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Hey everyone. Has anyone out there done much with cinnamon in their beers? I have a bunch sitting around my house (left over sticks from making some Apple Pie liquor) and was thinking of how good it might taste to have a nice ale or IPA with a cinnamon flavor along with it. I've never spiced...

So I know it's a little while off, since this batch is only a few days old, but how do you know when it's ready to move to the secondary? Is there a set time to let it go in the primary, or is it based on SG staying constant for a few days, or what? Thanks, and everyone have a great rest of...

I split it up and so far I have about 1/2 and 1/2 to go into the primary/secondary. I may pick up a little more for the secondary, but may not need to. We'll see how it looks. So far it smells great, but has a long way to go...

So, my first attempt at a mead in is the carboy. Or I guess carboy's... One just a pure standard mead, and the other a raspberry. So far everything has gone well (knock on wood). I wanted to just blend the raspberries up with some ice cream from the freezer, but I resisted. They smelled...

Which would give a cleaner fruit flavor, putting more fruit in the primary, or the secondary? I am going to put fruit in both, but was wondering which give more flavor.

That thread had good info, just not for my specific question. I did read that one first.

Hey everyone. Quick question: When I start the mead in my primary vessel, I gather that headspace is no issue. Use a big vessel. When I rack into the secondary, do I need to reduce to almost no headspace, or will there be much active fermentation? I plan on then racking from the secondary...

Thanks for all the help with my plethora of questions. This was a great thread to start out for a total beginner with no knowledge of the subject. I now feel that I can confidently start a couple of batches and not totally screw them up due to a lack of starting knowledge. Thanks!

I haven't looked for a little while but I thought that the last time I was in there it was in the $3.50/lb range. Don't quote me on that, but I am going to be heading over tonight or tomorrow and can report back. I know they sell it in bulk, so thought it would be a good place to get it cheap.

How do you Cold Crash something? I have a carboy getting ready to go into bottles in a few days. How cold do you try to get it, and how fast? And does it affect the yeast for carbonating?

Good advice. I tend to someone that makes something overly complex right off the bat. I really like the raspberry flavors is mead, so I may throw together a flavored one, but also just a standard so that I see both. We'll see how they come along. I am going to start on Saturday.

So I've been doing a lot of reading both here and in the mead forum as well, and have been seeing the term Cold Crashing quite a bit. I'm not totally new to brewing, but I have never heard that term before. What does it mean? Is it just dropping the temperature of your wort before bottling...

So, if I add fruit to both the primary and then again in the secondary, I would imagine that it would just up the ABV slightly, and give a stronger fruit flavor? Would I then leave the fruit in the secondary the entire time that it is sitting and aging itself? If I let it sit for say 3-4...

So I'm thinking that I will just double the recipe and play with a couple of gallons and just use one of my beer carboys. That should cover it. When you break up the fruit cap and aerate it, do you actually stir it or can you just swirl the carboy enough to do it?

I don't have any issue with the taste or anything. They seem pretty good, but I wasn't sure it they tried to cook them ahead of time or blended them or anything.

Has anyone out there in the NW/Portland area use the honey that they sell at Winco? I figured it would be a good place to get bulk honey, and they sell the orange and blackberry as well.

Just had one more thought here. Should I add the fruit right away when everything goes into the carboy, or should I wait until after the initial big ferment is over? Or does it make a real difference?

So if there is the possibility of overshooting the target FG and creating a really dry mead, what do you do to try to alleviate that? Add some form of sweetener to the secondary or add more honey to the original? I would kind of like a nice median. Not too sweet (like a dessert wine), but not...

If I do use some Pectic Enzyme, how much would I use? Also, will I need to worry about the PH at this point? Is it going to drop low enough that I will need to add the K-carbonate? Putting it into 1g jugs, will I see much blowover, or is it a softer ferment? I think I will head to the store...

So I messed around with that spreadsheet a bit, but I can not get it to match the numbers that you were quoting at all. I am suspecting user error...It's early right now...But i will keep going and try one out here in the next few days. Just need to get a small enough carboy or something...