Maple Bacon Porter

[BigDaddyBrewing]

A friend asked me to make a bacon beer. My reply,"You cough up the funds, I'll try anything once."

Has anyone experimented with bacon and maple flavoring. I was thinking a Porter would make a good platform but how much pig and maple to add is what I'm not sure about. Any Idea's?

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I've used maple in a brew already and didn't like the results. I would think bacon would have too much grease that would carry through to the final product, regardless of how well you drain the grease. A lot of fat in bacon that will kill the head.

 

[bovineblitz]

I used bacon in a porter, it came out quite well all things considered. The bacon flavor is VERY strong and it's salty so drying on the palate. I'd go with a low sodium bacon next time around. It was tough to drink 12oz for 2-3 months after it was in the bottle but it got easier after a few months. When it was young it was quite gross, I thought I'd wind up dumping it, but it mellowed over time.

Here's my notes:

8oz bacon added to 1gal of porter on 11/15 - at bottling on 11/21, bacon was extremely overwhelming. blended bacon portion (1gal) with 1gal of regular porter for 2gal of bacon porter

I cooked the bacon in the oven on parchment paper and then when it was just barely short of burnt I pulled it out and smushed it between paper towels. I kept pressing paper towels on it until no more grease came off. This process broke the bacon into small pieces. I 'dry porked' the beer by putting the bacon in a muslin hop bag then added it to secondary.

I had no issues at all with head retention, that beer had a nice sustained head on it.

 

[BigDaddyBrewing]

Thanks for the info. Good to know the head retention wasn't an issue.

 

[garcara]

bake the bacon in the oven until it is quite crispy to get rid of the fat for the most part and then dry hop with it.

 

[dirty_martini]

the best way to infuse bacon flavor is to cook the bacon, eat the bacon, but save the fat. To infuse the bacon flavor into the beer, you could pull a small portion of the beer post fermentation or better yet, just use some vodka or your liquor of choice to make a extract of sorts.

What you do is you take the warm bacon fat, strain it so you arent getting any bacon bits or pieces, and add it to the liqour. The alcohol will strip the bacon flavor and infuse it into the liquid. Stir or whisk it around for a couple of minutes then cover it and let sit at room temp for a couple of hours. Then put it in the freezer overnight. What happens is all of the fat will rise to the top and form a fat ring. Carefully remove that ring and then restrain the liquid through some cheese cloth or coffee filters to make sure you get the cleanest, fat free liquid you can. When you taste the spirit, it will have that smoky bacon flavor infused. You dont need much. Maybe 1-2oz of bacon fat for an entire bottle of booze. So if you are only using a couple of ozs of liquor to make the "extract", you wont need a lot of fat.

 

[bovineblitz]

the best way to infuse bacon flavor is to cook the bacon, eat the bacon, but save the fat. To infuse the bacon flavor into the beer, you could pull a small portion of the beer post fermentation or better yet, just use some vodka or your liquor of choice to make a extract of sorts.

What you do is you take the warm bacon fat, strain it so you arent getting any bacon bits or pieces, and add it to the liqour. The alcohol will strip the bacon flavor and infuse it into the liquid. Stir or whisk it around for a couple of minutes then cover it and let sit at room temp for a couple of hours. Then put it in the freezer overnight. What happens is all of the fat will rise to the top and form a fat ring. Carefully remove that ring and then restrain the liquid through some cheese cloth or coffee filters to make sure you get the cleanest, fat free liquid you can. When you taste the spirit, it will have that smoky bacon flavor infused. You dont need much. Maybe 1-2oz of bacon fat for an entire bottle of booze. So if you are only using a couple of ozs of liquor to make the "extract", you wont need a lot of fat.

Have you actually done this?

I strained then soaked the fat in some whiskey for a few days then froze it and strained out the fat. It tasted pretty bad and I didn't wind up using it. I was planning on using it if I needed more bacon flavor but if I do a bacon beer again I won't even plan on making a bacon fat tincture again, I considered it a failure.

 

[timbudtwo]

Just use bacon flavoring, seriously.

I am a soapmaker (soapwreck.com, shameless placement) and you need to render fat away from any of the meat before it will keep. Even then meat by itself will not keep long. For example, beef jerky you make at home will only keep for a few weeks unless you use preservatives. Any non rendered fat will foul after too long, and the rendered fat will foul but it will take a lot longer.

However, keeping it cool does help. But adding meat into beer just sounds like a bad idea. There was a thread about the possible pathogens that can be on processed grain, etc. Something to stop people from worrying about getting sick from beer as it can only harbor like 2 pathogens. But this just makes me think of canned food that's gone bad.

I am not slamming your or your friends idea. Frankly bacon+anything = automagically better. But somethings are best left to imagination.

Or just eat bacon and beer.

 

[bovineblitz]

Just use bacon flavoring, seriously.

