Using toasted coconut?

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ToddCarrick

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Fairly new to all grain brewing and will be attempting to brew a clone of Kona Koko Brown. It calls for toasted coconut in the last 10 of the boil and in the secondary. My question is has anyone used toasted coconut in brewing? If so how long do you toast the coconut and at what temp? Also any other tips for brewing with it would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
 
I personally would just use it in secondary or in primary after fermentation. I recently did a coconut porter that had very good aroma and flavor It scored a 40 in competition.

I use a brew bucket so I just put the toasted coconut in primary after fermentation was done. I let it sit for 7 days then when I racked to keg I placed a sanitized hop sack over the end on my hose in the keg to catch any coconut that came through the racking valve.

As for toasting process I used 18oz (1.5 bags) of unsweetened bob mills coconut. I spread it out on two cookie sheets about 1/4" deep. I roasted it at 325 for 25-30 minutes stirring it up halfway through. You want to keep an even 1/4" or so depth on the coconut as thinner areas will brown fast.

I didn't do anything to account for the oil from the coconut and still had a large head with persistent retention.
 
I've had good luck adding it into the mash with some stouts. I use the bagged shredded coconut you find in baking section. I don't toast it though.
 
Interesting....anyone know the difference in flavor and aroma for toasted vs not toasted coconut?
 
jekeane said:
I personally would just use it in secondary or in primary after fermentation. I recently did a coconut porter that had very good aroma and flavor It scored a 40 in competition.



I use a brew bucket so I just put the toasted coconut in primary after fermentation was done. I let it sit for 7 days then when I racked to keg I placed a sanitized hop sack over the end on my hose in the keg to catch any coconut that came through the racking valve.



As for toasting process I used 18oz (1.5 bags) of unsweetened bob mills coconut. I spread it out on two cookie sheets about 1/4" deep. I roasted it at 325 for 25-30 minutes stirring it up halfway through. You want to keep an even 1/4" or so depth on the coconut as thinner areas will brown fast.



I didn't do anything to account for the oil from the coconut and still had a large head with persistent retention.
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One other question, did you use 18 oz of toasted coconut in a 5 gallon batch?
 
ToddCarrick said:
Interesting....anyone know the difference in flavor and aroma for toasted vs not toasted coconut?
Click to expand...

I don't know the difference. I'll have to look back in my recipe book when I get a chance, but I think I used 2 or 3 bags in a 5 gallon batch. Turned out pretty well in my opinion. Kook Brown I said pretty good. I used to love on Oahu, and loved going to a Kona Brewing Pub in Kanehoe.
 
mxstar21 said:
I don't know the difference. I'll have to look back in my recipe book when I get a chance, but I think I used 2 or 3 bags in a 5 gallon batch. Turned out pretty well in my opinion. Kook Brown I said pretty good. I used to love on Oahu, and loved going to a Kona Brewing Pub in Kanehoe.
Click to expand...


I appreciate the info and looking back at your recipe. Any info will help.
I also visited Oahu and the Kona a brew pub which was awesome!
Cheers!
 
ToddCarrick said:
Jekeane did you use the 18oz of toasted coconut in a 5 gallon batch.
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Hey sorry when I check on my phone it doesn't show me peoples replies... Yep I used 18oz for a 5.5g batch I would probably consider using a bit more next time but I'm not certain. I feel there is a point coconut gets to perfumey in a beer.

on a side note I have also toasted 6oz of cacao nibs in with the coconut to get a great chocolate note without using extra dark malts.

here is what I used. I bought it at the local grocery store. https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Shredded-Unsweetened/dp/B002YR7A9Q/ref=pd_lpo_325_bs_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=79Q89N16RS3ZDNCMHJDX
 
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I used a half pound that I toasted on a cookie sheet at 325*F for 15-20 minutes. I had it spread pretty thin so I had to watch it and mix it every 5 minutes or so. I used this in 3 gallons (split batch) of stout along with a vanilla bean and 2 oz of cacao nibs. I added all of that to secondary, but I normally would just add it to primary. This was an experimental split batch so I didn't have much of a choice. The beer is still fairly young, but tastes promising. No issues with head rentention either and all I did was let the coconut cool on some paper towels.

