Coconut Bochet - How much coconut?

[NibblesMN]

I've made bochet a few times in the past with excellent results. I started another batch last night with 9lbs MN wildflower honey for a 3 gallon batch using 71B.

I'm going to age on toasted coconut when fermentation is complete. Of course I'll start small and add more, but does anyone have a good idea of how much coconut is too much? The coconut flavor will will mellow with age. I'm really only concerned about the fats that might slowly leach out.

I'll be using unsweetened shredded coconut, not that it should make much difference.

Any thoughts?

 

[SerifSansSerif]

I've made bochet a few times in the past with excellent results. I started another batch last night with 9lbs MN wildflower honey for a 3 gallon batch using 71B.

I'm going to age on toasted coconut when fermentation is complete. Of course I'll start small and add more, but doesn't anyone have a good idea of how much coconut is too much? The coconut flavor will will mellow with age. I'm really only concerned about the fats that might slowly leach out.

I'll be using unsweetened shredded coconut, not that it should make much difference.

Any thoughts?

It's an interesting one.

I honestly don't know if you have to worry about the fats in the coconut.

I mean, if you think about it, we use orange peels, which are loaded with their own oils (in fact that's what give them the distinct citrus taste), and other ingredients from time to time that have a lot of oils.

Plus, it's commercially dried unsweetened, right?

I say just go for it.

Besides, over in the cider forum, someone's using peanut butter (or dried peanuts perhaps) for a peanut butter cider..

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=524789

 

[NibblesMN]

I say just go for it.

That's what I was thinking. What's the worst that could happen : )

 

[SerifSansSerif]

That's what I was thinking. What's the worst that could happen : )

let us know how it goes, as that sounds like one hell of a kick ass brew..

 

[NibblesMN]

The plan is to start with about 18 ounces for a few weeks. Then up from there. I guess until I reach that slightly too much point. I can always thin it with some mead from a another batch.

I'll let you know in about a month how the first few pounds worked out.

 

[WVMJ]

make sure to add a vanilla bean in there to to bring the flavors together, maybe toast a little of the husk woody part and see if that adds some more flavor also? WVMJ

 

[Vex3521]

I think I'd go a little darker on toasting the coconut to rack over vs if I were baking with it just to push that nice toasty flavor that we know is going to mellow out with those coconut notes. If you start at 18oz and find it's not enough and are going to add would you do another 18 or split the difference and do say 9 oz and then recheck so that coconut note isn't too assertive? Good backup on thinning with another mead if needed though!

 

[NibblesMN]

I think I'd go a little darker on toasting the coconut to rack over vs if I were baking with it just to push that nice toasty flavor that we know is going to mellow out with those coconut notes. If you start at 18oz and find it's not enough and are going to add would you do another 18 or split the difference and do say 9 oz and then recheck so that coconut note isn't too assertive? Good backup on thinning with another mead if needed though!

Good idea on the dark toast.

I'm going to start with 18 oz. If that's not enough I'll add probably 9 oz more (the coconut comes in 8.8 oz bags).

I'll post another thread when it's all said and done with pictures and tasting notes.

 

[NibblesMN]

It's been on the first pound of toasted coconut in the secondary for about 2 weeks now. Certainly not too much coconut yet. I probably should have waited for the bochet to age a bit before adding the coconut. But who cares? It's cheap and I can always add more.

But for the record, 1 pound definitely is not too much.

 

[Vex3521]

Awesome! I can't wait to hear how this one progresses. We've got a lot of coconut that's going to be leftover from holidays so putting it to use vs freezing it totally seems like a better plan... although I just started another so going to be waiting on carboys unless I use my 2gal pail for my stout... hmmmm....

 

[DungMonster]

I have coconut in my ferment and it will go in my secondary most likely. I didn't toast my coconut in the ferment but it has 7 oz of unsweetened coconut and with that 2L of coconut water to the base. I just popped the coconut down and pulled a sample due to pure curiosity. It is about 2 weeks or so into the ferment I think, will be updati g my thread later wth more accurate date. Anyways the sample was amazing. It still had a lot of sweetness, almost headache worthy sweetness but that will go down soon enough. Either way the ferment is still going strong and by taste it seems to have about 5-7% alcohol atm but I am not used to judging sweet alcohol as the sweetness kinda throws my judgement. Hope this helps you in coconut endeavor.

 

[SerifSansSerif]

Just a random thought that popped into my head today. has anyone also experimented with coconut sugar added to the ferment?

 

[NibblesMN]

So while the now 27 oz of coconut isn't too much taste wise, it takes up a lot of the carboy. Pay no mind to my feline assistant.

Also, I added 4oz of toasted macadamia nuts and a vanilla bean. Why not?!

It smells amazing and tastes great too. I'll need to wring the mead out of the coconut in a few weeks to get more than 2 gallons out of the 3 gallon carboy.

You can also see how much I toasted the coconut compared to the raw in the package.

 

[DungMonster]

Lol with only 7 oz of coconut it still looks like that at the top on mine, though not as full. Instead of wringing out the coconut maybe try using it in cooking to add a nice little kick to something like a bread. Also, if you want to get extra without squeezing the coconut like crazy, maybe top it off with coconut water to enhance the flavor. Anyways it looks good so far.

 

[NibblesMN]

27 oz seems to be the proper end point here. The coconut flavor is very strong and there is a quarter inch thick layer of fat/oil floating on the top of the carboy. All the cocnut has sunk to the bottom over the last week so it's saturated now and likely done contributing.

I guess I'll be racking this to a clean carboy over the weekend for some bulk aging.

Hooray for apparent success!

 

[NibblesMN]

I moved this to clean containers for further aging. I only got 2 gallons out of the original 3 gallons because the coconut absorbed so much liquid. I thought about saving the leftover coconut to use for baking but all the coconut flavor is gone so it's really not worth it.

The bochet smells truly amazing at this point. There is a sharp bite in the taste but that should age out promptly.

9 oz / gallon is definitely not too much. Yay for successful experiments.

 

[NibblesMN]

To wrap this up if anyone cares. I bottled yesterday with .75 cups of piloncillo simple syrup per gallon, after stabilizing with k-meta and sorbate.

Before backsweetening the gravity FG was .998, and the taste was bitter and unpleasant. With the backsweetening the bitterness disappeared and the toasted coconut flavor really shines.

I'll make this one again.

 

[eigua]

Did you end up separating the fat off or did you bottle it also?

 

[NibblesMN]

Did you end up separating the fat off or did you bottle it also?

I used a grain bag as a filter on the end of my racking cane. That caught all the clumps. I siphoned from about the middle of the carboy and stopped with about 2 inches left so the floaters stayed above and the sinkers stayed below.

There's still a little bit of fine solids floating around, but it's much more clear than I thought it would be.

 

[eigua]

I used a grain bag as a filter on the end of my racking cane. That caught all the clumps. I siphoned from about the middle of the carboy and stopped with about 2 inches left so the floaters stayed above and the sinkers stayed below.

There's still a little bit of fine solids floating around, but it's much more clear than I thought it would be.

Ahh, okay. I was concerned with oil floating on top of the wine when poured. I'm doing a lot of experimentation making extracts with 95% ABV alcohol because it can dissolve a lot more oil than 40% vodka. I wonder if making a toasted coconut extract and just adding some of that to the mead before bottling would taste the same as steeping and be less trouble.