AHS Toasted Coconut Porter (12B) - MINI MASH Homebrew Ingredient Kit

I have brewed this twice and will likely brew again. The first time it was my second brew ever and while very drinkable it wasn't what I hoped it would be. I brewed a second time and this one is MUCH better. I probably did something wrong the first time and will never know what. I have 4 or 5 different home brews "in stock" and I find myself reaching for this one more than the others. I didn't use a secondary and placed the coconut in a bag weighted with a sanitized glass bowl after fermenting stopped. Left it set for 10 days then bottled. Not much of a coconut flavor that I can detect but it's still darn good stuff. I just brewed the same recipe only left out the coconut to see what the difference will be. Cheers!

This recipe turned out really well although I cut back on the hops a little. FG= 1.012 and the WL Dry English Ale as promised made for a quick fermentation and quick turnaround time. Tasted a little like a mounds bar. Even non Porter fans enjoyed this batch.

I really love coconut so I decided to try this brew. Did the minimash and let it ferment for about 1.5 weeks, then transferred to secondary on 3.5 lbs toasted unsweetend coconut (which I might add is NOT in the baking isle). Word to the wise...do NOT try to put this 5 gallon batch on 3.5 lbs of coconut in a 5 gallon carboy. Sure, it fit right in there without a problem so I figured it would be fine. Two hours later I find the beer bubbling out of my airlock and all over the floor. Next time, I plan to let it ferment for about 1.5 weeks again, place the coconut in a muslin bag and directly into my 7 gallon primary for a week, then transfer without the coconut into secondary to clear up a little. After about 1.5 months in the keg, it tastes great!

This brew turned out fantastic. Being an extract version it wasn't hard to hit all the numbers. I did a full boil which helped the overall taste of the beer. Two weeks in primary and 1 week on a 2# bed of toasted unsweeted coconut flakes in the secondary. The porter has a nice upfront taste of coconut taste then a smooth coconut flavor that fills the body of the beer. If I do this brew again I'd probably step up the coconut in the secondary to 3 or even 4# to get more of a coconut flavor.

Brewed the extract version, let it sit in primary for 4 weeks before racking onto 1.5lb. toasted coconut. Decided to go a little heavier on the coconut addition to make sure it was in the front of the beer. Good porter base and the oatmeal in this one lends to an amazing mouth feel. Will be buying this one at least twice a year. If you like coconut and you like a porter, this is hands down one of the best beers I've made. 5 stars to AHS!

Absolutely amazing flavor! Definitely tastes like a Mounds bar when it's young, and it had everyone that visited over the holidays raving about how good it is. Coconut has mellowed over time, and I know I'll be upset when the keg runs dry. I will definitely be making this one again.

Brewed this about 2 months ago. Used S-04, fermented at 68 for 1 month. Kegged and added 14oz unsweetned coconut flakes from Whole Foods. This beer turned out fantastic, lots of creamy coconut flavor and hits of chocolate. Several people say it's like an almond joy candy bar.

Howdy, Can't really comment on the beer because I just racked to the secondary. I just wanted to try to help everyone in their search for unsweetened coconut. Save yourself sometime and go to Whole Foods right off the bat. It's a bit pricey but it'll save you time. I went to two other grocery stores and although they had multiple brands, they were just sweetened. Oh and I used 2.5 lbs. in hopes to really get the coconutty flavor =D Hope the oils don't kill it but I'll update this once I get a taste. Hope this helps!

Wow... this came out fantastic! We used the AG kit and had 24 hour yeast starter with a stir plate (used the WLP007 - Dry English Ale yeast). The recipe called for 1lb of toasted coconut. It's only been in the bottle for two weeks but the coconut flavor is perfect right now, not too little, not too much. It will be interesting to see how this beer ages and whether the coconut gets stronger or more mellow over time. Primary (8 days) was in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy, secondary (6 days) was in a plastic bucket with the toasted coconut in a nylon bag. We noticed the bag had floated to the top when we racked to bottle, so the next time we brew this we will add some ballast and see if that makes the coconut flavor stronger. Interestingly, we are getting a great head within a week. This was a surprise because I've read that the coconut oil can affect this (maybe the nylon bag we used soaked up most of the oil)? Excellent recipe... it tasted great before we even added the coconut. We'll definitely be buying this kit again. OG was 1.054, FG was 1.009.