FullSizeRender.jpg
 
Do u have to sanitize the coconut or does the baking do that on its own. So once the coconut cools it can be thrown right into primary.
 
I added 2 bags to the mash for my last stout. Had nice subbtle taste and aroma. I recommend trying it out with your next stout. I haven't tried adding it to the boil or fermenter.
 
olotti said:
Do u have to sanitize the coconut or does the baking do that on its own. So once the coconut cools it can be thrown right into primary.
Click to expand...

It may not hurt, soak it in vodka or something. However, I think most of the time you are safe to not sanitize. I know with brewing sanitation is key, but sometimes we go overboard in sanitation.
 
WBCo said:
I used a half pound that I toasted on a cookie sheet at 325*F for 15-20 minutes. I had it spread pretty thin so I had to watch it and mix it every 5 minutes or so. I used this in 3 gallons (split batch) of stout along with a vanilla bean and 2 oz of cacao nibs. I added all of that to secondary, but I normally would just add it to primary. This was an experimental split batch so I didn't have much of a choice. The beer is still fairly young, but tastes promising. No issues with head rentention either and all I did was let the coconut cool on some paper towels.
Click to expand...

Looks great!!!!
 
olotti said:
Do u have to sanitize the coconut or does the baking do that on its own. So once the coconut cools it can be thrown right into primary.
Click to expand...


That's a good question...if I'm putting it in the secondary should I soak the toasted coconut in vodka before pitching in the secondary?
 
I did not. I toasted it, cooled it, then sanitized a hop sack, put the coconut in it, and added it to secondary.
 
I used two lbs in a 15 gallon batch. Went to Shoprite and bought two pounds of shredded coconut. Took it home and browned it in a skillet. Added it to two sacks and aged it and the beer in a 15 gallon barrel for a month. Great toasted coconut flavor. Mellows a little with time in the bottle but still there. I think had I not toasted it, it would have gotten lost in the beer.

One note... DO NOT fill the sack first, push in through the bung hole and expect an easy retrieval after draining the beer from said barrel.

I did not sanitize the sack first and figured the coconut would be sanitized by the browning. Beer had already fermented so I wasn't worried putting it into the secondary.
 
I usually use about a bag and a half per 5 gallons. Could tweak either way to taste.

I toast it on parchment paper on a baking sheet. mix it frequently to keep edges from burning and try to make sure there is no white. then I dump it onto paper towels to see if I can soak up some extra oils.

I try to keep away from the roastier darker malts because I feel like that flavor masks to coconut too much. I like the idea of some cocoa nibs in there.
 
FWIW...I once added just slightly roasted coconut directly to a secondary and did end up with a penicillin growth, So Id roast it pretty thoroughly. One thing you will notice is roasting steals a lot of the flavor out of coconut compared to raw.
But I didn't even bother trying to scrape off the mold or whatever it was, just stopped short of draining it off into my keg. Still turned out to be a very clean tasting wonderful beer receiving many compliments. I have also just "keg hopped" before with a bag of toasted coconut as well...leaving it in the whole duration of the time it took to kick the keg, which was a couple months... hard to tell the difference between the methods and a great beer as well. You have to weight your bag pretty heavily with marble to do this.
I treat my kegs as secondary's, secondary dispensers that is...and I play around with a lot of things that way. If you have a beer you dont particularly care for ..toss some stuff in there and change it. Its your beer after all.
 
I have used it twice, make a Toasted Coconut Chocolate Ported.
I am an Extract brewer, but here is what I do and it turns out really good - per wife.
I put it in the keg for the secondary fermentation: I get 24 oz. of Flaked Unsweetned Coconut and use a large frying, medium heat and toast until golden brown, maybe 1/2" thick in fry pan, you want an even toasting. Place in sanitized bowl - when all toasted, have 3 hop sacks sanitized and fill them with the coconut. Put them in the keg before you rack the beer onto them. After 2 weeks, transfer to another keg and put it in your kegerator.
 
So my breakfast stout is done fermenting so After looking at this thread I think I'm gonna toast 2 bags of unsweetened coconut, then soak in vodka 24 hrs then bag the coconut add the vodka as I'm sure it'll leach some flavor and then steep the bag for two weeks. Then I'm also gonna add coffee beans in a bag for 1-2 weeks. Hopefully theres not to much going on that the flavors just bang off each other but I'm sure some time bottle conditioning will even things out.
 
