So next week I am going to brew my second batch ever. Decided to brew a coconut pineapple cream ale. Since I'm still new to the game, I purchased an extract kit from northern brewing. Going to add coconut extract after the boil. Then a couple weeks into fermentation I was going to add coconut flakes and fresh pineapple. Does anyone have any tips or tricks or suggests on when to add them? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Wow, you are going 0 to 100 real quick You're right, I would suggest adding those flavors late in the fermentation process, so that they don't get scrubbed out. Also I'm not sure that coconut flakes would be necessary if extract is also being used. But hey, what do I know? This is the first time I've ever thought about it. Go on wit cho bad self!
This sounds pretty agressive for an early batch. Have you made a cream ale before? I always like to split a first time style off with one gallon being a unique option and the rest being regular. It does sounds interesting but I'm not sure why you want to add extract before bottling. You'd be better off adding the additions after primary fermentation is complete and add extract as needed at bottling.
what can i say, i like to dive in the deep end. haha Ill probably leave out the flakes and stay with just the extract but add it later when i add the pineapple. thank you.
First batch was a milk porter. Turned out pretty good, just not as dark as i would like. I'll wait to add the extract later when I add the pineapple. Might take your advice and buy a smaller carboy and try the unique option.
Huh. I do admire new brewers for their go for it gusto. Just make sure what you are doing has enough time to figure out how it's going to respond to and also factor into what you already have.
There's an old saying "God hates a coward" and clearly you ain't in brewing . I agree that using extract at bottleing is preferred, but if you want to really leap off the cliff, lose the extract, add coconut flakes" toasted" to the secondary. Get a fresh pineapple, peel it, cut into chunks and boil for 3 minutes and add to secondary. After the sugars of the pineapple are fermented out bottle or keg. Cool idea, good luck.
Many of my early batches tried to push the boundaries of styles. By about 10 batches, the urge to do this left my system and I mostly now brew close to style guidelines. Still, you need to hang-ten and ride the wave of enthusiasm while you can. Go easy on the extract. I recommend pulling a pint of unadulterated beer and splitting it into a few glasses and experiment, drop-wise, with the addition of coconut extract, to figure out what it takes to have a desired impact on your beer (or to find out how much is too much), then scale the addition of extract proportionally to batch size. I like the idea of added some flaked coconut too. Often extracts are criticized for being one dimensional, so a second source of coconut may help. Hard for me to say how to go about figuring out how much. Lots of coconut porter recipes can be found on-line. Maybe use as a guide, down-sizing the amount of coconut because there are no roasty malts in a cream ale that obscure the additive. I never brewed with coconut flakes or extract, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Well, maybe not, or your pina-colada inspired beer might become a margarita beer.
Really nice to see all the positive enthusiasm on this. I think it's common to go crazy when you first start something (I remember when I first started programming -- I wanted to create a social network!). Anyway, what matters? You either take the slow and steady train in life, or you take the rollercoaster that may or may not throw you off from time to time. But hey, thats what it's about right? Awesome idea for a beer, anyway, keep us updated
I've done the opposite as well, put the regular in the one gallon carboy and go wild on the rest. It's always good to have a baseline so you know if your recipe and brewing methods are solid. Otherwise the adjuncts can cover up a lot of the issues. Experimenting is the best part of brewing so keep on trying the crazy ideas! Like others have said be careful with extract. First time I used extracts I ruined a good beer by putting too much in. Now I usually avoid extracts and try for the real thing.
Curious as to how you arrived at this concept. If you're going to use coconut extract, make sure it's organic and of excellent quality. I would advise STRONGLY against using those shite "flavoring essences" that many homebrewing outlets sell. I would then advise you to get a medicine dropper and add a measured amount to each bottle. As to the pineapple, I would get a hold of some juice and reduce it over heat until it is of a syrup-like consistency and add that to your beer once it has cooled. Adding it as the fermentation is tailing off is the best time to do this. If you want your end result to be clear, add some pectinase with it. If you don't care about clarity, then there's no need for the pectic enzyme. With something like this, it might be of interest to dry hop your beer with any of the myriad hops with tropical fruit character.
I've used pineapple in secondary before. 2 whole pineapples, chopped, then puréed in an immersion blender. Add the purée to secondary and rack your beer on top. Let ferment out for a month before packaging. That's what I recommend for infusing the pineapple flavors. Not sure what the best way is for the coconut though. Maybe toast a fair amount and add them when adding the pineapple?
I think most of us tried to make smoothies when we first started and learned quickly it doesn't always work. I would save the pineapple for a lighter beer and just use the coconut. If you try the extract, mix some in a cup of beer first because some of the extracts are horrible.
