Thanks! After typing it I don't actually think I went to the secondary. I think after the coconut cooled in the over I put them all in the bag and then just dropped it in and I definitely did the swirl every day for about a week. With the maltodextrin, do I have to do anything to it prior or just dump it in and leave it?
I mentioned omitting the secondary because of your 2-year absence. A few things have more pertinently changed. Secondaries are out (few exceptions noted).
We're all on preventing or at least reducing air exposure (O2 exposure, actually) from when fermentation begins all the way to packaging. LoDO brewers try their best to prevent oxygen exposure also from mash (or steep) to right before pitching yeast. IOW, oxygen only being allowed (deliberately) when pitching yeast, none before or after.
The maltodextrin should dissolve, but will require some swirling or stirring. IMO, it's better to make a pourable suspension with a little bit of pre-boiled, warm to hot water and add that to the beer. It will prevent the powder from floating or balling up, and disperse faster.
If you add the toasted coconut to a mesh bag, make sure the bag's pores are fairly large. The old nylon coarsely woven grain steeping bags are perfect for that. Boil them first, then sanitize before filling, for good measure, to make sure you're not adding any bugs to your beer. Yadaya, you know the drill.
You could add a small handful of glass marbles or a heavy stainless fitting to the bag to weigh it down so it sinks and remains submerged.
Tie a piece of unflavored dental floss to the top and let the other end come through the airlock hole. Tie something to it to make a handle of some sort. After temporarily removing the airlock, you can then lift and dunk the bag once or twice a day to rinse and refresh the beer inside the bag, agitation is key to extraction. Don't overstuff the bag(s), beer needs to be able to permeate and saturate the inside.
What kind of fermenter are you using?