I am a soapmaker (soapwreck.com, shameless placement) and you need to render fat away from any of the meat before it will keep. Even then meat by itself will not keep long. For example, beef jerky you make at home will only keep for a few weeks unless you use preservatives. Any non rendered fat will foul after too long, and the rendered fat will foul but it will take a lot longer.

However, keeping it cool does help. But adding meat into beer just sounds like a bad idea. There was a thread about the possible pathogens that can be on processed grain, etc. Something to stop people from worrying about getting sick from beer as it can only harbor like 2 pathogens. But this just makes me think of canned food that's gone bad.

I am not slamming your or your friends idea. Frankly bacon+anything = automagically better. But somethings are best left to imagination.

Or just eat bacon and beer.

How can the bacon introduce pathogens if it's cooked then placed into beer, which is a sealed environment dominated by yeast?

 

[timbudtwo]

How can the bacon introduce pathogens if it's cooked then placed into beer, which is a sealed environment dominated by yeast?

How can canned food that has been sterilized and sealed develop bolutlism? It is uncommon, but it happens.

And I am not saying that it will happen and your chances of such are so incredibly minute that you probably have nothing to worry about. But it is still something that is not supposed to be in beer being in beer. Check out old threads about people trying to make butter beer.

Here is one of revvy's homilies on beer borne pathogens:

If there was stuff that could live in beer and kill you, the human race would have died out a hell of a long time ago! If something toxic could come from our homebrewing, it wouldn't be a legal hobby!


I came across this from a pretty well known and award winning homebrewer railing against a fellow brewer (it was on one of those "color coded" brewboards where they are a little less friendly than we are.) I just cut and pasted it and stuck it in a file...here it is.





It's important to remember that one of the reasons we have beer today (one of the oldest beverages in existence) is because it was made to be drunk in places where drinking the WATER was deadly....By boiling the wort, adding hops (which is an antiseptic), changing the ph, and pitching yeast, you killed of any microorganism that good be harmful.....in fact the third runnings of the brewing process was fermented at an extremely low gravit 1-2% ABV, and it was called "table beer" or "Kid's Beer" this is the stuff that people drank with meals...it was their water replacement, like Iced tea or soda pop...because again the fermentation process insured thatit was safer than the water.

He talks about it here;

YouTube - Ancestral Ale: Brewing In Colonial America

So please, please, please, I can't stress this enough....don't fear you beer!!!

If something bad could happen, then it would NOT be a legal hobby.....

Our beer is really the same thing as commercial beer...it's the exact same ingredients and process.....it's not like there are two kinds of malts and hops..ones for "real" beer and one for "homebrew"

Hopes this info helps....maybe show it to him.

BTW:

Yes its real.

 

[topend]

I hope this works well for you. It sounds terrible.

 

[dirty_martini]

Have you actually done this?

I strained then soaked the fat in some whiskey for a few days then froze it and strained out the fat. It tasted pretty bad and I didn't wind up using it. I was planning on using it if I needed more bacon flavor but if I do a bacon beer again I won't even plan on making a bacon fat tincture again, I considered it a failure.

Yes I have. My wife loves bacon and makers mark. We heard about how to infuse the bacon from a cocktail show so we tried it. Tastes awesome. Like a blend between bourbon and a nice peaty single malt scotch.

 

[bovineblitz]

Yes I have. My wife loves bacon and makers mark. We heard about how to infuse the bacon from a cocktail show so we tried it. Tastes awesome. Like a blend between bourbon and a nice peaty single malt scotch.

Hm, I wonder what I did wrong then. Maybe I used way too much bacon fat?

Oh and on the thread topic, Peak Organic makes a Maple Oat Ale... one time I was visiting a friend and brought my bacon beer and he had a few of those in his fridge. We blended the two and it tasted like breakfast, was pretty tasty. So, I'm sure it's possible for it to work out but it might take a lot of trial and error.

I'd say, definitely only bottle the bacon beer in 12oz bottles at most, you'll probably never want to drink more than 6oz on your own if you use the method I did. Perhaps if you reduce the amount of bacon or properly use the bacon fat/liquor infusion you might have different results but that was my experience.

 

[Kaz]

A brewery here in town actually has a Hickory smoked maple bacon porter on draft right now. I tried a pint, I mostly got the Hickory smoked taste, not much bacon or maple. I don't know how they made it though. It wasn't a bad beer, not something I would drink several pints of.

 

[incutrav]

If you want to add some coffee aspect to the mix, Brew up a standard Porter or Robust Porter and add some Maple Bacon Coffee to it. I ordered some online a while ago. Funky Budda in FL has people going nuts for their Maple Bacon Coffee Porter and all it is is there normal porter aged on the Maple Bacon coffee. The coffee has HUGE maple notes, the bacon is a bit more subtle.

 

[CalvinJones]

Which brand of Maple Bacon Coffee would you order? There's a bunch of them.

 

[incutrav]

Which brand of Maple Bacon Coffee would you order? There's a bunch of them.

Bunch of them? There are only two that you can order online. I got this one-

http://www.bocajava.com/showProductDetail.do?productId=5370&catalogId=19

The other is Boss Hog Maple Bacon.

