Help with coconut vanilla porter

Hey guys/gals. Just wanted to conjure your expert advice.

I'm brewing a coconut vanilla porter and I am getting ready to add the coconut. I plan on using Bob's Red Mill unsulfured coconut flakes (1.5 lbs in 6 gallons) but I had a question about how to add them. I was looking at mesh bags but I don't want one that is too fine as to prevent the liquid to get in, and not one too open as to let the coconut out. Anyone have any recommendations on the type of bag and a link?

Also, how would you weight the bag down without compromising sanitation?

Thanks for all your help.

 

You can get little blocks of stainless steel intended to be frozen and used for chilling drinks, on Amazon or probably other places. $10 for a pack or so, depending a bit on brand. (Similar to "Whiskey Stones" which would probably also work, but I don't know whether they're porous at all...) It'd be easy to star-san them and then add them to the bag, I should think.

 

Yeah that sounds like a good idea. What about ceramic pie weights? Like the ones they use to keep the pie crust from rising in the oven? You could probably soak those in a bowl of Star san and add them inside the nylon bag?

 

Anyone else care to weigh in with suggestions for a nylon bag and weights?

 

I wouldn't use them because ceramic is porous which isn't a good property when you need to keep things clean. In fact, if you're adding them to the boil, just toss them in a hop back, tie it shut and toss them in. If you're adding them to secondary, get a piece of sanitized stainless plumbing (like a coupling) add that to the hop bag, tie it shut and toss it in.

 

Ah, yes. I see. I guess I was thinking that since ceramic is used to cook in it would be ok in the secondary. Stainless steel sounds like a better option.

I see your location is Northern Virginia. I too live there. I'm in Fairfax county.

 

I would also suggest carefully lowering the bag with the stainless steel in, rather than dropping it, if you're using a glass carboy. And make arrangements for getting the bag out...in fact, you'll probably want to not use more than 1 or 2 of them, 3 at the most, because they'll bunch up in the neck of the carboy as you're trying to remove them.

 

Unfortunately the only carboy I have is capable of holding 5 gallons, and this current batch is 6. I do have a bottling bucket that I was going to use. I plan on racking from primary to the bottling bucket on top of the weighted bags of coconut, then let it sit for another 10-14 days or so.

 

That...will probably be okay. You'll want to minimize headspace, though...

 

I've always used glass marbles for weighting down any bags. Easy to keep clean and sanitize as well as being pretty cheap.