Brewing with coconut

[Bebop1980]

Has anyone brewed with coconut, as i am thinking for doing a partial coconut porter.

Just wondering if the oils in the coconut would be a problem or not?

 

[RobWalker]

Dessicated or essence are both good ideas. Creamed and raw will be oily like you say, resulting in no head retention. Some people toast the dessicated stuff, meant to taste really good! You can also get the spirit flavourings from your HBS, they do a coconut one :)

 

[Bebop1980]

nice one, thanks for the info.

 

[Bebop1980]

Just wondering if i can use cascade in a porter or would i be better off with something like goldings and fuggles?

 

[RobWalker]

I've done things like this before and find that clean bittering is beneficial - lets the new flavours shine through. I would just go for bittering with a nice hop, IE Challenger or Saaz : but that's just me.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Please dont take offence...but why would you want to brew a beer with coconut. I know its your beer, and you can do what you want, but Ive got to ask...What do you want/expect out of a coconut beer?

 

[Bebop1980]

Why not? never brewed it before so thought what the hell.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

I agree with the "Why Not ?" principle. But why dont you brew a beer and put a couple of shots of Malibu in the finished beer?
Though why you would want to do this I dont know.
Please dont take offence...this dissucion (sp) has come up quite a few times....."Things you can and cannot add to beer"
Ill put coconut in the "cannot" group, along with chilli, bananas and ginger. They just dont work.
JMHO

 

[Bebop1980]

No offense taken at all.

I like the discovery of the process and the trial and error.

But will ask questions just to steer me in a direction that may give the best result.

It may not work but on the other had it may.

I'm just thinking of this at the moment but was also thinking of the coconut rum option also.

 

[puravida]

Ill put coconut in the "cannot" group, along with chilli, bananas and ginger. They just dont work.
JMHO

Did you ever try a chilli beer? They're pretty good providing the chilli isn't allowed to overpower everything else?
And how about some dried ginger powder along with a few other xmas spices in a Christmas porter?

I'm 100% with you on the bananas

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Its very hard to balance beer with other ingredients, thats why I dont think they work. Dont get me wrong, you could balance coconut with a beer, but it would take you many attempts, so, for the sake of brewing 5 beers to get it right, youre better off throwing a bit of coconut liquor at it.
My opinion only...its hard enough to get the balance right between malt, hops, yeast and water, without throwing another flavour into the equastion, and with all due respect, coconut would be nearly impossible.

 

[puravida]

A quick google search and I spotted the Maui Brewing Co do a Coconut Porter which has won quite a few awards so maybe try and clone their recipe as a start point? They use six :? varieties of grain and then cascade and columbus hops plus some toasted dessicated coconut too. Comes out at 6% and 30 IBU so they're not being too shy with the hop additions.

http://www.mauibrewingco.com/mbc/MBCCannedBeer.html

So maybe go with a standard porter recipe, columbus hops to bitter and then cascade and more columbus for aroma. I'd add the coconut at about 5 mins before flame out at a wild guess.

Quite tempted to try this myself now

 

[puravida]

...its hard enough to get the balance right between malt, hops, yeast and water, without throwing another flavour into the equastion.

Very true!!! :thumb:

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Ill put coconut in the "cannot" group, along with chilli, bananas and ginger. They just dont work.
JMHO

Did you ever try a chilli beer? They're pretty good providing the chilli isn't allowed to overpower everything else?
And how about some dried ginger powder along with a few other xmas spices in a Christmas porter?

I'm 100% with you on the bananas

Chilli in beer does not work, I really cant see the point, ginger alone also does not work in beer

 

[puravida]

Chilli in beer does not work, I really cant see the point, ginger alone also does not work in beer

That you don't like it, doesn't mean it doesn't work. It's just an opinion.
I happen to quite like chilli beer and have brewed a delicious chipotle beer in the past that added a hint of smokiness too.

In any case, it would be boring if we all brewed and drank identical beer to each other, right?

 

[Bebop1980]

I'm going to give it a go anyway and will come back with the results.

Will it or wont it, hmmmm

 

[johnnyboy1965]

I agree with your opinion that "If i dont like it etc...etc.."
Contrasting Flavours etc etc
Ill state again...chilli in beer does not work.
If you can brew me a beer where the chilli and the malt and the hops and the yeast and the %abv are all in balance, then I will take my hat off to you.

 

[RobWalker]

My curry beer raises a few smiles on first try - the trick is low volume brewing, that way its a rare treat and not a session beer. I love ginger, coconut and chilli! Mmm, sounds like thaifood...

 

[AndrewVu]

I wonder if you could drill a hole into a coconut, drop some yeast in and stick an airlock in it to make coconut wine.. you can buy coconuts with over a pint of oil in them at Morrisons!


:whistle:

 

[50quidsoundboy]

there are some coconut beers out there. my wife had one recently at Mason & Taylor, it's certainly not my thing but she said it was good.