Brew with coconut water?

ChshreCat · Jun 12, 2011

I've been wanting to do a coconut stout and figured I'd just have to accept possible loss of head retention from the fats as part of using coconut, but then I stumbled on coconut water.

I bought some and tasted it and it does taste like coconut, but I'm not sure how this would work. Since I do partial boils, my thought was to replace some/most/all of my top up water with this to impart the coconut flavor.

Reading the package, it says it has no fat so that's a good thing. In a 11.2 Fl Oz container, it has 14g of sugar but I could take that into account. Also has 1g of protein, so that should be fine.

The big question is the other stuff. Mainly that it has 60mg of sodium and 670mg of potassium per 11.2 fl ounces. Anyone have any thoughts on the effect that might have? I'm not well versed on sodium and it's effects on the brewing process beyond that some folks add brewing salts to their water.

thewurzel · Jun 12, 2011

I recently made a coconut porter that used 28 oz of toasted flaked coconut in it, and it still had good head retention.
salt or sodium I don't think it would mater that much as it can be used for water adjustment.
could use easy water calculator to check the water profile knowing how much sodium you will be adding
for the potassium I am not really that sure how that would work.

seabass07 · Jun 12, 2011

My only concern is that coconut water is extremely mild. I'm not sure you would get enough coconut flavor out of it.

Mpez · Jun 12, 2011

seabass07 said:
My only concern is that coconut water is extremely mild. I'm not sure you would get enough coconut flavor out of it.

I agree, it is really mild. I don't know how much would come through in something like a porter.

I would do some experiments and mix a porter and coconut water in a pint glass. Once you work out a ratio I would definitely add it post boil.

seabass07 · Jun 12, 2011

Also, maybe add oats to compensate for the oils? Maybe that would help with head retention.

Vance71975 · Jun 12, 2011

Buy Flaked Unsweetened Coconut and toast it for 30 mins at 300 in the oven, add it the last 10-15 mins of the boil, i have done this and it works out great. I normally use about 2lbs for a 5g batch and get a nice toasted coconut flavor.Also never had a head retention problem doing this!