Funky Buddha Last Snow Clone Recipe Help

After milking some details out of a couple buddha employees I'm thinking I might be onto something with this (extract) recipe. Looking to see if you guys have any input (although it's already fermenting so at this point I'm mostly looking for advice on how to do the coconut/coffee). It's my first attempt so after it's done I'll update this with findings.

Name: Last Snow Porter Clone
Style: Sweet Stout
Brew Method: Extract
Batch Size: 5 gal Boil Size: 3.5 gal OG: 1.070 FG: 1.018 SRM: 42 IBU: 32

Fermentables
8.00 lb Pilsen Light DME
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt
0.50 lb Roasted Barley
0.25 lb Black malt
0.25 lb Caramel malt

Boil Additions
3.00 oz Willamette
0.75 lb Lactose

Yeast
Safale US-05

Notes / Brew Schedule
Steep grains for 30 minutes @160 degrees.
2.00 oz Willamette @ 60 min
2.00 lb Pilsen DME @ 60 min
6.00 lb Pilsen DME @ 15 min
0.75 lb Lactose @ 10 min
1 oz Willamette @ 5 min

Secondary:
2.00 lb Toasted Coconut
4.00 oz Cacao Nibs
8.00??? oz cold brewed coffee

Would appreciate any input. I have heard in addition to the real coconut they use a certain coconut extract so I'm not sure how close this is going to be. Might try to find a random one and use it at bottling depending on how much the coconut is pronounced. I know some people have issues with coconut and head retention. We'll see.

Recipe here: http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/lord-snow-porter

 

BTW, if you haven't had it, it's a white chocolate coconut coffee caramel porter. Tastes like a Mounds chocolate bar.

 

According to one of the brewers, they use real coconut And a specific extract to achieve the right flavor. Wouldn't tell me which though.

 

^^ It's already been fermenting for a week, but based on how much body it has this could be an easy change for next time. Hopefully the lactose and coconut will add a little body. Anyone worked with coconut before? How much beer can I expect to lose from being absorbed by 2 lbs of coconut?

Will def update this as I go.

 

Turned out really solid. All of my friends say it's the best beer I've done yet. After a few months, I did start to get a slight metallic taste which could probably be attributed to a few things more related to my brewing technique than the recipe. On a second batch I would probably go with slightly more coconut OR a little bit of malibu in the secondary. Maybe an extra 0.5lb or so. And a little bit more cold brewed coffee, maybe 2 cups. I don't brew enough to compare coconut extracts and ratios to make it tastes exactly like Last Snow, but it's a damn good coconut/coffee/chocolate porter! Cheers!

 

Also...had no issue with head retention from the coconut oils but I did need to strain it a little better, each bottle had a little bit of coconut sediment that would float to the top.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.