Thanks for all the replays and useful tips. Brewing this next week so I will let you all know how it turns out. Cheers and a Merry Christmas!
 
BYO recently had a write up about adding coconut to beer. There were two ways they recommended adding coconut, at flameout and in secondary. They recommend roasting the coconut at (I forget the temp) until it's lightly browned. Sanitize in vodka if adding to secondary. The couple of clone recipes they had using anywhere from 2.5 oz to 2 lbs for a five gallon batch, I believe.

I'm interested in doing a beer with coconut and think I'll use closer to the 2 lbs. Death By Coconut by Oskar Blues and Bolo by Burial are very coconutty and fantastic brews and would guess they add a lot per gallon.
 
lilbova3 said:
BYO recently had a write up about adding coconut to beer. There were two ways they recommended adding coconut, at flameout and in secondary. They recommend roasting the coconut at (I forget the temp) until it's lightly browned. Sanitize in vodka if adding to secondary. The couple of clone recipes they had using anywhere from 2.5 oz to 2 lbs for a five gallon batch, I believe.

I'm interested in doing a beer with coconut and think I'll use closer to the 2 lbs. Death By Coconut by Oskar Blues and Bolo by Burial are very coconutty and fantastic brews and would guess they add a lot per gallon.
Click to expand...

I just grabbed 2 12oz bags of unsweetened coconut that I plan on toasting and using. The store I went to actually had bags of toasted shredded coconut but I figured I'd rather do it myself.
 
olotti said:
I just grabbed 2 12oz bags of unsweetened coconut that I plan on toasting and using. The store I went to actually had bags of toasted shredded coconut but I figured I'd rather do it myself.
Click to expand...


Good call.
 
lilbova3 said:
Good call.
Click to expand...

The toasted did smell good and had a nice light brown color to it so I know what to toast it too. I will say 24oz of coconut is a lot more than I thought. I was gonna just throw it in primary for two weeks but now I'm thinking of doing two steeping bags instead as I could see using loose coconut like using whole hops, one would lose quite a bit of beer in the end. What was ur plan? Hop sack or free floating? This batch for me is in a bucket so I use sterilized cheesecloth tied off with sterilized dental floss and then just close the lid so it steeps like a tea bag. Worked well in the past for the coffee bean and coca I nib flavorings I've used.
 
olotti said:
The toasted did smell good and had a nice light brown color to it so I know what to toast it too. I will say 24oz of coconut is a lot more than I thought. I was gonna just throw it in primary for two weeks but now I'm thinking of doing two steeping bags instead as I could see using loose coconut like using whole hops, one would lose quite a bit of beer in the end. What was ur plan? Hop sack or free floating? This batch for me is in a bucket so I use sterilized cheesecloth tied off with sterilized dental floss and then just close the lid so it steeps like a tea bag. Worked well in the past for the coffee bean and coca I nib flavorings I've used.
Click to expand...


I plan to add it to the serving keg in a paint strainer bag attached to floss.
 
So kinda resurrecting a thread but wanted to give my thoughts on my first attempt with coconut. So I toasted two bags 24oz total and added them to cheesecloth sacks and steeped for two weeks in my ris. In the end there's maybe only a slight coconut flavor on the finish however I also added coffee beans so that may be covering up the delicate coconut flavor. The one thing the coconut did do was as previously stated and it killed head retention, there's a head when pouring but after that zero and it also leaves a film on the sides of he glass I'm guessing from the oils. All in all next time I wouldn't steep the coconut I'd prob just add it directly into primary in hopes more of the flavor is extracted and I'd skip the coffee so the coconut could stand out more but as to how to avoid the killing of head retention I'm not sure how If your gonna use real coconut to get by this seemingly side effect of using real coconut.
 
So an update on my brew...again I toasted 8 oz and put that in the mash and toast 16 oz and put in the secondary...this was a toasted coconut porter. Turned out amazing, but the coconut flavor began to subside after 2 weeks. Next time I will leave the toasted coconut in the secondary for 2 full weeks. Here is a link to my review of the finished product: https://youtu.be/1BB3VkofseU
 

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