Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Coconut Cream Stout-competition runner up

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BrewmeisterSmith

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
137
Reaction score
9
Location
Kalamazoo
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP 001
Yeast Starter
Yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
11
Original Gravity
1.060
Final Gravity
1.018
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
37.4
Color
35
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
15 at 68ish
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
1 week at 68- cold crash if possible
Tasting Notes
Frigging awesome. You could seriously drink this out of the fermenter!
Ingredients

Grain:
14 lbs Briess 2 row pale malt (maris otter is great too!)
3 lbs Briess white wheat malt
2 lbs Briess Caramel 60L
1.5 lbs Muntons Chocolate Malt (345L)
1 lb roasted barley (300L)

Mash grains at 152 for 60 minutes.

Hops:
1.5 oz US Magnum 14.7AA at 60 min

Other additives:
1 lb Lactose added at 10 minutes remaining in the boil
Irish moss- optional...its a dark beer.

20 oz toasted coconut in the secondary for 1 week. Buy 2 bags of coconut shavings in the baking section in your favorite supermarket. Toast in the oven at 350 degrees until golden and toasty. Weigh out 20 oz. Note- Toasted coconut is lighter than untoasted. Be careful not to burn it too or over toast it. It just needs be slightly golden or less. If splitting into two fermenters, 10 oz in each. UPDATE: I used 12 oz in each fermenter and it turned out even better.

Another note- racking this off the coconut is a messy task. I rubber-banded a piece of hop sock (nylon paint strainer bag) to the end of my siphon. Keep the siphon pumping vs flowing. Otherwise it will clog. I found recently that using a muslin bag works best to help contain it. I added marbles to weigh it down. Just remember you put marbles in it. I accidentally threw away my marbles. Dangit.

I brewed this for the 2012 Bells Homebrew competition. There were something like 125 entries and this came in 6th place. I modeled this after the Deception Cream Stout recipe in this form. So, props to NCBeernut for the inspiration. I bottled a 12 pack out of the keg to pass around. A buddy of mine shipped this to some beer geeks in NC and I'm still getting requests for more! The coconut does not overpower this beer. It's very well balanced.

I started drinking from the keg 1 week later. Although, a couple week in the keg really makes this clear, crisp, and smooth!

UPDATE: I shipped this beer out to the NHC in Philly this week. Charlie Papazian himself drank and "loved" this beer.
 
This looks simply amazing.
I think I must brew this!

Question: Your grain bill + lactose (minus the coconut) is the all grain version of the deception stout?
 
This looks simply amazing.
I think I must brew this!

Question: Your grain bill + lactose (minus the coconut) is the all grain version of the deception stout?

Pretty close. The base grains are slightly less. I also used a different yeast than the deception recipe. The hops were slightly higher in AA too. But other than that, it's pretty much the same. I didnt bother fermenting for 1 month either. The job was done at day 15. Since it was a little different and did well in a competition, I felt it needed it's own post.

For the extract version of this, just subtitue the 2 row with enough DME to get you to the gravity you want. Then, just steep the rest of the grains. Keep in mind that you may want to boost your OG with enough DME to account for the steeping grains. Steeping them vs mashing them will not get you the same amount of additional gravity. It will, however, lend to the color and flavor that you want.
 
?? and if so, would someone be kind enough to post?

thanks,

See the post above for the extract version of this. It's pretty simple to convert. Use hopville or beersmith to figure out the exact gravity needed when substituting the extract for the 2 row.
 
And btw.... if you really want to impress your friends, throw a little bit of Malibu rum in their pint glass when filling it.
 
I brewed this last week or so. :ban:

One question on the coconut addition-
Did you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut?
I found both at my local grocery store, but the unsweetened was in 7 oz bags.
 
Sweetened was my only option at Walmart. Either one would be fine. You're really just absorbing the coconut flavor and aroma. You could buy both, toast, taste, and go with whichever one smells and tastes the best. Post back with some feedback once you get to that point.
 
Alright, found some unsweetened at a local "ethnic" store which was super cheap. But I have a question before I finish this. What's the point of toasting the coconut? Does it bring out flavor or break it down?
 
