....

Thanks JetSmooth!
I love the smell of Hickory in the morning....

I am going to smoke 2 lbs of 2 row with pecan wood, it is going into my RyePA recipe. I am targeting 15% of the grain bill as the smoked malt, then adjust for more or less smoke on the next batch. I was trying to get this one started this past weekend but family visiting dashed those plans. Keep us posted on your final recipe and how it turns out!

a guy in my homebrew club just brought a ginger/sorano pepper beer for us to try. He told me he just chopped up 2 Sorano peppers and added them to secondary for 2 weeks. He did not boil them at all and there was definitely some pepper flavor in that beer.

I'd 86 the flame-out hop addition; you really don't want any hop character competing with the smoke. A clean, malty Amber ale would be a nice base for a smoked beer (kind of in the same vein as a smoked marzen, just not a lager).

Can you use Liquid Smoke? I'm not sure if this would work or not, or how you would use it? Just a thought.

Cheers

jamesjensen1068 said:

Can you use Liquid Smoke? I'm not sure if this would work or not, or how you would use it? Just a thought.

Cheers

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I was thinking something along the same lines, however one can make their own "liquid smoke" to their own likings. Since it's smoke flavored water I'd think you could add it any time and the flavor would carry over through a full boil or added straight into secondary. A quick google search will show you the technique or just click here.

I think this is how I'd go about it, you'd be able to have direct control over the smoke by adding liquid. Also by doing it yourself at home, you could reduce your homemade smoke water to higher concentrations meaning less would have to be used. I guess I just feel to get a true "BBQ" flavor you're going to need to go the route of adding the smoke flavor directly.

After thinking about it some more, I think I will indeed skip the late hop addition, or at least cut it way, way back. I originally wanted the citrus character of the cascades as a major flavor component, but I think you are right about “competing” with the smoke. Thank you, the _bird, for the suggestion.

I read somewhere… on here maybe? that someone had tried liquid smoke, and that the results were far less than desirable; harsh, artificial and one dimensional….. I don’t know how much of it was used, or when, in that particular case. It would sure simplify matters though, being able to “add to taste” either late in secondary or at bottling… but….
Smoking the grain is kind of a one shot deal, and it is probably a pretty fine line between “not enough” and “too much”…. But I think the flavor would be both smoother and more complex. The question is how much… based on my limited research: Beech (mild) bare bones minimum 20-percent of total grist… Peat (very strong) maximum around 4-ounces…. Hickory, somewhere in the middle…..???? I’ll probably split the difference and do a pound. If it’s too much, age will mitigate some, too little and I can always “dose it up” with a touch of liquid smoke as a last resort. I’m also going to drop the “wood aged” component, (I’m thinking it would be too much with the smoke&#8230 and the Bourbon. Peppers will be added 2-weeks out, hopefully I’ll get lucky and be able to find some fresh cayenne peppers…..

you could "dryhop" with a smoked pork shoulder

coffeegod said:

you could "dryhop" with a smoked pork shoulder

Click to expand...

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Gak….!! hmmmm, I just smoked some ribs… I could always toss the gnawed up bones into secondary…. or Not…….!!!

So….. I’m gonna do it!! I’ll order the ingredients today … Means I’ll have to put off for a while the Irish Red Ale with Golden Promise base malt I was planning next….., but oh well…. I’ll update with how it goes….

Ok, I brewed this up over the week-end. Recipe was as listed previously, with the late addition hops cut back to 0.25 ounce. I smoked a pound of the grain over hickory. The mash sure smelled good! I added four roasted Red Fresno peppers, and a half teaspoon of Hungarian Paprika late in the boil. I pitched some re-hydrated Notty, and had airlock activity in less than 2-hours. It’s fermenting very vigorously now. I’ll see what the first gravity sample tastes like in a couple weeks or so, and see if I need to doctor it up any…

don't know where you're from, but Shiner makes "Smokehaus" which uses mesquite smoke. it's delicious.

I think I'm more exicted to hear how this works out than I am about my own beer I just bottles.

It is going to be hard to be patient..... I haven't been this much in suspense about a beer in a long time.

Did you give the wort a taste?

Of course I did!..... It was predictably sweet, some smoke and pepper flavor, but hard to find with the overpowering sweetness... be able to tell more in a couple of weeks.

Update:
I took a gravity sample on 04/25/2010 (8-days after brewing). Gravity was 1.019, so things are coming right along. I would normally have waited another week, but I was curious…….. The color is spectacular… a gorgeous amber. The pepper “influence” is perfect (nailed it!), just a little bite and flavor, not too assertive, but unmistakable. I am very happy with that aspect, and I was more worried about it than anything else. The smoke flavor is right on the edge of perception, just barely a hint… so I will have to dose it with a bit of liquid smoke. I am thinking of bringing a quarter cup or so of water to a boil in the microwave, and adding ½ to ¾ of a tablespoon of the liquid smoke to it, allowing it to cool and adding straight to primary. I will do this “procedure” either tonight or tomorrow. At least now I know to smoke 2 or 3 pounds of malt next time….. (and it smelled soooo good in the mash tun too… ).

