Addition of coconut

[wi6673r@icloud.com]

Have a porter I'm about to rack into second dary on top of some coconut, how should I go about this and how much? Extract oil maybe, can I use sweetened coconut?

 

[Nosybear]

Rack it on top of the coconut. I use about a half-pound in five gallons. You can use sweetened coconut, the sugar will simply ferment out. What I find is if I bag the coconut and simply "dry hop" with it, I can pull it out when I get the flavor I want. About the only other thing I can think of is maybe toasting the coconut. It has oil no matter what and your head retention will suffer if you use coconut instead of extract.

 

[Goebel]

I am also planning to add coconut to a stout I'm fermenting now. My supplier told me that folks toast it first. I also appreciate any info.
It's about 6 gallons so perhaps a bit more than a half pound?

 

[OkanaganMike]

Don't do what I did, I tried it once and will never again. I whirlpooled 1lb for 30 and dry hopped another pound for 2 weeks in a chocolate porter, both shredded toasted. The whirlpool didn't include a hop basket so it was incredibly hard to separate from the wort and a bunch made it into the fermenter despite my caution. Apparently coconut has various densities, some float, some sink the rest are suspended in the wort. So I thought I'd be clever and dry hop in a muslin bag right? Well I knew it would swell and it did that. Problem was I ferment in a glass carboy and couldn't remove the bag without sacrificing it. Had coconut from a55hole to breakfast trying to clean it out. lol If you ferment in a bucket or wide mouth container, the hop bag would work but if you use a carboy, be prepared for a real PITA.

 

[Goebel]

Lessons learned.
I'm doing my primary in a bucket now.
Perhaps best to transfer to another bucket for secondary. I'm not certain when to add the coconut and how long to let it steep in there?

 

[Mase]

Lessons learned.
I'm doing my primary in a bucket now.
Perhaps best to transfer to another bucket for secondary. I'm not certain when to add the coconut and how long to let it steep in there?

There was another thread just recently about coconut additions. I’ll have to find it and post a link.

 

[OkanaganMike]

Lessons learned.
I'm doing my primary in a bucket now.
Perhaps best to transfer to another bucket for secondary. I'm not certain when to add the coconut and how long to let it steep in there?

Plastic makes me nervous as microbes can get into plastic pours and spoil your beer no matter how careful you are cleaning and sanitizing. I've always used glass as it is inert. Stainless would be a decent option though like a conical fermenter.

 

[Hogarthe]

Plastic makes me nervous as microbes can get into plastic pours and spoil your beer no matter how careful you are cleaning and sanitizing. I've always used glass as it is inert. Stainless would be a decent option though like a conical fermenter.

As long as you are careful not to scratch the plastic it should be fine. Plus buckets are fairly cheap, you can replace them every year if you are worried. They do make adding things into the wort easier, since the opening is so much bigger. That said, I am a glass carboy user myself. I started with a bucket for my first several batches then got a carboy so I could do 2 batches at once. Then replaced the bucket with another carboy. But I never had a problem with the bucket, I just didn't want to have to worry about scratches. But if I were to do a fruit beer or something I'd get a bucket for ease of adding to the wort.