Friday 14 December 2012

Coconut Porter Failure

Sigh. I guess it was about time. And truthfully i knew i was taking the piss a bit by 'taking a punt', thinking in the back of my mind that it wouldnt really matter because i already have too much beer anyway. Still, sad to see it die (and possibly have to dump some equipment in the process).

So, i toasted as per the instructions and dumped 100g or so of Dessicated coconut in to the fermenter. Nowhere can i find any instructions on how to sanitise this stuff for this purpose (although plenty of people are talking about adding it) but sure enough a couple of days later the delicious porter smells like paint stripper and is sporting a thin white film. Apparently this is an Acetobacter infection (or looks a lot like it) - it basically turns the alcohol in to vinegar. I've had this once before thanks to summer brewing a 25L lager kit and a fruit fly finding its way in. Very sad times pouring that one away. but from experience you dont want to drink it, even though you still can.

So i suppose in some ways all is not lost. 6L of Dark coconut malt vinegar might make a good Christmas gift for someone.

someone i hate.

1 comment:

  1. Bummer about that. I have had a little bit of success making a coconut stout. First effort tasted good but was spoiled by the coconut oils from dry hopping with desiccated coconut. 2nd batch I toasted 100g dess. Coconut and tried to dry as much oil off as possible on paper towels and added to the mash. I roasted another 200g and soaked it in vodka for 3 weeks while in the fermenter. At bottling I added my coconut liquor along with about 50ml I think of coconut essence. After about 6-7 months in the bottle the head retention is great and the coconut flavor has melded pretty well into the beer. Recipe is on hop like under my handle Rank_amateur. 23 liter was the 2nd batch.

    Cheers

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