Coconut Brown Ale Advice

I want to make a Coconut Brown Ale similar to Kona Koko Brown, but wayyyy better. I want it to be highly drinkable, smooth, rich, medium-bodied, not cloying, and finish on the dry side (1.011 - 1.015 tops - down from somewhere in the 1.060’s). I am looking for a clean, malty base free of fruity flavors or diacetyl. I’m not looking for any chocolate notes whatsoever; just an excellent brown ale base to layer on a bunch of real, unsweetened toasted coconut goodness.

I heard Kona uses coconut in their mash, but I don't see the rationale behind this concept. Does it really provide that much character after being boiled off for an hour? Is there any benefit of using untoasted vs. toasted coconut at certain spots in the recipe? Does it interfere with the enzymes in the base malt? I would think a long aroma steep at whirlpool combined with a secondary addition would be best, though I’m not sure on the amounts to use.

I’m brewing indoors so this will be about a 4.2 gallon full volume boil / 3.4 gallon batch and I will not be using a secondary.

A few ingredients I am considering:

• English 2-row (have not decided which types)
• A couple different crystal malts (American or British?)
• A small amount of Carafa I, Midnight Wheat, or Pale Chocolate Malt to get 19-24 SRM.
• Munich? Biscuit? Aromatic? Victory? Oats?
• Piloncillo (a solid piece of sucrose and fructose obtained from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice. The flavor is reminiscent of dark brown sugar, but richer and more complex).
• Some combo of Fuggles, Sovereign, Willamette, Tettnang, Styrian or Kent Goldings at 60/30/15 with a final IBU count of 30-35.
• Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale – low to medium floc @ 75-77% attenuation

Looking for some inspiration… How would you personally design a recipe with these goals in mind? And how would you use the coconut?

Any comments? Really interested in getting this right the first time!

Edit: Thanks for your insight OClairBrew!

I am curious about this too as my wife loves the Kona Koko Brown. I think the coconut came through very well and if they do it in the mash I wouldn't hesitate trying that. After FG has been reached I would taste the hydro sample and then "dry coconut" in the primary with toasted coconut if there wasn't as much flavor as I wanted. I think toasted coconut is key otherwise the oils will impede head retention. I like the idea of the carafa combined with some Munich and some Victory. My Baltic Porter had all of those and scaled back would make a nice, toasty brown IMO.

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I'm also curious about finding a good recipe to brew soon. I have two friends that I've introduced to brewing and they want to brew again soon. They have caught the bug and Koko Brown was the request so I'm doing a bit of research to find a good recipe for us to brew next.

I have no idea if you have finished this beer yet, but I just finished designing and buying the ingredients for a really rich chocolate coconut porter recently. Though our end results will be different, here's my plan with the coconut.

I am doing toasted coconut in the mash and in a "dry hop" as well (a pound in each). Part of my reasoning behind the mash is that even the dried coconut still has plenty of residual oil in it that I would prefer the mash to absorb most of. I expect to get most of my flavor from this addition as well. In the " dry hop" I am expecting to get the toasty aroma only. We'll see.

mytommygundont said:

I have no idea if you have finished this beer yet, but I just finished designing and buying the ingredients for a really rich chocolate coconut porter recently. Though our end results will be different, here's my plan with the coconut.

I am doing toasted coconut in the mash and in a "dry hop" as well (a pound in each). Part of my reasoning behind the mash is that even the dried coconut still has plenty of residual oil in it that I would prefer the mash to absorb most of. I expect to get most of my flavor from this addition as well. In the " dry hop" I am expecting to get the toasty aroma only. We'll see.

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How did this all work out for you and how much coconut did you use... I'm curious I was considering doing a very similar beer ... Do you think adding it directly to the boil is bad news? I know it's oily stuff

Nothing yet. I was supposed to do it Wednesday but I ended up spending 6.5 hours waiting for comcast to finish installing all of my new devices. I plan on doing this beer on Sunday. I'll report back.

mytommygundont said:

Nothing yet. I was supposed to do it Wednesday but I ended up spending 6.5 hours waiting for comcast to finish installing all of my new devices. I plan on doing this beer on Sunday. I'll report back.

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Awesome keep me posted!

I've brewed a couple coconut coffee porters with good results. Both were bigger beers then it sounds like you are trying to do though, 1.070 and 1.080 OG's. Used 12 oz flaked unsweetened coconut toasted at 345 F for about 13 min. Spread thin with paper towels underneath. Fresh out of the oven, I massaged (more or less) with more paper towels to absorb more coconut oil. I put them in an un-used hop bag in primary with the coffee grounds for about 10 days.

Coconut flavor was subtle, not prominent. Keep in mind, this beer was bigger then what your shooting for, plus the coffee addition. Next time I do mine, I plan to put 16 oz flaked coconut in with the same process.

Check out this link too, If i remember right this guy did some tests with it http://bikeforbeer.org/?p=1428

That was unbelievably helpful thank you so much i am currently in about 5 different forums trying to find the answers for these questions and you just did it thank you again... Cheers sir or ma'am!...

I finally got around to brewing this on Sunday. I put 16oz. of medium toasted coconut in the mash. Afterwards I tasted the coconut and all of the flavor was gone. That means all of that flavor went into the porter. We'll see...

So how did using the toasted coconut in the mash work out for you? I think I am going to try something similar this week.

Phunhog said:

So how did using the toasted coconut in the mash work out for you? I think I am going to try something similar this week.

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My keg cashed faster than any beer I've ever brewed.

I ended up putting another pound of untoasted coconut in the secondary. I feel like the beer was flawed, but everyone who tasted it (including people who don't like porters) loved it.