Alright, found some unsweetened at a local "ethnic" store which was super cheap. But I have a question before I finish this. What's the point of toasting the coconut? Does it bring out flavor or break it down?

I think toasted vs un-toasted taste totally different. Taste some of the raw shavings, then try some of the toasted. I think toasting definitely changes the flavor. Monitor it when in the oven and give it a stir once or twice. It can start to over-toast if you're not careful. I set off the smoke detectors the first time I tried it. You'll get some nice aroma from the toasted coconut too.
 
This just took 1st place at my local homebrew club, the Kalamazoo Libation Organization of Brewers (KLOB). There were about 25 entries. The criteria was anything and everything. Folks could submit multiple entries and we had stouts, IPAs, wheat beers, cream ales, smoked scotch ales, jalapeno ales, etc. 3rd place had 22 votes, 2nd place had 33 votes, mine had 45 votes!!
 
Hi all
I am totally and utterly green at this brewing malarkey with only ciders, a cheap wine kit and a weird foul tasting experiment under my belt , but my real love is stout.
I've come across 2 recipes on here.
Coconut cream
Chocolate milk
These I dream of making but don't get all this grain boiling-soaking stuff.
What need is a lamens guide so I can follow these recipes
Or
Can I get a cheap stout kit and add additional ingredients to make one of the above to cut out most of the technical bits?
Also could I cross the 2 and make a chocolate coconut cream stout?!! This sounds real good.
Any help would MOST appreciated
Tia
 
Hi all
I am totally and utterly green at this brewing malarkey with only ciders, a cheap wine kit and a weird foul tasting experiment under my belt , but my real love is stout.
I've come across 2 recipes on here.
Coconut cream
Chocolate milk
These I dream of making but don't get all this grain boiling-soaking stuff.
What need is a lamens guide so I can follow these recipes
Or
Can I get a cheap stout kit and add additional ingredients to make one of the above to cut out most of the technical bits?
Also could I cross the 2 and make a chocolate coconut cream stout?!! This sounds real good.
Any help would MOST appreciated
Tia


Stouts are very forgiving and hide flaws well due to its roasty nature. One of the biggest things that I have found that impacts taste is water quality. Try using spring water or run your tap water through a .5 micron charcoal filter (what I do). Just dont do what a lot of beginners do and over look this key ingredient. If your water has chlorine in it, you have to filter it out. Otherwise your beer will taste like medical supplies.

Making a hybrid sounds fun. If you do it, post back and let us know the results. There's really nothing to this brewing stuff. For extract, start with 7 gallons of water if you can. (If not try half that then top off with water when done) Then heat the water to 150-165ish. Then steep the grains for 20 or 30 minutes in that temp range without going over 170 degrees. Remove the grain bag and bring to a boil. Add extract. Bring back to a boil. Start the countdown timer at 60 minutes. Add hops according to the recipe schedule. Once your 60 minutes is up, kill the flame and cool with a wort chiller down to about 70 degree. Dump in some WLP001 or US05 or even a stout yeast. Your preference. Stir the crap out of it to aerate and put on your lid and airlock and your done. Ferment according to the yeast packet recommendations. I like 65-68 degrees for most. Wait 2-3 weeks then bottle or keg. I like to secondary for 1 week if I'm bottling. That way I get less yeast in the bottle. Hopefully this helps. Just follow this guide and you'll be happy with the results.
 
I want to do this in extract form. Even with a light colored extract this comes out as a very very dark beer when I put it in beer alchemy. Is it supposed to be a super dark beer?. If it is fine, I just want a really good tasting beer.
 
BrewmeisterSmith, do you rack to a secondary, and then add the coconut there, or do you add the coconut to the primary? Also, do you add the coconut loose, or in a bag?

thanks,
lg
 
Or anyone?

Based on the recipe it's added in the secondary. Whenever I've done secondary additions, I usually just put the addition in the secondary first and rack the beer on top. I do like the idea of using the bag, though, in response to the comment about difficulty in racking to keg. Anyone see any drawbacks to throwing the coconut in a steralized hop bag?
 
Based on the recipe it's added in the secondary. Whenever I've done secondary additions, I usually just put the addition in the secondary first and rack the beer on top. I do like the idea of using the bag, though, in response to the comment about difficulty in racking to keg. Anyone see any drawbacks to throwing the coconut in a steralized hop bag?

