Has anyone ever used pre-sweetened coconut (i.e. Bakers) in any beer recipe? I’ve scoured the internet and found that some have said the preservatives in the pre-sweetened coconut might not be good for beer because they (supposedly) give off-flavors. I really want to add some coconut to a stout I made this past Saturday and I can’t get organic coconut here in South Korea without paying through the nose. I figure if I throw about five pounds into the secondary fermenter, it shouldn’t hurt… but I don’t understand what kind of off-flavors I might get.
If you’re going to use it, just make sure it hasn’t been preserved using sulfites. I don’t think Baker’s does? Coconut milk might be an option for you as well? Good luck! 
Did you try it? what did you end up doing? have you tasted it yet? I am quite curious and I may want to try this as well.
The Bakers sweetened coconut flakes have preservatives, too. And no, I haven’t done it yet. My beer is still bubbling in the primary fermenter (maybe 1 bubble per 10 seconds). I’ll take a gravity reading sometime later today to see how she’s coming along.
I asked some of my cohorts in homebrewing here in South Korea (homebrewkorea.com) about where I might be able to get some organic coconut flakes locally. Someone mentioned I might be able to get it at a local foreign food market. I’ll try and go there soon. Maybe today if the beer is ready for the secondary transfer. I’ll keep folks posted on how it tastes.
Don’t know how beer yeast would tolerate sulfite preservatives, but I had coconut flakes kill off the baker’s yeast in a batch of bread once. I would use caution.
Is fresh coconut hard to find, in Korea?
I actually did find some 100% dried coconut… no preservatives here at a local foreign foods market out in town. I ended up boiling it for 20 minutes and throwing it in the secondary fermentor. I’ll see how it turns out.