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I'd do half at flameout and half in the secondary. Once fermentation is complete and before bottling, taste it. If you want more cranberry flavor, add a little more at bottling time. If you do add more at bottling, be sure you take in to account those additional sugars to prevent bottle bombs.

First off, explain what you mean by odd? A better explanation of the odd flavor could help determine what is the cause of the flavor. Second, how were you pulling these hydrometer samples, and how many did you pull? The addition of corn sugar is definitely going to made it taste a little...

Freak Accident

Becoming familiar with when a yeast is still viable/clean is an important skill for a homebrewer. Even yeast bought from your LBHS or on-line can be bad before it reaches its expiration date. If for no other reason than to become familiar with the process, try it. Maybe do not make a large...

You should be good to go with the hops. Those sealed packages are good and you shouldn't notice any depreciation. I'd use them soon though. As for the yeast...smell it. If it smells good, make a starter with it. If it ferments, taste the starter. if there is nothing funky about it, pitch it.

I've just found that a local farmers market nearby in Albuquerque carries frozen, 100% not from concentrate blood orange juice. This stuff is imported from Italy. They have two types, Mongibello and Aliseo. Anyone know the differences between the two? I'm really excited to find new quality...

Sure thing. I make a lot of experimental brews involving fruit, honey, grain, hops, cocoa beans, vanilla, oak, etc... I love to create braggots, meads, ciders and fruit beers. I've experimented a lot with local fruit, including peaches from my backyard. I'd say that looks like a great recipe...

I'd go a little heavier on the hops or lighter on the malt, or you might have a very sweet final product. A lack of balance between hops and malt, and all those berries and all. I'd find hops that compliment the blackberries, like maybe el Dorado or something with a stone fruit character...

Cellphone ping

I puree the mango and then add it in step 3. And yes, that should have been 1/2 cup of molasses.

Thanks All! I ordered several 1 gallon carboys from amazon last night.

So it seems from all ive read that too much headspace in the secondary and all subsequent fermentation/ aging vessels is bad. This causes me some concern and I was wondering if I may be able to reacha good solution here. My problem: I make 2.75 gallon batches of mead. Sometimes, I make...

Thanks!

In the past year I have become sickened by all of the news of people getting sick by all of the additives in processed foods, and it's not just sweets. Bread, pastas, sauces, yogurt, lunchmeat, poultry, ect... Seems like all of it bad for us. So I've decided to start eating all natural, locally...

Happy Fathers Day to me, please Inkbird. Thanks!

I agree. I suppose the automated systems can be nice (although pricey), but I enjoy the process of brewing too much to let a computer system take over most of my processes for me. I'm sure you will find a suitable solution. Let us know how the first batch turns out. Welcome to the obsession!

Honestly, moving and setting up equipment is one of the least labor intensive tasks in my brew day, and this is my set-up.... It doesn't look like you have much to move. A propane tank, a burner, and a small kettle. If you are excited by brewing, but want to make the process very simple...

Let us know if you decided to go this route and how it worked... If we don't hear back, we'll know it was not a good idea! JK...It's a really bad idea

True. I don't think temperature had anything to do with it. I only add a drop or two of wort to the refractometer. Can the amount and type of light have something to do with the reading (sunlight vs. bulb??) Another thought is that maybe the gravity of the wort varies somewhat throughout the BK...

I stopped using my refractometer after running into the same puzzle. I tested it with distilled water and calibrated it as necessary. I had used it on at least seven or eight batches with no problem. Then it just stopped being reliable for whatever reason. I thought the reading on a fresh...