Question about adding toasted coconut to porter

I have a porter sitting in my primary for just over 3 weeks now. Last night I finally worked up the nerve to toast a lb of flaked coconut, stick in a grain bag, and ram it down in to my glass carboy.

Ive been hesitant due to the head retention problem due to the oils in the coconut (it was oil despite my attempt to toast it to a golden brown color).

MY QUESTIONS: I used sweetened coconut because I looked everywhere and could not find unsweetened.......am I screwed? What is going to happen as a result of using sweetened coconut? I noticed my airlock is bubbling once again. There were no additives other than "sweetener"

I figure I just butchered this whole batch but I am going to see it thru!

I wouldn't sweat the sweetener, as it's fermenting out. Oils are a problem, but lack of head on a porter isn't IMO.

You are going to get a secondary fermentation. I don't know how much sugar is in there, but if you are using a secondary 5 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch, you may want to stick a blow-off tube on there just in case. I have had explosive secondary fermentation from fruit in similar situations.


Regarding the coconut and oils...I have had mixed results. I have changed my recipe a bit over time to improve head formation and retention, but even the first time I made it I didn't *really* have issues with it to the point of there being no head...more like it dissipates a bit faster than I'd like.

Your fine man. I did a toasted coconut stout with a lb in secondary and it had no problem with head retention. Next time I'm not going to.toast it or do s half toasted half non toasted because I think you would get better flavour that way

I scored 8th overall in my last comp with a coconut porter. I did 1/2lb in the boil and 1/2lb in secondary. Same as you with the sweetened coconut. The added sugar, and following higher abv did thin out the body a bit. As for the oils, when I racked to the bottling bucket I cold crashed it for a couple hours to both drop the yeast and to help the oils harden on the surface so I could bottle from under it and leave the scum behind.