This is an absolutely great kit, I purchased the mini-mash kit. I brewed it according to the instructions. I used the recommended White Labs yeast on this one, and let ferment for almost 3 weeks. Toast up a pound of unsweetened coconut, just as the instructions say. I toasted my coconut in two 8oz batches on a cookie sheet with absorbant parchment paper under it. This helps absorb the oils from the coconut. The instructions are perfect 315 degrees for 15 minutes - the coconut will be golden brown. Add this to the secondary, then I also added 4oz. of Cocoa Nibs (Peru was the style) that I had prepared 24 hours prior by soaking in some light rum (40% alcohol). I let this secondary for about 1.5 weeks, until some of the coconut began to settle into the mixture instead of floating. I have entered this one into 3 beer competitions, and the BJCP judges really like it. The only comment is that it needs a bit more body, so next time I'll add some speciality grains to achieve the goal. Definitely brewing again. I won 2nd place in the Porter style at a competition in Raleigh, NC.

Great tasting creamy porter. OG 1.050 FG 1.011. Primary 17 days Secondary 7 days. Yeast - Safale S-04 I racked this porter onto 2.5 lbs of toasted organic unsweetened coconut flakes (amazon) in secondary. I toasted the coconut flakes @ 315 for 15 - 20 minutes. Just long enough to turn the flakes golden brown. I had a hard time kegging this porter due to the coconut flakes getting sucked into my auto siphon. Next time I will either put the flakes into a muslin bag or tie a muslin bag around my siphon when racking from secondary. If using a 5 gallon secondary with the coconut flakes poured directly in be careful not to fill your secondary to full because the flakes will swell and will push your airlock out. Overall fantastic porter !! I will be keeping this one in my rotation.

This is one of the best beers I've ever tasted and made!!! I ordered a new batch as soon as I tasted it for the first time. This time I'm going to do all-grain. Keep those great recipes coming AHS!!

This is my first round with coconut and my second all-grain. My only change was to do my initial mash at 7 gallons to ensure a bigger beer. With the larger volume, I lost almost no heat during mashing. I actually left the cover off for about 8 minutes on my stir at the midway point. I ended up almost perfect on the loss during the boil. STIR, STIR, STIR! This one will scorch during the boil. I ended up right at 6% ABV. There's plenty of flavor and body to match this punch! RICH porter flavor with lots of body. Just right (for my taste) on the hops. I toasted 1 pound of unsweetened coconut flakes from Sprouts. I carbonated with CO2 and ended up with a perfect head and carbonation (I got lucky - I'm still working this out with my keg set up). The nose is fantastic! The coconut adds a real creaminess - I only wish I could put this in NITROGEN! There is mild sweetness, followed by a light coffee taste up front with well-balanced, complex flavors throughout the range. This is a BOLD beer that's full of flavor. Brewed on 11/17 and sampled on 12-16. I'm going to try to let this one sit for a couple more weeks and enjoy for the new year. It's outstanding! This will be a regular for me. Even with the coconut, it's quite clear (with just a few stray strands of coconut finding its way into the keg!). Interesting note: I used the White Labs Dry English Ale yeast. It worked VERY quickly, but without much appearance of working. It had a thin crown with VERY LITTLE bubbling or convection. I thought I would need to add another tube of yeast, but cooler heads prevailed. A few "tech support" guys said not to touch it as long as I could see some evidence of fermentation. The final gravity didn't lie - everything worked just fine, but it didn't produce the big "lava lamp" effect that I'm used to. Any thoughts on the addition of coconut water as an add-in going into primary fermentation?

Brewed an all grain batch with dry english ale yeast. Got great conversion @ quick fermentation. While this beer has gotten lots of compliments from friends, I'm not super satisfied... The toasted coconut is definately there, but the beer lacks any complexity and zero head retention :( Next time I add any coconut to a beer, I'm trying this: toast your coconut and soak it in vodka for a few weeks, drain off coconut extract and put in freezer, skim any oil off top of vodka, add vodka to taste @ bottling day