Liquid BBQ Smoke

[seneca]

Has anyone tried using Liquid BBQ Smoke? The sort that Americans use to flavour kitchen-cooked ribs etc. If so, please could you tell me how it turned out and how much you used. I realise that this will cause shock, horror to purists but it seems like a reasonable methodology to me...

[bt1]

err just to clarify...

you've made a quality pot still, learnt the art of washes, run your beast and learnt cuts and wish to flavour.

A food flavouring in booze?... make sure it has lots of preservatives, food colourings, emulsifires, artificial colourings and especially lots of modified sugars that will chemically alter(it's called soap :D ) with contact with high strength booze. Should be a ripper I reckon. Let me know how it tastes I'd be keen to make some for the local Police Branch.

bt1

[seneca]

Calm down. No need for such hysteria. (Interpol might be grateful for the respite, anyway.)

Let's look at a few facts and then perhaps someone can offer a reasoned opinion. First of all, the ingredients, which are billed as "all natural" :
Water, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Vinegar, Molasses, Caramel Color and Salt

Now I would like to quote from the Company Website ( I refer to the Natural Hickory recipe). The information is helpful:

Colgin Natural Liquid Smoke is an all-natural product with no additives or preservatives. It is manufactured using a safe, water-based process, in which unwanted byproducts are removed. Colgin Natural Liquid Smoke contains no measurable caloric content (0 calories!) per 4.5g serving. A little liquid smoke goes a long way in livening up taste, so start off with about one teaspoon per serving in your favorite recipe and then add more from there to taste.

Furthermore:

[Colgin Natural Liquid Smoke contains no measurable fat content (0 mg fat!), 10mg sodium (Hickory & Apple) or 0 mg sodium (Mesquite & Pecan), and is not a significant source of calories from cholesterol, sugar, dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and Iron. /quote]

We all know that smoking food products adds flavor and color to them. But liquid smoke, which is generated from hardwood sawdust, also has antioxidative and antimicrobial properties as well.

So, historically and logically, smoking is a form of preserving anyway and whiskey has some element of peat smoke. There are no emulsifiers. No artificial colourings (is caramel considered artificial?). No modified sugars.

As for the process of "making" the smoke, you can go to the Website and see it under FAQs.

Any reasonable comments?

[MR-E]

:think: ..........
Nope, sounds like you got it sorted :-B

[Sam.]

Give it a go and post how it goes mate.

[hoppy]

Hi seneca
I use 3drops of liquid hickory out of an eyedropper into 2.5 litres of bourbon soaking on dominoes it just depends on how much smoky taste you like its quite potent :o


Cheers Hoppy :mrgreen:

[seneca]

Thank you, Hoppy. (What are dominoes, please?)

Turning to the Topic, my train of thinking on Liquid Smoke was that the Colgin company was more forthcoming (online and on the label) about their ingredients than even dedicated spirit essence manufacturers - who often list their ingredients as "natural and artificial flavours" ...

Also, there are photos online of oak charred to "alligator skin" level, so again Colgin's methods didn't look too bad compared to other methods.

Lastly, Liquid Smoke is more economical than buying the bottled smoke from essence suppliers and might be a quicker and more efficient method of adding natural (?!) flavouring

I'm off to get some more, having eaten the last lot ...

[Urrazeb]

Yep I agree, never never know if ya never never go! :)

[hoppy]

. (What are dominoes, please?)

Same as chips only the size of a dominoe

Cheers Hoppy :mrgreen:

[seneca]

Regarding my recent experience, I have used ten drops per five litres of "whiskey" (combination of HBS essence and soaking over oak barrel chips). Tastes a little smokey. So it depends on how much "smoke" you like, as Hoppy said, and whether hickory smoke is appropriate. I'm not a connoisseur of whiskey or anything else, really. Taste and try. There is a dropper lid on the Liquid Smoke bottle. You can buy the stuff in the supermarket in the sauces section. I don't have shares in the Colgin company - it just happened to be on the shelf in the supermarket.

Any other comments on experience with the stuff would be interesting.

[emptyglass]

Can we just clarify what "whiskey" is?
I understand you say you are not a connoisseur, but whiskeys flavor comes from the ingredients used in the mash, the style of still and the oak that it lives in for a while before drinking.
Glenfiddich smoke the malt before its added to the mash to get that flavor.

If you are making whiskey from a neutral with flavorings, then anything goes. Like the others have said, give it a go, you might like it.
You could bubble smoke through it, I've heard that works ok.

[bt1]

So how did this little drop turn out?

Would love to know

bt1

[Potmash Boka]

Get some Tassie peat blocks, use a jet flame( small soldering torch etc) to get the peat block smouldering. Once smouldering, using a large vase( your misses best one with a small opening that becomes a large bell) catch the smoke in it. I use it at a 45 deg angle( approx), the smoke will start to condense into liquid.
Repeat the whole process with some nice oak. I've used 25% peat to 75% oak, put approx 2 drops of the mix to 1L of neutral, then put the lot onto oak chips for about 12 months at 90%. Then water down to 60% and leave on oak for another 6 months. I've done this previously and once ready it disappeared bloody quickly. Like a beer in the sun on a hot day it just evaporated. :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:

[Urrazeb]

Thats awesome PB, never thought about it.. how can you get tassie peat?

[Potmash Boka]

If you know someone in central Tassie they could get it and send it, some specialist nurseries will stock it in blocks that are already dried. Or do a Tassie whisky tour and get some whilst your down there. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Urrazeb]

Whisky tour is the most likely option :)