Additions (coconut) to Primary/Secondary, sanitation?

[monsterinyourhead]

Hello,

I have brewed several extract kits and I am planning to soon brew a milk stout. I would like to slightly alter the recipe by adding toasted coconut to the fermenter.

I did some googling and there is enough information on the process of making additions but, there isn't much information on how to sanitize additions such as this.

My plan is so soak a muslin bag is starsan and then place the toasted coconut in said bag. I would like to keep the coconut flakes contained, that is my reasoning for using a muslin bag. From what I read, the toasting process helps reduce risk of contamination and oils. Am I going about this correctly? Should I skip the muslin bag and add directly? Should I soak the coconut in alcohol to help kill contaminants?

Thanks!
Matt

 

[day_trippr]

Given how much toasted cocoanut it takes to make a solid impression and how much liquid that sucks up, that'd be a pretty heavy hand with booze as sanitizer

If you're using a conventional carboy you're kinda stuck just dumping in the loose shreds, but if you're using a bucket or wide-lidded vessel I'd definitely do the Star San'ed bag for the cocoanut and go on faith that the toasting killed any critters...

Cheers!

 

[monsterinyourhead]

Given how much toasted cocoanut it takes to make a solid impression..

Will 16oz be enough with a 2 week soak in the fermenter?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[day_trippr]

I've been working up to splitting a 10g batch of my chocolate imperial stout to use coconut on half, and from reading a bunch of recipes using coconut they range from 1 to 2 pounds per 5g.

I use coconut outside of brewing quite a bit and the characters conveyed are intrinsically fragile, so I think I'll go with the two pounds. The stout is ready and waiting and hopefully I'll get to it this weekend...

Cheers!

 

[monsterinyourhead]

Awesome, thanks! Keep me posted as to how it goes.

 

[ChrisC16]

https://youtu.be/pRTjhbhhNfw

Basic brewing just covered a coconut porter.
Had good results with 150g/5oz toasted coconut in 1.5 gallons of beer.

 

[AkTom]

I would think 16 oz would be more than enough. I did 8 oz in an IPA and had a nice mild coconut flavor. I'd love to hear how yours turns out.

 

[GaBrewZoo]

I just brewed my second batch of a toasted coconut coffee vanilla stout using Michael Tonsmeires recipe: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/02/toasted-coconut-vanilla-milk-stout-on.html
First batch was fantastic, I used 20 ounces of coconut that I put in a weighted hop bag that I put in the keg and took out after about 4 days. I just sanitized the bag and weight and put the coconut in. Had a nice subtle coconut flavor, not overpowering. My wife hates coconut and she loved this beer. With everything else in it, you had to look for the coconut to notice it, but it was definitely there.
If you don't keg, you could probably put it in a weighted hop bag in a fermenting bucket.

 

[jwalkermed]

I've been working up to splitting a 10g batch of my chocolate imperial stout to use coconut on half, and from reading a bunch of recipes using coconut they range from 1 to 2 pounds per 5g.

I use coconut outside of brewing quite a bit and the characters conveyed are intrinsically fragile, so I think I'll go with the two pounds. The stout is ready and waiting and hopefully I'll get to it this weekend...

Cheers!

I did a coconut porter last year. 5 gal batch. I toasted 1 bag of shredded coconut and threw it in the secondary. It turned out good, but I think the flavor was too subtle. Will definitely double it or more next time. Just taste it along the way and package when you think its right.

 

[olotti]

Funny I'm flavoring a stout with coconut right now. I toasted 2 bags think they were 12oz ea and put into 2 sacks, it's been sitting for two weeks come bottling time. I took a gravity reading last week after the coconut had been on a week and it was pretty subtle so hopefully another week will help increase the coconut. This was a big stout though, 9%, so there's a lot of flavor to compete with.

 

[monsterinyourhead]

Just and update for anyone who stumbles across this thread. My procedure was as follows

-15oz of unsweetened coconut baked at 375F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
-Placed coconut in muslin bag soaked in starsan
-Once fermentation was complete, I dropped the coconut filled bag into the fermenter and let it soak for 2 weeks. I never sunk or suspended the bag. It merely "floated" on the surface.

I am very pleased with the results. Oil residue from the coconut was visible on the surface of the beer in the ferementer but, didn't seem to hinder head retention. For my taste, the coconut aroma and flavor was strong but not overpowering. I will happily try this again in the future.