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I have about 5 gallons of regular nut brown ale (in the fermenter now) that I plan to bring to a festival. Since it is going to be served at a festival and folks will only be drinking 2 ounces at a time (and probably have decimated palates), I figured it should be very highly coconut flavored.

Rather than try to get a hop bag into the fermenter, my plan was to make a grain alcohol tincture with coconut flakes, then just add the tincture at bottling time. I would like to avoid pre-made coconut extracts because I would not feel comfortable telling people that's how I brew.

How many ounces of dried coconut flakes soaked in booze would it take to get a high amount of coconut flavor into this standard nut brown ale?

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    You might not get an answer to your question, in which case why not make the tincture as strongly coconut-flavored as possible, and then test the tincture on a commercial nut brown ale until you are happy with the dosing rate. Scale up for your batch, and you should be close. BTW, Kona uses coconut WONF in their Koko Brown in addition to toasted coconut flakes, I have read.
    – Chino Brews
    Commented Aug 19, 2014 at 21:37
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    Can't comment on a tincture, but I did a chocolate coconut stout a while back. I used 16 oz of shredded coconut that I toasted in the oven. Put direct into secondary and bottled 10 days later. Flavor and smell was prominent. Clean up was a nightmare... I now have a stack of paint straining bags for secondary additions.
    – DHough
    Commented Aug 20, 2014 at 14:57

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One example that generated a beer with a significant (but not over the top) coconut presence was as follows:

  • 16 ounces of shredded coconut
  • 650ml 190 proof grain alcohol
  • Five gallons of beer

Shredded coconut was crammed in a quart mason jar and covered with grain alcohol for one week in order to make a tincture. The tincture was added to the fermeter, along with the shredded coconut (inside a nylon bag). After one additional week, the beer was bottled. A warning for this coconut tincture technique: there was "coconut butter" floating in the fermeter and clinging to the nylon bag. Probably due to the fat content, there was little head retention even though the beer was well carbonated.

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    You should be able to solve the "butter" issue by freezing the tincture first. Obviously the high alcohol content won't allow for a complete freeze, but the fats should solidify and be able to be filtered out. I would also say you should mention to use unsweetened coconut...
    – Foosh
    Commented Nov 12, 2014 at 23:13

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