Help with Coconut Porter Recipe

I got this recipe from another board and is based on a coconut porter by a japanese brewer that won some awards a while ago. His was an all grain and this is someone else's partial extract version.


COCoNUT PORTER

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
66.2 6.00 lbs. Muntons DME - Light England
11.0 1 lb Pilsen Light Dme
17.3 1.6 lbs. Chocolate Malt England 1.000 350
5.5 0.50 lbs. Crystal 80L 1.000 80

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Northern Brewer Plug 8.10 44.2 50 min.
0.50 oz. Goldings - E.K. Plug 5.10 2.0 10 min.

Extras
Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
14.00 Oz Coconut (toasted) Other 14 Days(fermenter)
1.00 Unit(s)Whirlfloc Fining 10 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-----
WYeast Irish Ale

Notes
-----
Based on Toasted Coconut Porter recipe by Ichiri Fujiura. Downloaded from:
http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=2235&st=0
In this version of the recipe, some of the weight values are rounded up/down for convenience.



One main note is that the original recipe called for 1.5 oz Northern Brewer hops at 8% alpha
My LHBS only had 12% alpha Northern Brewerer. So they said i should be able to use only 1 oz and get the same result. I brewed the beer and then plugged it into beersmith and the IBU is really low. 26.8. It was supposed to be 46 ibu.

So was this hops adjustment a big error. do i need to try and fix it??


Est Original Gravity: 1.071
SG Est Final Gravity: 1.018
SG Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.0 %
Bitterness: 26.8 IBUs
Est Color: 45.5 SRM

Seems like it will be okay either way, but 46 IBU is pretty bitter for a porter. IMHO, it will be better at 27 IBU.

I made a similar porter. I agree the IBUs are high. Somewhere in mid to high 20's would be best.

You should also make sure you use unsweetened shredded coconut.

i read a bunch about this recipe and couldn't tell if the original was sweetened or unsweetend. i was thinking of just using real coconuts and toasting that. but if i don't why unsweetend? the sugar will add to the abv but what else would sweetened do?

Look at the ingredients. Unfortunately it's never as simple as you might think.

Coconut, Sugar, Water, Propylene Glycol To Preserve Freshness, Salt, Sodium Metabisulfite

I got all natural unsweetened coconut in bulk from whole foods.

i think i am gonna use a real coconut or two now. why the hell not.