someone actually put bacon in their secondary....

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stageseven

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stageseven said:
http://thatsnerdalicious.com/bacon/nerdalicous-oatmeal-coffee-chocolate-bacon-stout-the-taste-test/

I know what the guy who wrote it said, I wonder how it actually tasted though. Looks like the grease didn't completely kill the head though. Maybe this is one of those cases where everyone's "common knowledge" of what you can't do is holding us back from something awesome. He even posted his full recipe.
Click to expand...

He pretty much explains why it didn't kill the head.

Bacon was cooked at 350 °F on a cookie sheet for approx 20-25 minutes (or until crispy but not burned). The trick is to get rid of as much fat as humanly possible. Periodically, during the course of cooking, I would soak up the fat with paper towels.
Click to expand...

Just like folks defat peanut butter for peanut butter stouts. "Common knowlege" is that fat kills head retention, NOT that you can't make a bacon beer. There a few discussions of making them in the similar threads box below. The trick is to get the flavor but not the fat, which clearly the beer nerd did.

There's been a couple of competitions of food network lately, I think Iron chef, and maybe "be the next Iron Chef" where cooks were getting bacon essence for various foods in ways that seperated the fat from the flavor, one of them was making iirc a bacon vodka essence where through several steps he was able to seperate the fat molecules from the flavor. It was a multistep process, but wasn't that difficult.

So I don't think anyone's said it couldn't be done, or that is what common wisodm says, just that getting over the fat issue is crucial.
 
A couple of weeks ago, I MISSED (damn it) the tasting at my LHBS (Brew Your Own Beer in Havertown) where a guy brought Bacon Rausch Beer. I wonder if this is the same guy - but it doesn't quite sound like it. John from BYOB told me about it - the guy froze his wort and removed the fat that way. Two pounds of bacon, and according to reports, the taste was only slightly bacon-y. The brewer )who, if he reads these pages, should step up and correct my third hand account) was reported to have said something like "Next time, FOUR pounds!"

One of my guiding principles in life has always been "Everything is better with bacon," so I take my hat off to these bold experiments, and I'm still kicking myself for missing out on a taste.
 
Hmmm, it seems to me that you could potentially use turkey bacon (97% fat free) to get this taste. I know it's not "real" bacon, but I think it still has a meaty taste to it. Any thoughts on why you couldn't do this?
 
SteveM said:
One of my guiding principles in life has always been "Everything is better with bacon"
Click to expand...

+1. A man after my own heart.

Gear101 said:
i'll test some... head or no head...
Click to expand...

yep.

Squirrels said:
Hmmm, it seems to me that you could potentially use turkey bacon (97% fat free) to get this taste. I know it's not "real" bacon, but I think it still has a meaty taste to it. Any thoughts on why you couldn't do this?
Click to expand...

Nope. Try it and report back. I'll be glad to receive and review sample bottles for you. :D
 
Good points Revvy, from everything I've read here people make it sound as if the most minuscule amount of grease or fat will completely kill the head on a beer. Even with blotting, I would have thought a fairly significant amount of fat and grease would have made it in. After all, bacon is like 50% fat. I guess the tolerance for grease may just be higher than I thought.

I do have to wonder if he would have just been better off with a couple pounds of smoked malt instead. I would have also been worried about spoilage, but I guess that wasn't an issue.
 
I thought people generally tried to avoid meaty flavors in their beer, live and learn I guess.

This kinda grosses me out a little, to tell the truth, if I want bacon flavors with my beer, I'd probably just have a BLT while I crack a cold one.

Hats off to him for trying it, I guess some one was bound to.
 
We had a tasting of a Maple Bacon ale at our local homebrew club about a year ago. You really could taste the bacon - it was very different that just a smoky flavor. It was oddly good.
Not for your vegetarian or kosher/halal drinkers.
 
Bacon with Beer?! My goodness...that is amazing.

I wonder how well dehydrated meats would work? Should be too much fat on them if properly handled. I must try this sometime.
 
Another route to bacon flavor - Rauchmalt (or home smoked malt using the hardwood of your choice) and enough salt to brighten the flavor. I haven't tried it, mostly because I'd rather have bacon with my beer than in my beer, but I bet it would work well.
 
There is a recipe in BYO may-june 2010 issue about using breakfast items in your beer and bacon is one of them.
 
I visited my old college a few months ago to say goodbye to a friend who was leaving, and I went to a house party there. One of my friends knew that I brewed beer, and told that to the owner of the house, who also brewed. We didn't get to talk much, but he did insist I take a bottle of his "bacon porter". I was skeptical, but the end result was actually pretty good. So thanks for the beer, Mr. Bacon Porter.
 
