Coconut wine

Any thoughts on how this is/would be? Coconuts are in season in my local market and I thought maybe it would be fun (and tasty) to try a wine from fresh coconut.

Jack Keller's Coconut wine recipe

They use dry coconut though.

Good idea!post people post!!

I saw that they use dry in the recipe's but my question is why? Too much oil in fresh? I think the fresh would have more flavor. Couldn't I even do something with the coconut milk in it even? Idk, I've just been brainstorming but thought I'd shoot it out there!

Yeah, the fat content of coconut milk is quite high. Beyond Keller's recipe, I don't think you're going to have much luck. I didn't when I googled for it. Jack Keller is the Charlie Papazian/Yoda/God of home wine making, if there aren't multiple recipes on his site, then there aren't multiple recipes....

Newbrew12 said:

Any thoughts on how this is/would be? Coconuts are in season in my local market and I thought maybe it would be fun (and tasty) to try a wine from fresh coconut.

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You could always try the Gilligan method:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/coconut-mead-have-i-created-monster-182960/

Just a thought here, but what if you were to boil shredded fresh coconut along with the water from inside it with a little added water, press the coconut flesh to extract liquid & chill? Would the fat separate & congeal?

If you could skim it off the surface like cream, or filter it out by pouring through a paper coffee filter, you might get a good fermentation out of it.
Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

You could always try the Gilligan method:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/coconut-mead-have-i-created-monster-182960/

Just a thought here, but what if you were to boil shredded fresh coconut along with the water from inside it with a little added water, press the coconut flesh to extract liquid & chill? Would the fat separate & congeal?

If you could skim it off the surface like cream, or filter it out by pouring through a paper coffee filter, you might get a good fermentation out of it.
Regards, GF.

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You know, I keep seeing this trick on cooking shows for "Freeze filtration" to get extremely clear yet very flavor infused liquids like for making consommes. It might work with your idea GF.

Here's an article on it from the NYTimes. I've seen videos on youtube as well. When I get to work I'll look them up.

The Essence of Nearly Anything, Drop by Limpid Drop.

I don't know if you'd have to add gelatine to the mix before you froze it or not. I don't think the fat from coconut has gelatine in it.

This would be interesting to try....

Heston Blumenthal demos it in this clip. Advance the timecode to 4:25 to see what he's doing.

that looks like it might work. Thinking boil it in the coconut milk with some water and put it on the cheesecloth like it looks like he does and the fluids should drain to the bottom? It looks like all the fat and oils wouldn't drain through. Sound like I'm on the right track from watching that and from what gratus is saying? I wonder how many coconuts it would take? They're fairly cheep here right now which would be a huge plus if we can get it to work.

Revvy said:

The Essence of Nearly Anything, Drop by Limpid Drop.

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sorry off topic but that article is by harold mcgee, and he is awesome, if you haven't leafed through a copy of his seminal manual of science in the kitchen (on food and cooking) do it! just open to a random page, it's super informative and will teach you a lot of the relatively simple chemistry that goes on in our food, and it will affect (positively) the way you cook, brew, and even make wine and cider!! he is even heston blumenthal's science mentor btw. and he writes great articles for the new york times. whoops i got a bit excited. back to the coconuts

Ok, so here's my plan. I am going to try this strategy on a small scale before an attempt at making the wine to see just how much "fermentable juice" (consommes) I get out of one coconut and then go from there. I will take 1 coconut to start. Add the fruit flesh to a boiling pot and pour the coconut water over it. From what I've read I'll have to add water to cover all of the flesh, I'll keep it posted with how much water I use. Boil that mix for about 10 minutes. Will strain out the flesh and keep for potential use during primary fermentation. I'm going to do this in two batches to see if gelatin is needed or not. From the article you posted GF the fats in the coconut may make it so gelatin isn't needed. In one batch I'll add gelatin, in the other I won't and we'll see which works best. Will freeze the two batches and the next day put them both over individual strainers with a sanitized collection vessel (probably tupperware) in the fridge and wait for the results after a day or two.

