Transfered to secondary,do i need to top up?

Hi,
I started a batch two weeks ago and transfered to a secondary. I need my primary for another project. I have a spiced winter ale kit from Northern Brewer.
The OG was dead on when I started.
Spiced Winter Ale Extract Kit

O.G: 1047 / Ready: 6 weeks

Kit Inventory

Specialty Grains
* 1 lbs. Simpsons Dark Crystal

Fermentables
* 6.3 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup

Boil Additions
* 1 oz. US Goldings (60 min)
* 0.5 oz. Mulling Spices (0 min)

dry yeast
* Safale S-04. Optimum temperature: 64-75° F.

The gravity now is 1.012
With blow off and the gunk left behind, I have a volume of less than five gallons,probably 4 1/2 gallons. Should I leave as is in the secondary or top up with something?"
Oh, and at about what gravity will this finish out? There has not been a lot of activity now.I tasted what was in the test vial and amazingly it tastes like a flat spiced beer,just heavy on spice taste without CO2.

1.012 sounds like it is at FG. I wouldn't expect it to go any lower.

You should not top up. You have a beer that you already know you like the taste of, and the spices will mellow some as it ages. Topping it off will water the flavor down and lower the alchohol and body. Just enjoy the beer, and next time modify the recipe to brew an extra 1/2 gallon or so to make up for the losses to trub during transfer.

Sounds like a nice beer. Enjoy!

Do not add anything to top it off. There is usually dissolved CO2 in the beer that, when siphoned, releases and pushes any oxygen out of the bottle/bucket.

Milwaukee's best "tops off" their beer with water - I think

staffVAJoe said:

Milwaukee's best "tops off" their beer with water - I think

Click to expand...

I haved topped up wine in the carboys with a little boiled sugar water to keep air space low.
When adjusting brew to compensate do you need more ingredients or can you have a little more water in the brew kettle before dumping into the primary?

leave it alone, water is bad, do you have any idea what fish do in that stuff?

the co2 will blanket it, I am the last person to actually listen to the advice about not screwing with a good thing but most people will tell you that if you add water you are watering down the beer, but it is your beer (just do not try to top mine off and we are cool

If you know your volume in secondary is going to be low and you're really freaked out about it and won't sleep, you can put some sanitized glass marbles in the secondary to take up space before you rack the beer on.

But it's really not worth worrying about for a week or so in a secondary. Racking forces some CO2 out of solution and that'll help protect your beer.

When you start doing your own recipes, make them for 5.5 gallons. Then if you want to secondary, you can leave a little bit behind with the trub and fill a 5 gallon carboy right to the top.

You're fine. +1 to marbles, but only to make you feel more comfortable. Do NOT top up, as doing so will throw off your recipe at best, and may cause infection or introduce O2 in the pouring process at worst.