Coconut Porter

[Clivefrog]

I'm a beginner brewer and want to brew a toasted coconut porter. By beginner, I mean extract only. I have never brewed a dark beer (only brewed a pale ale and an American IPA before) and don't know the specifics when it comes to "[x]-hopping" whether it be hops or coconut or M&Ms. I kinda wish I had dry-hopped my IPA with an ounce or two of Centennials.... oh well.

Anyways, I assume you add the coconut after the initial brewing process. I usually order my ingredients online (any recommendations on a homebrew supply shop near Costa Mesa?). Should I just buy a regular porter extract kit and purchase some coconut flakes at a grocery store? How much (poundage) coconut should I add to a 5-gallon batch to make the taste noticeable but not overpowering? I did some rapid googling and saw that toasting the coconut, usually by sticking them on a cookie sheet and placing them in the oven for a few minutes, is the way to do it. Then add the toasted coconut flakes into the fermenter like I would dry-hop?

If anyone has any information they can provide me with, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Rezzin]

I've never used coconut in a beer before but I think a safe way to go about it would be to add maybe a # or so to the end of primary (or secondary if you do one) and the sample every couple of days until the taste is where you like it. You may want to go lighter on the amount of coconut tho - perhaps others can chime in. Based on your experience you can change things up again the next time around (adding it to the end of the boil, adding more or less at the end of fermentation, etc). I would definitely toast the coconut first then add it right to the fermenter to minimize the chance of contamination. I'm not sure how much flavor it will add but since flavor mostly comes from smell, perhaps it will do the trick.

And yes, you could simply go with an extract porter recipe and add the coconut to it.

[BrewMasterBrad]

I've never used coconut before, so maybe some others can help out here. In fact, I can't stand coconut, so I will probably never use it.

On another note, I can appreciate your trying new things and we all wanted to try exotic things when we first started brewing. I think it is part of the learning process. I would like to make a suggestion though. Maybe try making a porter first to see if you can make a good one before you start tweaking it and adding other flavors to it. The base beer is backbone of any other flavors that may be added later. Just a suggestion, take it or leave it.

Brad

[backyard brewer]

I've never used coconut before, so maybe some others can help out here. In fact, I can't stand coconut, so I will probably never use it.

On another note, I can appreciate your trying new things and we all wanted to try exotic things when we first started brewing. I think it is part of the learning process. I would like to make a suggestion though. Maybe try making a porter first to see if you can make a good one before you start tweaking it and adding other flavors to it. The base beer is backbone of any other flavors that may be added later. Just a suggestion, take it or leave it.

Brad

+1 on Brad's suggestion. There is nothing wrong with wanting to experiment, but get the basics of the base beers down first. One big reason is if you have an off flavor, you know where to start trouble shooting. Otherwise you'll have no idea if it's the coconut or something wrong with your base recipe.

For a coconut beer I think a little would go a long way. I'd recommend using an extract flavoring and adding just a little at a time in secondary to achieve what you're looking for.

[JonGoku]

Brad's point is definitely valid, but also not quite as exciting for the new brewer. I really like the Captains idea though and would assume you could use this method to accomodate both Brad's point as well as your desire to have a Coconut Porter.

If you follow the Captains method, you do not have to "coconut" the entire batch. Once you have quantified how much of your extract you need to attain your desired flavor you can scale it anyway you see fit. You could even add your coconut extract directly to the bottle before filling and therefore choose how many bottles you want to be Coconut Porter and how many you want to be Regular Porter, or even Coconut/Coffee/Blueberry/Bacon Porter etc. You would of course need to be as precise as possible in adding the same amount of flavor to each bottle so that the taste is uniform, however the main idea would be to have a number of bottles as a control group so you can know how much you improved or screwed up the original flavor.

HTH

This might help too:
How to Infuse Vodka with Flavor

[BrewMasterBrad]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm................................bacon

[Marotte Brewery]

Do they make coconut Jolly Ranchers?

[backyard brewer]

...Bacon Porter etc.

Seriously.... What the hell is wrong with you?

[JonGoku]

...Bacon Porter etc.

Seriously.... What the hell is wrong with you?

LOL! RDWHAHB I was joking.

[Clivefrog]

Whoa, sorry for abandoning a thread I created, guys!

I would love to create a basic porter and see how it turns out as practice for a coconut porter, but the only difference in procedure I really see is after the initial brew day (e.g. adding the coconut into the fermenter.) The margin for error after the initial brewing night seems slim, right? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to brew 5 gallons of a normal porter and then 5 gallons of a coconut porter, but the economist in me doesn't want to do that. If I know what to do, (and I think I do now) I can handle it all in one brew.

I also own a Vita-Mix (a super blender), so even creating "coconut dust" wouldn't be a problem for me. So the question remains: how much toasted coconut (oz) should be added to a 5 gallon typical porter recipe to make it noticeable but not overpowering?

Oh, also, my IPA turned out beautifully. I wish I had more than 5 gallons of it...

[BrewMasterBrad]

Clive, you'll find that once this obsession has taken over your life, silly things like economics won't matter any more. If your goal is to make great beer, the money should not be the issue. Getting your process down and repeatable is the key. As for the amount of coconut, you'll just have to experiment with it.

[carbon]

Clive, One thing I love to do is split up a 5 gallon batch into 5-1 gallon batches and experiment like that. You could have a gallon with no coconut (control) and then add varying amounts of coconut to the other four gallons. I like to do this with dry hops or yeast as well. Its a way of getting the most variety of beers out of the least amount of effort, while learning about the individual characteristics of the variable. That's how I would approach this beer.

[JonGoku]

Clive, One thing I love to do is split up a 5 gallon batch into 5-1 gallon batches and experiment like that. You could have a gallon with no coconut (control) and then add varying amounts of coconut to the other four gallons. I like to do this with dry hops or yeast as well. Its a way of getting the most variety of beers out of the least amount of effort, while learning about the individual characteristics of the variable. That's how I would approach this beer.

fixed

[SCBeerDude]

Maui Brewing makes a Coconut Porter. I'd wager that you could find some clone recipes on teh interwebs for guidance.