How much Lactose to add for this DIPA Coconut beer?

[Crispyvelo]

Hi All,

I'm going to be making a Coconut DIPA, loosely based on the Coconut Milk IPA from Fieldworks.

According to the description of the beer I'm modeling it after, they use "heaps of milk sugar", but I'm not sure what that translates to for a 5-gal batch. 1lb? 6oz? Please help!

Here's the recipe I'm planning.

Fermentables:
14lb 2-row
.6lb Carapils
.6lb Crystal 45
.75lb Dextrose
??? Lactose

Hops (90 min, 30 min, flameout, and 2 dry hop additions):
Citra
Mosaic
Galaxy

Other:
1lb toasted coconut in secondary

Mash @ 151F, ferment with US-05

I'd love to hear your thoughts/advice, especially on handling the lactose in this beer. The Fieldworks beer hd a nutty/creamy mouthfeel but was perceived as dry. This is why their description of "heaps of milk sugar" throws me off. Since lactose in unfermentable, it seems like anything more than 6oz will leave the beer cloyingly sweet.

 

[m00ps]

id definitely go 8oz or so. i dont even put a full lb in a sweet stout

btw, youll need at least twice as much coconut as that. ive used 3 lbs before and it still coulve used more

 

[Crispyvelo]

id definitely go 8oz or so. i dont even put a full lb in a sweet stout

btw, youll need at least twice as much coconut as that. ive used 3 lbs before and it still coulve used more

Thanks for the insight! I bought the coconuts whole, cracked them open, pulled out the meat, chopped it up and toasted it on a baking sheet....just getting a pound took forever, but I'll do more based on your recommendation.

 

[m00ps]

Wow, I just bought unsweetened flakes at the store and toasted them. I'd just grab some of those and not go through all the trouble again

 

[Ruckusz28]

You're not too far off. I believe I had almost 20lb of grains (1lb of carapils) in a 5.5 gallon batch for my milkshake on top of flakes oats/wheat. It was intense.

OG was 1.088 and I used 1lb of lactose with 15 mins remaining in the boil. I could have put more in and gotten away with it.

As for your hop schedule, I'd boil for 60.
I'd do something like .5oz Warrior @60 and hop accordingly to hit your target at 5, 0, and WP additions.

I've made coconut beers before. I've use 3lb shredded coconut in the secondary and 1 dram of flavoring and it came through FIERCE. Just put your coconut in a muslin sack or you'll lose your sanity racking this beer.

 

[Crispyvelo]

You're not too far off. I believe I had almost 20lb of grains (1lb of carapils) in a 5.5 gallon batch for my milkshake on top of flakes oats/wheat. It was intense.

OG was 1.088 and I used 1lb of lactose with 15 mins remaining in the boil. I could have put more in and gotten away with it.

As for your hop schedule, I'd boil for 60.
I'd do something like .5oz Warrior @60 and hop accordingly to hit your target at 5, 0, and WP additions.

I've made coconut beers before. I've use 3lb shredded coconut in the secondary and 1 dram of flavoring and it came through FIERCE. Just put your coconut in a muslin sack or you'll lose your sanity racking this beer.

@Ruckusz28 Thanks for the tips! Good idea about the muslin sack. I cut the pieces fairly wide, but I'm sure they'd still stick to the end of a syphon. What was your grain bill like? Were you making an DIPA or a stout? If it was an IPA, how did the lactose come out in the finished product? Would you call it sweet?

 

[Ruckusz28]

I was making a DIPA. My grain bill was something along the lines of:

15 lb 2 row
1 lb flakes oats
2 lb flaked wheat
1 lb carapils

I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but I need a starting point. Truthfully, there's not much I'd change.