I'm curious to see how each turns out as far as gelatin added vs. no gelatin added as well as quantity of fermenatable liquid made from one coconut. Hopefully this process will give me a good base to use as far as how many coconuts I'll need to make the size of batch I want to make. Everything I've brewed is 5g batches and I'd really like to stick with that size for this.

The only question I have is why Jack Keller's recipe calls for boiling with rice. I'm assuming it's to absorb some of the fats. If that's the case, should I boil the two mixtures with some rice? I don't want it to suck up all of the coconut and regular water though so if that's going to happen I may just see how this turns out and then adjust in the future if needed.

I've seen a thread around here where the coconut itself was used as the fermentation vessel. I'd suggest a search for it

I saw that. It's a cool idea but I'm gonna go a different way for this I think. That was for a mead too.

Well I got the mix in the freezer right now. I decided to just add gelatin and not do one without. I haven't found anywhere that says coconut has gelatin in it naturally. I'm hoping this works out!

What luck to come across this. I am enjoying a glass of CoCo Polada from Florida Orange Grove Winery and thought, I need to make something like this. Please update with how the coconut goes, I am going to try something as well.

Newbrew12 said:

I haven't found anywhere that says coconut has gelatin in it naturally.

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that's cuz gelatin is almost entirely collagen from cow's bones! yum
(and i do mean yum, i love homemade stocks with lots of silky collagen!)

plants don't make collagen
i'm curious is an agar or pectin matrix could also do the trick but as yet i have no clue

Well I'll let us know how it goes. As of 4:30 this morning it was frozen solid. I didn't have time to put it in the fridge yet to thaw so I'll do that tonight and see how it looks tomorrow morning. I'll tell ya... During the boil my house sure smelled amazing!

Well the results are in. It's exactly what I expected in clarity and flavor. A blast of coconut flavor with no residuals from the fruit or oils/fats. It's clear and looks like something that can be fermented. My issue is that I tested the SG of the results and they come in around 1.026. I'm thinking that to get into the "wine" range I'd be adding a ton of sugar and that may result in an alcohol taste that could over take the coconut taste. Any thought's on that?

From one coconut I got right at 16 ounces of juice after the filtration. Roughly 8 coconuts will be needed per gallon at that rate. Here's a couple pictures of the results:

I think as long as you use your juice to make syrup you will fine. If you use a lot of just plain water and not very much juice the alcohol will probably take over. It looks like you need more juice. how much are you wanting to make?

I have always brewed 5g batches with beer and have started one wine at the same. It's really what I like to make. I hadn't planned on using any water since I use water in the filtration. Adding that much sugar to get to the 1.095 won't be an issue ya don't think? I may use this 16 oz and ferment it out to a first racking as kind of a mini experiment first.

Wow, it worked!!!!!!

I wonder if you can use canned coconut milk and do the same process?

OOOh I just remembered. years ago I remember buying Coconut in block form from asian markets. It was a compressed block of meat.

Like this.

If I recall it was dirt cheap. You could probably get enough of that to rehydrate to get the amount you need.

I bet this technique, like the article implies could be used to make all manner of consumes for beers and wines. One of the biggest complaints of folks wanting to use chocolate and peanut butter in beers is the fats, you could do the same thing and make a fat free extract. WOW.

It was exciting to see it work. I'm hoping this will lead to some new creations in my kitchen

Newbrew12 said:

It was exciting to see it work. I'm hoping this will lead to some new creations in my kitchen

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I have a ton of ideas for brewing experiments now. Things like pumpkin pie extracts for pumpkin beers made with entire pumpkin pies. Trying a chocolate extract, and also getting some of that cream coconut and try to make a gallon of it.

I'm glad I could help prove this out a little bit. I'll tell ya, it'll need to be fine tuned for sure. The time it took (about 4 days) and about 50% efficiency on ingredients to results can probably be improved. I have pictures and steps on everything I did if anyone wants to see

Newbrew12 said:

I'm glad I could help prove this out a little bit. I'll tell ya, it'll need to be fine tuned for sure. The time it took (about 4 days) and about 50% efficiency on ingredients to results can probably be improved. I have pictures and steps on everything I did if anyone wants to see

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I kept hoping you'd do a step by step photo explanation of what you did, especially with info on how much gelatin you did.

I'm glad my half assed idea had merit.

Ok, I'll post everything tonight. Brewin up a wit tonight too so it'll be in-between steps of that LOL. There's good pictures of my battle with a coconut even too

You might be able to extract more flavour by pressing the coconut flesh. It's just a thought. Regards, GF.

what if you used the water from the green coconuts - it's sweet, so there must be sugar in it- much less fat than the milk. my wife makes killer coconut bread- i've considered trying to make some stone age beer from that. i thought i heard one of her uncles say something about coconut in chicha- but english is my first language and i was on the lookout for a fer de lance...

spearko520 said:

what if you used the water from the green coconuts - it's sweet, so there must be sugar in it- much less fat than the milk. my wife makes killer coconut bread- i've considered trying to make some stone age beer from that. i thought i heard one of her uncles say something about coconut in chicha- but english is my first language and i was on the lookout for a fer de lance...

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Agreed...there appears to be zero fat content in the coconut water that is sold at Costco, although it isn't cheap (I guess coconut water doesn't just grow on trees...har, har). Perhaps I will take a hydrometer reading to determine any mixture with H2O, although there are 15g of sugars per 11.1 oz container. There is even some calcium.

What yeast would be a good choice for such a project?

Shouldn't this ingredient suffice?

There is a decent discussion regarding the pasteurization of commercial coconut waters. It seems that the removal of fats is routine in shipping coconut water so that it will not spoil. Amazon has a subscribe and save deal right now too I think for coconut water, so I think I may buy enough for a 5 gallon batch.

The article also says that the brix level is 5 to 6.5. Per millilitre, I don't know offhand how that compares to other things I have made such as ciders.

http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0701sp1.htm

If my calculations are correct, the OG would only be 1.02 to 1.027, which is rather nominal. I will have to confirm with the hydrometer, but this sounds right as the water is mildly sweet. I think that at best the coconut water could serve as the base, but that something else would need to be used to provide additional fermentable sugars.

It seems in the Philippines they make a coconut wine with the young coconut water, plus with the coconut sap as it has a thick sugary consistency. But beware, the sap has a natural yeast that produces toxins (or so they say). Perhaps the addition of coconut sap sugar?

Also, apparently the Philippine Government has, as of 2008, worked with the the Champagne Institute of France to customize and culture a yeast for coconut wine...

The plot thickens...

in southern india they make a fresh, naturally fermented wine from coconut tree sap called toddy. it tastes like old camping stove fuel. i had some one night, was perfectly happy, had the nasty bottom of the same bottle the next night, and within 5 hours was about as sick as i've ever been. shared the evening meal with 6 other people, but only gf and i had the toddy, and we were both very sick out both ends within minutes of each other!

i like camping- and vomitful diarrhea. that sounds like a delightful experience...
now i'm thinking of limiting my love affair with the coconut to more practical uses- like the radio from gilligan's island... or possibly a bra (for my upcoming water park excursion)

spearko520 said:

i like camping- and vomitful diarrhea. that sounds like a delightful experience...
now i'm thinking of limiting my love affair with the coconut to more practical uses- like the radio from gilligan's island... or possibly a bra (for my upcoming water park excursion)

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Lol

WarrantedFED said:

If my calculations are correct, the OG would only be 1.02 to 1.027, which is rather nominal. I will have to confirm with the hydrometer, but this sounds right as the water is mildly sweet. I think that at best the coconut water could serve as the base, but that something else would need to be used to provide additional fermentable sugars.

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Staying with the coconut theme, here's the sugar to add:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005NH4RMC...e=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B005NH4RMC
Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

Staying with the coconut theme, here's the sugar to add:
Video Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005NH4RMC/ref=asc_df_B005NH4RMC1932415?smid=A3GPNXDPD5W0YV&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B005NH4RMC
Regards, GF.

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I came across this. I was curious as to how it would ferment through and taste. It would make up much of the fermentable sugars.

The gravity was 1.022 when I checked BTW..