racking into the secondary

I'm getting ready to rack my cider in the secondary its a 5 gallon batch my question is when I rack it should I add more cider to it to top it off and do I do anything else to it thanks for any help

Depends. If you plan on leaving it a long time top it off. If less than a couple weeks, then no

Yes I plan on letting it set for about 9 months then bottle it

Cider does not have the protection from a higher alcohol % like wine does. Cider does not typically have the protection from lower pH and added SO2 like wine does.
And then you plan on aging it for 9 months before bottling.
If it was me I would be limiting headspace to not more than about 2 inches from the bottom of the airlock and doing what I could during handling and storage to avoid oxygenating the cider further.

Can I add another gallon of cider to it maybe sweeten it up a little and how much apple concentrate do I add I know everyones taste is different but what is commonly used for a 5 gallon batch

scottyspohn said:

Can I add another gallon of cider to it maybe sweeten it up a little and how much apple concentrate do I add I know everyones taste is different but what is commonly used for a 5 gallon batch

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I would hold off on the concentrate at his time, add that when bottling.

If you add cider to take up the headspace, that will probably start up a secondary fermentation. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Some people use sanitized marbles to take up the headspace without restarting fermentation.

UpstateMike said:

Some people use sanitized marbles to take up the headspace without restarting fermentation.

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Interesting idea :rockin:

UpstateMike said:

Some people use sanitized marbles to take up the headspace without restarting fermentation.

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I'd vote for adding more fresh cider here... more product = more fun this is what I did with my batches this go around. yes it restarts fermentation but that's fine, i'm not wasting precious carboy space with marbles, i'm wasting it with more things to get me drunk later.

Great ideas guys thank you I'm going to add more cider at this point ill keep you posted on the process thank you again