After 5-weeks in the bottle…….. I like it!!! (and I about half expected it to be just nasty!) The smoke is subtle and pleasant (could even stand to be a tad more assertive, but I don’t think I would change it). The pepper character is not too arrogant, just a little “bite”, and compliments (and balances) the residual sweetness of the malt. The beer is very rich and smooth, and the spicy flavor and moderate heat make it surprisingly refreshing. Head retention is wonderful, very dense, thick head you can float a quarter on (this surprised me for some reason). All in all, pretty dang good, and very flavorful. A buddy of mine (who is always good for an honest opinion, and more than willing to point out any perceived flaws) was very skeptical about the concept, but absolutely loved it. When I first described it to him he was afraid that the smoke and pepper components would be “overdone”, but was very complimentary of my “restraint” and of the results, and now refers to me as the “Mad Scientist of Beer”. “this is awesome….. oh, can you bring me a couple more of these???” . Another friend told me that it would be absolutely wonderful paired with crabs or steamed shrimp….. (I hadn’t thought of that myself, but dang… it would be good!). He even went so far as to suggest that I go “Nano” and market the stuff to Seafood places…. All in all, I am very happy with this brew, and it is going on my “brew again list”.

From one mad scientists to another,

So where is the pork flavor in this pulled pork beer? I get the smoke, and the pepper... but what about the most important ingredient THE PIG ? BYO magazine has a bacon recipe (May2010) were it says you can dry hop (or dry hog) 5 oz of crispy cooked bacon for 5 gal. Put the cooked bacon in a mesh bag and dry hop as normal in a secondary.

Also, for some reason I would imagine molasses/ brown sugar in this recipe, and something to do with coleslaw, because a pulled pork sammy w/o coleslaw is like kool aid w/o sugar. Any thoughts ?

Hey IllWill, funny, but I actually did briefly entertain the idea of adding bacon…. very briefly…. But, I can’t think of anything that would utterly destroy head retention more than bacon grease, even a tiny bit…. And I would probably never completely get rid of it in my fermenter. It sounds tasty, but….. and, I wanted a good bit more carbonation in this than I normally do. So I looked at the base beer as the pork, and just barbequed it. I was originally going to put some Turbinado sugar in it (I use some in my dry rub instead of brown sugar, holds up better&#8230 or molasses, but I didn’t want anything to dry it out, as I wanted as much body and residual sweetness as possible. (I was asked if it had molasses in it, ‘cause it almost tastes like it does). What is really missing to me is the vinegar (uh… just no) and the onion and garlic…. but I was informed they don’t do well, even very late in “secondary” (quotes are due to my Primary only process). I may try them out next go-round anyway, even though after my buddy’s comment I may toss in some Old Bay…... hmmm… Surf and Turf Beer??? (here we go again&#8230. Coleslaw’s on the side old buddy, no sammys in the Piping Pig Pub, just a big heaping pile on a plate (sauce is there if you want it) alongside the slaw, (need another plate?) baked beans (there’s your bacon), fried grits (with lots of onions and cayenne, and fried in the aforementioned bacon grease), corn on the cob and biscuits and/or corn bread…...

Hey ceannt if you were here in So Cal I'd invite you over for a BBQ and a brew day! I'm going to make that Pig Porter and try out the bacon, but I'm going to make sure I add heading agent so the delicious bacon grease doesn't kill the head retention.

It's been a long time since I was in So Cal......(oh good god... like over 35 years...) I lived for a while in Dana Point when I was a kid. If I ever make it out that way I'll take you up on it! sounds like a blast.
Let me know how the Porter turns out!!

IllWill,
Did you ever brew the beer with the bacon in it??

So come on. What happened with this?

Salivating mouths want to know.

I would like to know how the “Bacon Porter” turned out myself…… I am putting together this years “wacky summer brew”, and am thinking either bacon or a bunch of Rauch Malt (advice???), along with Maple Syrup and some cold brewed coffee in an Oatmeal Brown Porter (breakfast in a glass). I’ll start up a new thread dealing with this beast when I get done here…
Alas, the “Pulled Pork” is history…. Almost cried when I poured the last one… it was a dang good batch of beer. Only thing I would do different is to smoke 2 and a half pounds of base malt over hickory instead of just one. I really want to brew up a plain American Amber Ale with the base recipe I came up with for it (with an aggressive late addition of Cascades), I think it would be spectacular. Sigh…. So many brews, so little room for fermenters…. (at least according to the SWMBO….)