Bacon Beer

[cjgenever]

why is everyone cooking the bacon? get real bacon that's been brined and smoked properly. not that Oscar Myer crap.

perfectly safe to eat raw because its not raw it is smoked, after being cured by brining. smoke resides in fat tissue much more than in muscle tissue. that's why you should never pull the fat off a good smoked brisket. it's also why I can't eat a lot of smoked brisket, for health reasons. Lol!

you guys are cooking away all those awesome smoke flavors :-(

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[kombat]

In my case, I'm not concerned with the smoke flavour. I included a healthy dose of smoked malt in my recipe. That will provide the smoke character. I just want "bacon" flavour from the bacon.

I didn't know that about the smoking, and the flavour residing more in the fat tissues. Good info!

 

[cjgenever]

I smoke my own meats in the summer. I trim some fat off the brisket and pork belly (bacon) because if I don't people will cut it off and throw it away. A thin layer keeps the meat moist by basting it as it cooks, while still being health conscious (to am extent). This also allows the smoke ring to penetrate the muscle under the fat. I save the trimmings to place on the meat later in the smoking if needed to prevent drying. I end up with a nasty pile of grease in the drip pan by the time I'm done can't wait for summer!

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[kombat]

After a week of steeping a whole package of cooked bacon in it, I bottled my 1-gallon batch of Bacon Smoked Porter on the weekend and noticed a couple of things about the sample I tested.

The bacon aroma was immediately noticeable and recognizeable. The smoke character was surprisingly absent. But the most concerning aspect was that the beer had an unpleasant slick, oily mouthfeel to it. I'm hoping this will be somewhat mitigated by the carbonation after the bottles carb up, but I'm already wondering what I could have done differently to minimize this. Any thoughts?

 

[cjgenever]

Don't know...

By rendering the fat there would be a lot of grease on the bacon that would probably end up in the beer. Some of the smoke was cooked out of the bacon as well. I'm about to bottle an iipa. I'll throw some applewood bacon in a bottle before priming and give it a week. Wish it were a porter I were testing, but at least it will give us some info I'll get back to you.

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[cjgenever]

Interested in seeing if the oil destroys the head. Pls report back.

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[cjgenever]

Change of plans. I'm bottling the bacon. @ 1 lb/ 5 gal that's ~0.6 oz/ bomber. I'm bottling two bombers with the bacon. I'll open them @ st Patrick's day party. I'll get back within two weeks.

I minced the raw bacon and gave it a 3 min starsan soak. Did not agitate for fear of extracting flavors. Gained .15 oz overall. Good thing yeast eat starsan ! I think the 8% abv iipa is a good place for raw bacon, but a bit of starsan can't hurt. It's safe to eat, but still has a ton of bacteria. Just not anything nasty that originated from the swine. That was killed by salt and smoke.

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[skagit991]

I truly do not understand why someone would want Bacon in their beer. Guess I gotta try one first, just sounds wrong.

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[cjgenever]

Yeah, kinda sounds wrong. But consider smoked malt. Is that wrong? No, it's just a specialized malt. Bacon adds smoke flavor and fun. It can work in the right recipe.

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[cjgenever]

Update...

The raw bacon worked great! Strong smoke flavor with some of the briny-meaty nuances of the bacon. Unfortunately, it not only ruined the ipa, but made it almost undrinkable. Of course, we all knew that bacon doesn't belong in an iipa. I only did it to gain some perspective for everyone interested.

I did not have any additional oil or grease in the beer. I did have a much better head on this bottle than the others. I think it would be good to mince the raw bacon as I did and then add it to some 80 proof vodka on brew day. Leave it there while the beer ferments and add it after ferment. It may be good to bag the bacon because the fat floats, making it hard to separate without airation.

I got a great bacon flavor here. It just did not belong in this beer. Time for some robust porter!

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