Thats generally how I've been doing it lately. However, I like the bag idea. The coconut doesn't seem to soak up much of the beer like hops do. Maybe worth a shot. Just weight it down somehow. I'm going to start doing this with dry-hopping and adding an extra 10% hops. Not sure if you'd need add more coconut doing it this way. Couldn't hurt. If it's not as coconutty as you'd like, just add a splash of Malibu rum :mug::mug:
 
Couple of things anyone. Never made a stout before and was wondering if this can be done in a one gallon batch just incase it all goes tits up, or is that a stupid question.
Everything im doing is in 1 gal batches until I get the hang of brewing..
Also looking at a chocolate milk stout they suggest soaking the nibs in vodka for a few days, would that work for the coconut? Bag, soak then bung it all in the secondary..
 
Stouts are amazingly forgiving. I wouldn't worry too much about messing it up. Just follow the recipe and use sanitary practices. 1 gallon doesn't get you much beer. It would be less than 8 pints since you'll have less beer from racking. I typically brew no less than 5 gallons. I've got about 40 gallons of variety brewing away in fermenters now.
 
Based on the recipe it's added in the secondary. Whenever I've done secondary additions, I usually just put the addition in the secondary first and rack the beer on top. I do like the idea of using the bag, though, in response to the comment about difficulty in racking to keg. Anyone see any drawbacks to throwing the coconut in a steralized hop bag?

I tried using a hop bag and it was WAY easier to rack. I upped the coconut to 12 oz. It turned out great and I was left with a full volume...no beer loss due to messy loose coconut shavings.
 
I had a question on the original recipe. What size of output is that recipe, it seems like a large grain bill for a 5 gallon batch but small for a 10 gallon batch. This is the next beer I'm brewing it looks amazing.
 
Maybe it dosnt show up in the app version but I read the first post again and i don't see where it says that it is an 11 gallon batch. Also if someone had some OG readings that would be helpful, just for something to shoot for.
 
I tried using a hop bag and it was WAY easier to rack. I upped the coconut to 12 oz. It turned out great and I was left with a full volume...no beer loss due to messy loose coconut shavings.

Sweet! It's about time I brewed this. My cousin challenged me to put coconut in a beer, so I'm cheating and using your recipe. Cheers! :mug:
 
Brewed yesterday, hit 1.060 on the dot. Using WLP013 London Ale Yeast instead because I love that strain for stouts

One of the best tasting pre-fermented worts I've had :)
 
So I read this thread a couple times. Just to be clear, the original recipe was for a 10-11 gallon batch, split into two 5 gal batches, with 12 oz of coconut in each. So for a 5.5 gal batch I would just divide the grain bill by 2 with 12 oz of coconut.

Brewing it this weekend, exciteddd.
 
roflomingo said:
So I read this thread a couple times. Just to be clear, the original recipe was for a 10-11 gallon batch, split into two 5 gal batches, with 12 oz of coconut in each. So for a 5.5 gal batch I would just divide the grain bill by 2 with 12 oz of coconut. Should I also cut the lactose in half?

Brewing it this weekend, exciteddd.

Also, how sweet is this stout? I'm brewing this for my father who enjoys a dry stout. I know this is by no means dry, but is it too cloying? Was thinking of dropping the lactose, should I go with .25 or .5 pounds if so?
 
Before adding the coconut it was not that sweet, but I toasted sweetened coconut and added that and its now a bit too sweet for me. I would go with unsweetened coconut if you can find it. I think the sweetness of the sweetened coconut will fade over time so I don't think it will be a problem in the end.

Overall amazing stout though, I'd like to take this same grain bill (ratios) but bump up all the amounts to get a 1.1+ beer and age it. I think the grain bill is so solid
 
Gotcha, thanks for the feedback. I was thinking it over, and dont know if I want a whole case of coconut stout. Gonna bottle most as is, and then on maybe 6-12 bottles left add some coconut extract.
 
I'd like to brew this but I will be putting it in bottels. How many voulmes of C02 should I aim for about 2?
Also what is the recommended dry yeast? US-05, Nottingham or S04?
Thanks
 
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