 

[ericelmer]

If you want to add some coffee aspect to the mix, Brew up a standard Porter or Robust Porter and add some Maple Bacon Coffee to it. I ordered some online a while ago. Funky Budda in FL has people going nuts for their Maple Bacon Coffee Porter and all it is is there normal porter aged on the Maple Bacon coffee. The coffee has HUGE maple notes, the bacon is a bit more subtle.

Incutrav,

I'm making a similar beer - maple smoked "bacon" stout. I'm going for a smokey stout with noticeable maple. How much of the maple bacon coffee did you use, how did you add it (just grounds, brewed coffee etc.) and when?

Thanks!

 

[BigDaddyBrewing]

We tried Bacon flavored Torriani syrup and didn't like the flavor. Just went with Maple. Turned out real good on the first attempt. Introducing "Morning Wood Robust Porter".

 

[agentEhrman]

I tried a stout with bacon salt to the boil and more at bottling, I can barely choke it down and it's been in a bottle over 3 months now. I may have used too much, but if I try it again I won't be using the salt at all.. I also added maple syrup at flame out and none of the flavor came through. Are there any recommendations on getting more of the maple flavor to come out?

 

[day_trippr]

[...]I also added maple syrup at flame out and none of the flavor came through. Are there any recommendations on getting more of the maple flavor to come out?

Add it during secondary?

Cheers!

 

[thoughtsonhops]

What about faking the bacon? Smoke some malt over hickory. I bought a bottle of Bakon and I really liked it. You could use that if you didn't want to make your own. I did end up making my own, I cooked the bacon in a pan until it was crispy, then just tossed a few strips in the vodka and let it sit for a week. It wasn't over powering.
I'm surprised no ones mentioned Rogues Voodoo Doughnut Ale.

 

[samc]

I'm surprised no ones mentioned Rogues Voodoo Doughnut Ale.

At $13 for 750ml bottle I'll pass. The donut I'll eat next time I'm near Voodoo, if the surly server will handle my request.

 

[BigDaddyBrewing]

I tried a stout with bacon salt to the boil and more at bottling, I can barely choke it down and it's been in a bottle over 3 months now. I may have used too much, but if I try it again I won't be using the salt at all.. I also added maple syrup at flame out and none of the flavor came through. Are there any recommendations on getting more of the maple flavor to come out?

If you want to get a certain flavor, like maple, add it when you bottle. Maple syrup is sugar and yeast will have its way with it. So if you add it at bottling the flavor of the maple will come through better.

 

[OldWorld]

If you want bacon flavor just use a smoked malt. Get the smoked malt...bacon in beer is a waste of perfectly good bacon. Really...bacon beer is stupid...Smoked pork does not belong in beer, it belongs in your gut.

 

[atoyot]

FYI I cold brewed some of the maple bacon coffee from bocajava and added it to my porter, BIG maple flavor but I can't find any bacon.

 

[t_met]

What about faking the bacon? Smoke some malt over hickory. I bought a bottle of Bakon and I really liked it. You could use that if you didn't want to make your own. I did end up making my own, I cooked the bacon in a pan until it was crispy, then just tossed a few strips in the vodka and let it sit for a week. It wasn't over powering.
I'm surprised no ones mentioned Rogues Voodoo Doughnut Ale.

I second the just smoke malt over hickory. People refer to my smoked porter as bacon beer all of the time. People link flavor associations. The brewing networked interviewed Alaskan Brewery. People think their beer tastes like smoked fish (Alder wood smoked grains). If you smoked with apple people would probably think you had a sausage beer. The same goes for pumpkin pie beer, people only want to taste pumpkin pie spices so don't bother with the pumpkin.

Easy to do with a charcoal grill. Mist the grains with a spray bottle to lightly dampen. Smoke sticks to wet grains easier, however wet grains can grow mold/get funky. So just lightly mist before smoking. Put grain is a stainless steal mesh, I used a screen door screen. Soak the Hickory in water so they smoke more than they would burn. Takes about 15-20 minutes. Pull grains off to cool down. Make sure that you don't burn the gains. Although a few burnt kernels isn't that big of a deal if you are making a porter.

 

[agentEhrman]

If you want to get a certain flavor, like maple, add it when you bottle. Maple syrup is sugar and yeast will have its way with it. So if you add it at bottling the flavor of the maple will come through better.

I love the idea, but how do you calculate the right amount? Since this would be in place of priming sugar, I would prefer to get it right instead of having my first bottle bombs! Is there a rule to go by here?

 

[BigDaddyBrewing]

I love the idea, but how do you calculate the right amount? Since this would be in place of priming sugar, I would prefer to get it right instead of having my first bottle bombs! Is there a rule to go by here?

Wasn't really an issue since it only took 4ozs of Torriani Maple syrup for the 5gal batch to make a notable presence.

 

[pieman396]

Anyone ever get a good recipe for this to work?