There was recently a discussion of a bacon mead on my 'other' board...the mazer in question indicates it tastes pretty good...he's tried a couple of other ways to prep the bacon (including boiling, and frying then boiling)...
 
Revvy said:
He pretty much explains why it didn't kill the head.



Just like folks defat peanut butter for peanut butter stouts. "Common knowlege" is that fat kills head retention, NOT that you can't make a bacon beer. There a few discussions of making them in the similar threads box below. The trick is to get the flavor but not the fat, which clearly the beer nerd did.
Click to expand...

Actually, it looks like head retention took a pretty good hit. He says in the review:

It’s highly carbonated (although you wouldn’t know it from the picture above)
Click to expand...

In the picture, there's no head. Just a little bit of residual bubbles around the glass.

Even with all the de-greasing of the bacon, I'd say there wasn't much head retention.

Then again... we're talking about bacon here. Some things are more important than head retention. :D
 
ehh not a fan of bacon, dont see why so many people are head over heals for it. more power to you if you wanna do it
 
I dry-porked 1 gallon of a porter about 2 weeks ago, it's currently in bottles. When bottling the bacon was so strong I diluted it with 1 gallon of regular porter. The flavor wasn't really good persay, but I figured I had to push forward in the name of beer science!

I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
 
It's bacon. This seems like the perfect way to start your day. This must be a pilots dream.
 
ChshreCat said:
Actually, it looks like head retention took a pretty good hit. He says in the review:

In the picture, there's no head. Just a little bit of residual bubbles around the glass.

Even with all the de-greasing of the bacon, I'd say there wasn't much head retention.

Then again... we're talking about bacon here. Some things are more important than head retention. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd be surprised to see much head (and was frankly surprised to see even the very small amount of head on the picture in the linked site). No matter how aggressive you were about blotting and drying the grease off, there's still going to be a significant amount. I once made a coconut porter, and while coconut is oily, it is infinitely less so than bacon, and this porter also had essentially zero head...
 
This morning I ate at VooDoo Donuts in Portland and had their Bacon Maple Bar....as I was eating it, my wife was shaking her head...I was thinking that I need to brew a bacon maple beer.
 
I've often wondered why orange juice isn't marketed
with bacon flavor. Usually you have bacon and eggs with
oj, why not put the flavor in with the oj so you can enjoy
the bacon flavor while sipping on the road? I tried pureeing
a strip of bacon in a blender with oj but I think you need
to use desalted bacon. Either that or I didn't age it long
enough.

Chris
 
Cipper said:
I've often wondered why orange juice isn't marketed
with bacon flavor. Usually you have bacon and eggs with
oj, why not put the flavor in with the oj so you can enjoy
the bacon flavor while sipping on the road? I tried pureeing
a strip of bacon in a blender with oj but I think you need
to use desalted bacon. Either that or I didn't age it long
enough.

Chris
Click to expand...

I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. :(
 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?cropsuccess&id=1482813369#!/photo.php?fbid=2417196637631&set=a.1063669240292.2012016.1482813369&type=1&theater[/IMG]
 
Some friends of mine who have been brewing a long time made a Smoked Bacon Porter last february. I can't remember exactly how they did it, but it was delicious. The bacon flavor was very subtle which was great, cause if it was over powering, as much as I like bacon, that sounds gross haha.
 
My bacon porter was actually quite good after about 4 months in the bottle. Before that the flavors hadn't settled down. It wound up with a strong and distinct bacon character. Also, quite salty.
 
MMmmmm bacon....

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http://alibi.com/blog/28952/Maple-Bacon-Cider.html

After reading that, what about soaking cooked bacon in bourbon, freezing/refrigerating to remove the fat, and then adding it to something like a bourbon smoked porter?

If you wanted maple, could it just be added after fermentation is complete, then bottle/keg, and once the carbonation is right, crash cool it and keep it below X temperature to stop fermentation until its time to serve?
 
'Bacon Explosion'

- crumbled pan fried bacon / shredded cheese / hot sauce, rolled in a sausage meat sheet, rolled in a weaved bacon sheet, smoked in a smoker.

Basically, a Bacon wrapped bacon and sausage pinwheel.
 
Posted before, but for posterity's sake:

THE MEATINI.

That said, I wonder what possibilities exist in getting someone bold enough to try using other meat-products?? Spam is obviously out of the question, but I'm heavy on exotic stuff like kangaroo & alligator jerky from Oz-land, or even ostrich (which is actually in abundance in the southwest US, and surprisingly lean in terms of fat content...).
 
Tried a bacon belgian at a beer festival a year ago. It was excellent...not at all what I expected. I ended up going back for a full glass. BSed with brewer for quite awhile, but can't remember how he added the bacon.
 

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