Denard Brewing

This mead is in response to the Great Bacon Mead Experiment/challenge posted by Vicki on Facebook. 

Bacon and biscuits with sorghum syrup. Reminds me of breakfast growing up in rural Georgia. Let's see if I can capture this in mead. I've already got a Sorglyn (Sorghum syrup) mead that has turned out really well. It just needs bacon and a honey that pairs well with bacon. I'm thinking a malty honey like palmetto would do very well. A bit of biscuit malt wouldn't hurt either. 

Bacon can be a problematic ingredient if not done properly. Basically, you want to exclude the fat because it will go rancid in the mead. Typically, folks do a vodka extraction followed by filtering or freezing to remove the fat. This tincture can be dosed into your beer/mead to add bacon flavor. The thing is, I can always taste the vodka in the mead. Which is not a good thing. Luckily, I have another option.... Freeze concentrated, oaked orange blossom mead sitting at vodka level ABV. Let's extract some bacon essence with that!

Bacon BOMM (Breakfast Mead)
1. Add the following to a 1 gallon carboy:
-10 ounces Sorghum syrup
-2.5 lbs Palmetto honey
2. Steep 2 ounces of Biscuit malt in 2 quarts of 170 F water for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and add to carboy. 
3. Add 1/2 tsp KHCO3. 
4. Add 1/4 tsp DAP & 1/2 tsp Fermaid K. (Will add again at 1.08. At 1.04, I'll add a TBSP of Fermaid O.)
5. Mix thoroughly. 
6. Add water 1/2 cup shy of a gallon. 
7. Mix again. 
8. Pitch a starter of Wyeast 1388. 
SG - ~1.125
Fermentation Temperature - 70 F

Bacon Extract
1. Cook 2 strips of applewood smoked bacon to perfection. 
2. Allow to cool and absorb excess fat with paper towels. 
3. Crumble bacon into a mason jar. 
4. Add enough freeze concentrated mead to cover. 
5. Allow to stand 1 week. 
6. Place into freezer to freeze the fat cap. 
7. Extract bacon tincture from the bottom of the jar with a syringe. 
8. Bench test to determine optimal dose. 
That's the plan so far. Always subject to change!