You put the rum in the coconut?

Hello all new here, semi new to brewing. I'm starting to explore different areas of brewing. I am brewing a Coconut Rum Porter. I am thinking of soaking the coconut and oak chips in the rum for a day or so and removing some of the rum for use later. I want some extra alcohol from the rum but don't want to be punched in the face with it. I'm thinking leave about a liter in the secondary with 2.5lb of coconut and 4oz oak. I've read that most people wait until they are done in the secondary to add rum/whiskey. Is it bad to add at the beginning of secondary? Any suggestions would be great help thanks.

You could use Malibu.

Ive done a few whiskey porters. Can't comment on the coconut, but the whiskey I use 16 oz. soaked with oak chips for a few days then rack secondary right on top of it. I like the punch in your face shot of whiskey, but I'd imagine 8 oz would be better for someone who doesn't want it to dominate the flavor. I would think rum would be about the same. But now that you mention it I've got an itch to make a coconut rum Bock. I use 2 oz of oak chips, its flavor is there but not overpowering.

NO NO NO, you put the Lime in the coconut

LOL

Malibu? I thought of that but I love Sailor Jerry's rum and would like some of that flavor in there. I got some coconut extract if the flakes don't give it enough. I added some extra hops to help counter any extra sweetness. I'm thinking the oak will mellow out the rum so it's not over the top. Maybe do a little of both? I just afraid of to much sugar in the Malibu.

Is the alcohol in the rum going to mess with bottle conditioning?

I plan on letting this on condition for a little longer than normal. Brewed today going to save for St. Patrick's day. Of course I'll have to try a few before hand but who's looking?

I am going to brew a Bock next, I was going to go a little lighter with that one for my not so beer drinking friends.

Thanks for the replies.

If you rack the secondary on the rum and give it 2 weeks or a month or whatever, I'd assume the yeast would take care of the sugar from the rum, so it shouldn't be too sweet (unless they use an artificial sweetener, which I doubt). It shouldn't affect bottling either, if your 5G batch is 5% ABV, thats 32 oz of alcohol, and your adding 8 oz of a roughly 40% ABV fluid, thats roughly 3.5 oz of alcohol added to 32, it counts but its not that significant.
As far as letting it condition, aside from an extra week or so in the secondary, I would go with your normal schedule. You can save the majority for st. pattys day, but try one when it would normally be done, then one a week later, then one a week later...and so on. Its a good opportunity for you to see how the rum/oak/coconut flavors change with time.

A friend just turned me on to the world of good rum. There are some fantastic choices out there. A favorite of mine recently is Mamajuanna, it's some kind of Dominican rum that's sort of medicinal and tastes a bit like Drambouie. There's also a very dark, black spiced rum called Leviathan that would work well in a dark rum coconut beer.

I've heard adding coconut to the brew can make quite a mess. I haven't tasted it yet, but in a few days I'm bottling an Imperial porter that I soaked shaved coconut in rum throughout the primary, then strained out the coconut and added it to the secondary. It smelled amazing, but we'll see how much comes through.

I'd be concerned about the oils from the coconut wrecking your head retention, if anything. Maybe the extract and your Sailor Jerry is the way to go- certainly gives you more control over the rum and coconut flavors, independent of one another.

Disclaimer: I don't know that coconut flakes still have oils/fats in them. If they don't disregard the above.

Adding flaked coconut to the beer doesn't make a mess if you put it in a mesh bag.

I have made a coconut porter a couple of times and never had problems with head retention.

I read about head retention before and have added flaked oats that should help with that. I am planning on buying a half gallon of Sailor Jerry's letting the coconut and oak chips soak for a few days. Then removing most of the rum and hopefully a good part of the oil.

The messy part is when you put the coconut and 5gals of beer in a 5gal carboy, won't fit and will push it's way out.

The messy part is when you put the coconut and 5gals of beer in a 5gal carboy, won't fit and will push it's way out.

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Why the heck would you try to stuff more than 5 gallons of stuff into a 5 gallon container, and also why bother with a carboy?

Use a 6.5-7 gallon bucket for secondary on any fruit beers and save yourself the headache.

ghpeel said:

A friend just turned me on to the world of good rum. There are some fantastic choices out there. A favorite of mine recently is Mamajuanna, it's some kind of Dominican rum that's sort of medicinal and tastes a bit like Drambouie. There's also a very dark, black spiced rum called Leviathan that would work well in a dark rum coconut beer.

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Know anything about Pusser's? I have a bottle of it and was contemplating using it for a coconut rum porter.

kchippie said:

I read about head retention before and have added flaked oats that should help with that. I am planning on buying a half gallon of Sailor Jerry's letting the coconut and oak chips soak for a few days. Then removing most of the rum and hopefully a good part of the oil.

The messy part is when you put the coconut and 5gals of beer in a 5gal carboy, won't fit and will push it's way out.

Click to expand...

If you remove most of the rum, won't you be removing a great amount of the taste? You'll be making an extract then discarding it.

If you do that, you should save the rum so that if you don't have enough coconut/oak flavor at bottling you can add some back in.

Yeah I plan on saving the rum for added flavor if need be and to drink what ever is leftover

kchippie said:

I love Sailor Jerry's rum

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I made a porter with some Sailor and a porter with some Kraken rum, which is a little spicier than Sailor. For a 5 gal batch I added 1/2 - 2/3 of the handle for each batch. I basically added it to the bottling bucket about 10oz at a time until I could taste the rum in the beer. After it has been in the bottle for a few months the flavor is still there, but not too overpowering.

Also, I liked the Kraken more just because it has a different type of spiciness that isn't as sweet as Sailor.

I have 2.5gal of Coconut Rum Porter in the secondary on the rum right now (took half the batch to keg as normal porter).

For the rum I used 4oz Cruzan Bootstrap black rum from USVI and 4oz of Malibu. that would 8oz/8oz for a 5 gallon batch. I thought about real coconut but chickened out - maybe on the next batch.

I've been thinking of putting yeast in a 'young' coconut, and an airlock!

So I added the rum to the oak and coconut just now...It's gone, lol the coconut soaked up all the rum. I guess I won't have any extra coconut rum when I'm done. I am going to let it set overnight and but in the bottom of the secondary and see what happens.

No comment on the rum beer. but I do like mamajuana. Mamajuana is what you drink when you're trying to conceive. Works like a charm, or so I've heard. thats how they sell it to tourists in the Dominican. I came home with a 'kit'... a screw-top bottle packed with odd looking roots and spices with instructions to add some rum and red wine and let it sit for a month or so before drinking... Its potent stuff.

I have used Cruzan Coconut Flavored Rum. I doesn't taste artificial, but it is a strong coconut flavor. I would try this. In fact i have in a porter several years ago. can't remember amount i used. but i experimented with around 3 or 4 different things with that batch so i can't give a good opinion on how much to use and when to use it. My advice is to make your porter. When bottling siphon some into 1 gallon jugs (they're cheap) and experiment with the rum/ oak, and let it sit a week or so. This way if you're not satisfied, it's only a gallon. I have 6 1-gallon jugs and 2 3-gallon jugs. The 3 gallon jugs are used for 5.5 gallon batches that i split in order to flavor with wood, fruit, or other (but i use the 3 gallon jugs for stuff that has already been tested, not experiments).

Coconut flavor gets out of hand really quickly! Take it easy!

Any updates to any of the beers made here?!