• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Coconut during primary fermentation?

AJAlexander

Apprentice
Joined
May 21, 2019
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
I made a Chocolate/Coconut stout the other week, and the recipe called for shredded coconut tossed into the boil at 15 minutes remaining. When I ended up placing in the fermentator though, I was worried that transferring the coconut into fermenation would leave too much of a coconut flavor so I ended up straining it out.  The problem is though, that I realized I was also straining out a lot of the 0min hop addition I added.  This was the first time I tried added spices to a boil, or anything rather than hops.  Should I have strained the coconut out, or should I have just transferred it all into the carboys?  I don't do a secondary fermentation, just keep it all in the same carboy but I did end up adding another pound of coconut at 7 days.

Thanks!
 
You did good. The kettle hops don't need to go into the fermenter. The 0 minute addition has done what it is intended to do by the time your wort is chilled. It really does no harm if some of the trub and hop debris gets into the fermenter, but it isn't necessary.
 
Awesome, thanks!  If it doesn't matter whether the hops/spices are in the fermentator in the future I'll probably just leave it in.  It was a real pain to strain.
 
You can keep from transferring a lot of it by letting your wort settle out for 15 or 20 minutes after chilling and then keeping your siphon off of the bottom of your kettle while transferring. If you just dump it all into the fermenter you might think about bagging your hop additions. While some of it getting into the fermenter is fine, I like to keep most of the hop debris out of my fermenters because I harvest yeast and don't want to go through the hassle of rinsing the hops out of it.
 
AJ,

I agree with Bob in that what you did was perfectly fine, however not necessary.  As Bob mentioned you already got everything you needed for the hops and the coconut while the wort was hot.  I too like to transfer clean wort into my fermenter so I use a hop basket and a 20 whirlpool to let the heavier particulates settle to the bottom.  I've brewed with coconut several times in different ways with little success.  The most success I've had was with a chocolate coconut stout recipe.  I added 4oz of shredded toasted coconut to the boil at 15 minutes and then 12oz into my secondary for 10 days.  There was almost no coconut on the nose and I think my imagination made up the fact that I perceived the taste of some coconut on the back end.  After another two weeks of conditioning, there were no traces of coconut.  I also added the same quantity of toasted almond slices at the same times as the coconut.  The almond came through a little more than I wanted.  My guess is that the almond masked or overpowered the coconut.  The next version will include half the amount of toasted almonds, but double the amount of toasted coconut.  Good luck and let us know how it turned out, especially if you crack the coconut code!
 
Adding coconut during fermentation is great idea but I do not like the process very much, as you need taste the flavor at least once per weak for fermentation not to erase the coconut flavor for beer to be perfect.
 
Back
Top