Coconut Brown Ale

[bassassassin772]

I'm getting ready to brew a Coconut Brown Ale. I have a Primary and that's it. I'm thinking to ferment for 2 weeks then adding toasted coconut from 1 coconut in a bag for 2 weeks. Will this long enough to get a good Coconut flavor?

 

[ElevenBrewCo]

I would cough up 10 bucks and buy a food grade 6 gallon bucket. Secondary is best used for flavor addition.

 

[onipar]

Are buckets okay for secondary fermentation? I've been reading that glass carboys are preferred for secondary, or is that just if you're doing a longer second ferment or lager?

I ask because I'd like to eventually get into secondary ferments for added fruits and flavors, but I was holding off because of the price of glass carboys.

 

[ElevenBrewCo]

Hell i even prime in my buckets. People prefer carboys because they like to see whats going on. They also love glass because its easy to clean. Plastic can be scratched really easy when cleaning and hide bacteria. I use soft sponge with pbw and starsan. I used buckets with no problem. Your local brew shop will carry them.

 

[onipar]

Right on. (Sorry bassassassin772, didn't mean to hijack the thread).

 

[Cold Country Brewery]

I prefer buckets when adding anything to the secondary. Just because you can get your coconut stuffed into the carboy doesn't mean you will be able to get it out easily. The coconut will soak up some of your beer. It's much easier just to throw it on the top of the beer in a grain bag and seal the top of your bucket.

 

[ElevenBrewCo]

I prefer buckets when adding anything to the secondary. Just because you can get your coconut stuffed into the carboy doesn't mean you will be able to get it out easily. The coconut will soak up some of your beer. It's much easier just to throw it on the top of the beer in a grain bag and seal the top of your bucket.

Very good point. Aside from that buckets are way cheaper and way more easy to move around. Ive dropped a glass carboy once. Was not pretty and i cried for days haha

 

[jsweet]

I'm going to try virtually the same thing as soon as I get a chance, except that I was planning on using a secondary.

That said, I don't think it will be terrible if you don't. My understanding is that the reasons for using a secondary (as opposed to adding it to the primary after the main fermentation is complete) when adding flavoring additions like this are:

1) If you put the flavorings in first and rack over them, they get mixed better.
2) It's less of a mess, especially if you are planning on washing and keeping the yeast (not as much of a factor if you are using a bag, which is probably a really good idea with coconut from what I have heard)
3) There is some concern that if the flavorings sit in the trub, less surface area will be exposed to the beer and you'll get less efficiency.

Now of course there are lots MORE good reasons to wait until after the main fermentation is done, whether you are leaving it in the primary or racking it. My understanding is that the big ones are 1) volatile aroma and flavor compounds won't get carried out by CO2, and 2) there is significantly reduced chance of infection adding flavorings like this to alcohol-y beer as opposed to bacteria-friendly wort.

ElevenBrewCo is right that buckets are cheap, and it would probably be better to do your primary in a bucket and rack it to a secondary. If for whatever reason you really don't want to do that, you should be fine with the way you said.

As far as the amount... I read a recipe from a guy claiming to get great coconut aroma and flavor, who used 22oz of toasted flaked coconut in a 10-gal batch. I'm going to do a 3-gal batch for my first attempt at this wacky idea, so I was going to add 8-10 oz or so. Of course, I won't be able to let you know how it went for a minimum of ~6 or 7 weeks, so don't ask me!