I was looking on 1 of the distilling forums and I ran across this. I know how some of you guys LOVE BACON!! So here is the recipe that this guy came up with...
""This is my bacon vodka recipe and it works out quite well, plus its pretty easy to make.
So this is why it works... bacon flavoring is fat soluble and goes into the drippings. It is also alcohol soluble while the fat has low solubility in alcohol. Its similar in technique to enflurage except that we're not recovering the alcohol to be left with bacon absolute.
Cook up to 1# of bacon, but 1/2# should be sufficient. I recommend using a premium bacon for best flavor. I have been disappointed with peppercorn and flavored bacons (best to add some peppercorns to the finished drink bottle).
When I say cook I mean cook. Completely render it down. I usually layer the bacon in the pan and turn to medium until it starts to brown and then I flip, cover, and turn to low to allow to render until everything is crispy. We want the fat, not the meat. Bonus though is that you can take the rendered crispy (but not burnt!) bacon and smash it up and put it in an airtight container in the fridge to have bacon crumbles that last a long time. I suppose you could just save bacon drippings from your breakfast instead - use about 1/4 - 1/3 cup (6-8 cl).
Pour the fat off (floaty bits are fine) and mix with .4 to 1L of 95% neutral, depending on the strength you want. The fat won't mix, but you want to shake it up to allow the flavor to transfer from the fat into the EtOH. If you have a stir plate now is the time to break it out. Otherwise cap and shake every 15 minutes for a couple of hours. Give it a couple more hours to settle and then stick it in the freezer overnight (if possible turn the bottle so the fat floats to the -bottom- of the bottle and freezes there). You can then punch through the fat cap or just pour it off and through a coffee filter and dilute to 40%. I find that its still a bit cloudy from being saturated with fat, but otoh its full of delicious flavor. I am sure that a single pass through a pot still would clear it up.""
""This is my bacon vodka recipe and it works out quite well, plus its pretty easy to make.
So this is why it works... bacon flavoring is fat soluble and goes into the drippings. It is also alcohol soluble while the fat has low solubility in alcohol. Its similar in technique to enflurage except that we're not recovering the alcohol to be left with bacon absolute.
Cook up to 1# of bacon, but 1/2# should be sufficient. I recommend using a premium bacon for best flavor. I have been disappointed with peppercorn and flavored bacons (best to add some peppercorns to the finished drink bottle).
When I say cook I mean cook. Completely render it down. I usually layer the bacon in the pan and turn to medium until it starts to brown and then I flip, cover, and turn to low to allow to render until everything is crispy. We want the fat, not the meat. Bonus though is that you can take the rendered crispy (but not burnt!) bacon and smash it up and put it in an airtight container in the fridge to have bacon crumbles that last a long time. I suppose you could just save bacon drippings from your breakfast instead - use about 1/4 - 1/3 cup (6-8 cl).
Pour the fat off (floaty bits are fine) and mix with .4 to 1L of 95% neutral, depending on the strength you want. The fat won't mix, but you want to shake it up to allow the flavor to transfer from the fat into the EtOH. If you have a stir plate now is the time to break it out. Otherwise cap and shake every 15 minutes for a couple of hours. Give it a couple more hours to settle and then stick it in the freezer overnight (if possible turn the bottle so the fat floats to the -bottom- of the bottle and freezes there). You can then punch through the fat cap or just pour it off and through a coffee filter and dilute to 40%. I find that its still a bit cloudy from being saturated with fat, but otoh its full of delicious flavor. I am sure that a single pass through a pot still would clear it up.""
