Planing to brew five gallons of porter with toasted Coconut and have a couple of questions. 1. Does Coconut float in wort? 2. How much Coconut in five gallons? Thanks for your help! Take care.
You're probably going to need a lot of coconut. You could try making a 1 gallon experiment adding different amounts to each gallon and see what you really like. That's really the best route to take, in my opinion.
I toast my own coconut and use 1 coconut per batch. I use it in the secondary and it will foals some at first but most will fall after 5_6 days.
Yeah it floats I used a small nylon bag in a corny with marbles to weigh the nut flakes down when I did mine.
I toasted 7oz coconut flakes at 325 for 10 minutes or so and added it to 2.5 gal of imperial stout. I am very happy with the amount of coconut flavor. However, use a hop bag!!! I tossed it all in on its own, it floated at first and then settled. It was a huge pain to keep coconut flakes from clogging my siphon. It also soaked up a decent amount of my beer.
To avoid the cursed 'shit soaked up my beer' issue soak the coconut in vodka for a few weeks, mix it with a little brown sugar (to soften the vodka harshness and make the coconut flavor pop more), boil it a bit to lose some alcohol if you want, then add it to the beer. Get the same effect without any beer volume loss.
Wow. Didn't expect to see that answer in this thread. The vodka doesn't impart flavor in the beer? You've actually tried this with success? Curious as I just brewed a choco coconut stout and am also contemplating what to add when. Thx and cheers.
Good vodka doesn't taste like anything but smooth booze. You pay for what you get. @stealth doesn't mind putting money or work into his brews, so I'm sure he's using rapper-level vodka to do this.
I like to do 'tinctures' and add them to beers I have on tap, just to see how diff ingredient combinations taste. Research for potential future brews, if you will. Coconut, hazelnust, raspberries, cashews, peppers, etc. I've done additions to the keg and fermenters with these as well. Pretty fun to experiment with. I've done a bacon infused vodka tincture before that was ridiculous in a bourbon barrel stout...just not sure if I'd want 5 gallons of it on tap..
I know the vodka technique seems to work really well for a lot of people, but I've had better luck using the straight ingredients. I should probably give it another shot. I would actually be curious to try it with bourbon or rum instead though, especially with stouts that I'm planning on adding those spirits to anyway.
I would wholeheartedly agree with basing a coconut tincture with quality bourbon or (especially) rum for a stout.
I use vodka if experimenting with a finished batch that I have on tap, or if I am adding to a brew that I don't plan on adding bourbon,etc to, otherwise I do exactly as you describe.
I am interested in using the vodka tinctures technique for a porter batch and I have two questions. How much toasted coconut for a 2.5 gal batch? Should I add the tinctures at bottling time and can you give an estimate on the ratio; tinctures:beer for a mild to medium coconut flavor? Thanks
Just to state: I did an experiment where I brewed a beer and put Defatted Coconut in the boil. Then fermented it and split it into 3 batches - It was a stout: 1) One with the original (boil) - BTW it was 0,5lb in 7 gals 2) 1.3gal with 1.7oz of toated coconut 3) 1.3 gal with 3.4oz of toasted coconut. Impressions: 1) I could get a hint of coconut 2 weeks after bottling but it vanished in 4 weeks after I bottled 2) Good amount of coconut 2 weeks after bottling. A little too much at first. 2 weeks later it was perfect. 1 month later started to faded. 3) A loooooot of coconut in 2 weeks...almost a coconut beer and undrinkable. 2 weeks later it as a lot. 4 weeks later it was a little bit too much...6 weeks later it was perfect.
