Coconut Sanitization

Hi everyone! I'm currently in the middle of brewing a coconut chocolate porter for my mom's retirement. I've been reading up a lot on when to add the coconut (sounds like secondary will work just fine), but my concern is sanitization. When I've added things like cacao nibs to beers in the past, I soak them in vodka beforehand and add it all. It seems that if I'm toasting the coconut, though, I shouldn't add vodka.

I guess my biggest question is this: Should I even worry about infection? If I toast it and then add it to the secondary, what are the odds that it's going to infect the beer? Or would I be better off not toasting the coconut and just soaking both it and cacao nibs in the vodka?

Thanks for your help!

 

I've made a few coconut porters and have never sanitized the coconut. I still soak my cocoa nibs and vanilla beans in vodka before adding, but the coconut flakes that I toast myself go right in.

If you're feeling really paranoid you can put them in a big hop sack and dunk that in starsan.

I'd recommend using a hop sack or paint strainer to hold the coconut anyway or else it's a pain in the butt to clean out of your fermenter (this is assuming you're using a bucket or something with a wide lid).

 

Awesome! Thank you!

 

Roast in the oven till it is lightly brown. 325° for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven stir halfway through. It will go from brown to black quickly layering the coconut 1/4" deep across a large baking tray helps disperse heat and evens browning. I toast the cacao nibs along with the coconut but I use raw one not sure if that would make a difference.

I find this accomplishes several things:

1. kils bugs
2. better flavor. this may be preference but I find raw coconut to have some light vegetal notes.
3. reduce oil that can / may damage head retention. Halfway though roasting you can pat a lot of oil off of the coconut with a paper towel.

on another note If you can I believe letting the coconut just float free without any type of hop sack is the way to go. You can slide a hop sock hop sock over your racking can hose to catch anything that comes through. I find coconut tends to cap and not sink unless you disturb it while racking. Also make sure to use unsweetened coconut if you haven;t already thought of that.

 

So you actually wait for your coconut to turn black? This doesn't give it any burnt flavors?

 

I think he's just saying be vigilant in watching the coconut, takes a long time to brown nicely...then almost 0 time to turn black... I ruined a pound a couple of weeks ago by not paying enough attention.

The others have answered your question on sanitizing, but I'll agree completely with them, I've almost always got something with coconut in it, haven't had a bug problem yet.

 

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification!

 

I've used coconut in beer and cider by putting the coconut into a carboy and racking on top of it. I've never treated the coconut in any way and have never had a problem.

 

I just brewed a coconut porter using total of 7 oz of unsweetened coconut. 3.5 oz lightly toasted as previously stated and added at knock out. Then another 3.5 slightly toasted after fermentation for about 5 days. It came out really good even though its not prime porter season.

 

i've also never sanitized. i toast them myself as well (even the pre toasted coconut flakes/chips) as it seems to still extract some oil out of it. i racked right onto them in a secondary with no hop sack. once you pull the beer off for kegging/bottling, they free floating chips actually swirl out very easily when not in a hop sack.

good luck!

 

I soaked mine in coconut vodka. And dumped both in secondary. Real kick you in the mouth coconut.

 

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I'm transferring today - I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

Couldn't you freeze the coconut to kill any bugs?

 

i don't think when freezing that you've actually killed/sanitized anything. If you freeze something contaminated and then thaw it, it's still contaminated.

 

Correct, I should have done a little research first . I think most ppl freeze fruit to get better flavor when adding it to the secondary.

 

Yup. Freezing is typically done with fruit, as the water in the fruit expands and breaks the cell Walls. Helps add more juiciness when added.

 

Didn't turn out so great... I'm not sure if it's due to coconut sanitation or other factors. Will try again, though. Thanks, everyone, for all your help!

 

what was wrong with it? did it just not turn out as expected, or was it down right bad?

 

I have trouble describing what the taste is, exactly. It tastes like beers occasionally would when I used to do extract brewing, where it was a little bit sweeter but with a little bit of an off taste. Definitely drinkable, but it just tastes kind of weird. Couldn't take taste the coconut or the chocolate, and it didn't really taste like a stout.