Help with my "real breakfast" stout.

I'm planning on using corn flakes (flaked corn) and oats in the mash, maple syrup (when to add this, the secondary?), coffee in the secondary and bacon as a "dry hop" in the secondary. I read about someone using bacon in the secondary recently. I think it was oven cooked and had the fat sliced off to avoid the beer going rancid. I was also thinking of a small dose of Amarillo as a flavoring /aroma hop to kick the grapefruit up a notch.

Grapefruit juice, coffee, oatmeal, corn flakes, maple syrup and bacon. That covers a lot of breakfast flavors, and I can actually imagine the flavors working well together if they're blended right. Has anyone used bacon in brewing?

I plan on using roasted barley & Carastan (English crystal malt which has a nice toffee flavor, I use it in my mild) in the grain bill as well as Marris Otter for the bulk of it.

Any thoughts / ideas? Particularly on the coffee (I'm thinking cold steeped), bacon and maple syrup?

robtotten said:

... and bacon as a "dry hop" in the secondary. I read about someone using bacon in the secondary recently. I think it was oven cooked and had the fat sliced off to avoid the beer going rancid...

Click to expand...

And I thought I was the only one....

I had quite a bit of luck with a smoked bacon porter recently. It got rave reviews. No other breakfast ingredients, but heres my method for bacon additions:

I would boil the bacon (to get rid of fat), overcook (dont burn though), then set aside on some paper towels (to absorb even more fat).

Crumble the bacon and add to some cheap vodka for at least a few days. I did it cold and allowed 7 days. The alcohol will be another addition step to keep the nasties at bay.

Use a few ml (or tbls or ozs, etc) and try adding 'X' number of drops of the bacon extract to a set amount of beer. Make sure the beer is the same style you are planning to brew. Once you find the right ratio, just scale up from there.

Add the bacon extract at bottling time to keep the flavor and aroma at its peak.

Yes, it is an odd addition. But my friends loved it, and I imagine very few will ever have the pleasure of trying a bacon brew.

Good Luck!

I saw somebody on TV make a bacon bourbon, i believe he just added the fat to the bourbon and let it sit, then froze it and removed the congealed fat.

Don't forget the fried eggs, over medium.

I say cold steep the coffee, essentially making a toddy. Keeps it from getting too bitter. Also use decent coffee, no folgers or cheapo stuff.

There is a bacon vodka that is sold, pretty sure it is called BAKON. That might take care of the bacon flavor without killing the head retention from fat (if you are concerned about it).

EDIT:

Holy crap the bacon vodka site (http://bakonvodka.com/) have a drink called the Elvis Presley:
The Elvis Presley
• 1 part Bakon Vodka
• ½ part hazelnut liqueur
• ½ part banana liqueur
• splash of cream

Not affiliated in anyway, just thought that was hilarious.