Coconut killed my beer!

So I added coconut to this into the secondary (first real try at a secondary).
I toasted some, and boiled the rest in coconut water, trying to sanitise it as much as possible.

Its been a day (I didn't add any other sugars or more yeast - figured there'd be enough to get it going again) and there is no activity, seems like it might be dead!?

Any thoughts on what to do to kick-start a secondary fermentation? Should I pitch more yeast? Add some more sugars? Is it contaminated and over?

First and foremost what do you mean by "no activity?" Are you talking about airlock bubbling? Krausen? A drop in gravity?

Your yeast wouldn't work one minute and suddenly die....It may not be a dynamic fermentation, or it may be that the yeast is dormant and still needs more time to wake back up.

Or it could be that you are misreading the signs. I personally wouldn't do anyhthing. If there are sugars to be found, the yeast will do their thing. They just may not do it in an all that exciting way.

DON'T PANIC (I really wish we had a hitchiker's guide to the galaxy emoticon... Mods?)

You will probably not see active fermentation with a coconut addition.

DON'T DO ANYTHING TO YOUR BEER!!!!

YOU DO NOT NEED TO ADD ANYTHING, YOU NEED TO BE PATIENT.

I REPEAT, DO NOT PANIC!!!!

Now that you are busy not panicking, did you take a hydrometer reading when you transferred to the secondary? How long did you leave in the primary? What is the recipe?

I suppose I was anticipating something a bit more than the dark lifeless liquid I have, but in retrospect, perhaps there aren't many sugars to be had it there, despite whatever the coconut added.
I'll wait on it, and let it do its thing.

So how would I know if it did get contaminated? Would it start to smell bad?

Primary = 9 days.
OG = 1.068
FG = 1.018
Didn't get a reading after adding the coconut (coconut everywhere!).

Recipe (off the top of my head - records not at hand):
7lb Dark LME
1lb Light DME
1/2lb Choc malt
1/2lb oats
1/2lb Crystal 40L
8oz Lactose
2oz Willamette 10%AA Hops (60 mins)
4oz Cocoa powder (5 mins)
Wyeast Irish Stout yeast activator.

After 9 days and gravity drop transferred to secondary vessel with 1lb coconut (toasted) and 1lb coconut (boiled in 14oz coconut water).

Tasted it at transfer and the chocolate was quite overpowering/bitter I'm hoping it mellows and/or falls out of the brew a bit over the next week or so before bottling.

neildytham said:

Didn't get a reading after adding the coconut (coconut everywhere!).

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That's the only reading that will tell you what it is doing NOW. But I wouldn't worry for a couple days. And honestly how many graivty points do you really expect from coconut? I don't think it has that much fermentable sugars. The yeast is probably just nibbling at it like those fish in vietnam that they use in spas to nibble at the dead skin cells on our feet. It's going to be more about flavoring than fermentables.

Revvy said:

That's the only reading that will tell you what it is doing NOW. But I wouldn't worry for a couple days. And honestly how many graivty points do you really expect from coconut? I don't think it has that much fermentable sugars. The yeast is probably just nibbling at it like those fish in vietnam that they use in spas to nibble at the dead skin cells on our feet. It's going to be more about flavoring than fermentables.

Click to expand...

ROTFLMFAO :rockin: