Porter recipe

[CoreyD]

I'm new to brewing. Had some hiccups on my first 2 batches that I have learned from. Would like to make a Maple Bacon Porter. Here is what I have come up with. What do you think? Any advice would be greatly appriciated.
2 Gallon batch.

3lb pale ale malt
.5 lb Caramel/crystal 60l
.25 Chocolate
1 oz Mt. Hood @ 60 min
8 oz Maple syrup @30 min

Safale us05 or WLP041

1/2 lb bacon in secondary

og 1.055 fg 1.015 ibu 22.96 abv5.42%

 

[ElJefeBrews]

This sounds like a fun little experiment. I don't know how bacon is going to act in the secondary (you don't really need to secondary IMO). Instead of bacon you could always try using smoked malt in its place since it does have some bacon/BBQ like characteristics.

What's the AA% on those hops? 1 oz for a 2 gallon batch kinda seems like a lot but I've never used mt. Hood.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

Also with all that crystal and not much black malt (I'm assuming the .25 chocolate is chocolate malt?) It might turn out pretty sweet. On my 1 gallon porter I added .25 lb of different black malts and only 1.5 oz crystal 60 and it turned out nice.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I was thinking the same as ElChefe. Maybe 1/4 lb of roasted barley or black patent.

 

[slym2none]

What's the AA% on those hops? 1 oz for a 2 gallon batch kinda seems like a lot but I've never used mt. Hood.

Mt. Hood hops have a range from 4.0 to 8.0% AA

 

[Calder]

I really don't like black or roast in my Porters. I usually go about 0.5 lbs of Chocolate per gallon, and about half that with a dark crystal.

I'm worried about the bacon. Have you done any research on it? It has a lot of fat, which will probably kill any head. As someone else suggested, maybe go with a little smoked malt; maybe an ounce of peat smoked malt (it's very powerful - don't use too much. Other smoked malts are not as intense, but I think the peat smoked one would be the one to use for this).

 

[Brewernaut51]

Bacon straight in the beer kills head retention and can leave an oily mouthfeel. Here's how I got some nice bacon flavor in my last bacon beer.

Cook the bacon and put it and all of the grease into a jar then add a neutral spirit like vodka until the bacon is completely submerged. Put the lid on and and let it sit a few days, I did five days myself. Then stick the jar in the freezer for a few hours. Now you can pull out most of the fat and all of the bacon. Now you can filter whats left through a coffee filter and you'll have a nice bacon flavored spirit. Add that in a secondary or at bottling.

A lot of people say to just use smoked malt but I always felt like there was something missing. That bacon tincture added a really recognizable bacon finish to the beer. There was just something in the aftertaste thats not there without the bacon.

 

[nettekdl]

Cascade candi syrups sells a maple bacon flavored candi syrup I used in a stout awhile back and it was wonderful, just add after high Krausen or secondary if you use one.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

I really don't like black or roast in my Porters

Have you tried blackprinz malt? That's what I use in my porter and it has very little to no astringency but still some roasty character. It's awesome

 

[CoreyD]

Bacon straight in the beer kills head retention and can leave an oily mouthfeel. Here's how I got some nice bacon flavor in my last bacon beer.

Cook the bacon and put it and all of the grease into a jar then add a neutral spirit like vodka until the bacon is completely submerged. Put the lid on and and let it sit a few days, I did five days myself. Then stick the jar in the freezer for a few hours. Now you can pull out most of the fat and all of the bacon. Now you can filter whats left through a coffee filter and you'll have a nice bacon flavored spirit. Add that in a secondary or at bottling.

A lot of people say to just use smoked malt but I always felt like there was something missing. That bacon tincture added a really recognizable bacon finish to the beer. There was just something in the aftertaste thats not there without the bacon.

I've read that you can bake the bacon and and pat the grease off with paper towel or cheese cloth to remove the fat. I do like the tincture idea. It would eliminate the need for a secondary.
Would the Vodka add ant off flavors? I have seen a lot of posts about using tinctures, but don't want to add flavors that would be off.

 

[CoreyD]

Cascade candi syrups sells a maple bacon flavored candi syrup I used in a stout awhile back and it was wonderful, just add after high Krausen or secondary if you use one.

Might have to go this route. It can be used for all sorts of stuff. I'd be afraid that i would drink it all before getting to put it in my wort.

 

[kh54s10]

I remember the episode on TV where the guys were trying to make a bacon beer. The ended up making a system to contain the bacon and pump the beer through it. If I recall correctly they ended up using maybe 200 pounds of bacon to get a couple barrels of beer.....

 

[slym2none]

What a waste of bacon.

 

[1977Brewer]

What a waste of bacon.

This.

 

[Brewernaut51]

What a waste of bacon.

Nah, after pulling it from the vodka I cut it up an threw it in some potato soup I was making. No bacon was harmed in the making of this beer.

 

[Brewernaut51]

I've read that you can bake the bacon and and pat the grease off with paper towel or cheese cloth to remove the fat. I do like the tincture idea. It would eliminate the need for a secondary.
Would the Vodka add ant off flavors? I have seen a lot of posts about using tinctures, but don't want to add flavors that would be off.

Nope, no off flavors. Use something neutral like vodka or everclear and you're fine.

 

[slym2none]

Nah, after pulling it from the vodka I cut it up an threw it in some potato soup I was making. No bacon was harmed in the making of this beer.

Pardons, should have quoted the post above mine - I was referring to the 200 lbs of bacon thing.

 

[Brewernaut51]

Pardons, should have quoted the post above mine - I was referring to the 200 lbs of bacon thing.

Whoops, I missed that post when I was reading through. Ugh that is a waste. Take a lot of soup to use all that up...

 

[CoreyD]

Brewing this this weekend. Gonna go with the bacon tincture. Will be adding at bottling. That would make it easier to regulate the bacon flavor. Thought about the candy syrup, but after reading reviews it seemed like the maple stands out more. Would like the bacon and maple to be equal flavors. Wish me luck. Thanks for all the tips. I will update after it is done.

 

[Paps]

Nope, no off flavors. Use something neutral like vodka or everclear and you're fine.

Even at a high proof that it is, everclear in ANY amount in any liquid i can easily detect it's distinct flavor/ ( and i don't consider it a good one )
Find/use the most flavorless vodka you can buy, then run it through a coffee filter a time or ten.Charcoal filter too if you have one.
I'd be worried about bacon going rancid.
Good luck.