Too much headspace?

[Kees]

Last summer I bottled some cider. Seemed OK initially, we enjoyed many a glass of good cider during the hot days. Today I opened a bottle and first thing the missus says: this smells stuffy and stale. I didn't smell it and started drinking. Seemed OK initially until I noticed a stinging aftertaste. Vinegar? I am afraid I left too much headspace: about 7 cm (almost 3 inches).
How much headspace do you guys leave?

 

[DBhomebrew]

As little as possible. ~1cm. You need to leave some space for liquid expansion due to heat, etc, but anything more is just oxygen waiting to stale your beverage.

 

[Maylar]

In what size bottle? A bottling wand automatically sets the fill level of beer or wine bottles, no guessing. And yeah 3" is WAY too much.

 

[DBhomebrew]

A bottling wand will automatically set a consistent level, not necessarily a good one. By proportion of volume, it will give more airspace in a standard 12oz bottle vs a 12oz stubby.

I used to let the wand set the airspace, but I started topping off to about 1cm after reading about successful NEIPA bottling here on the forum. I don't brew those, but the change has definitely improved the shelf stability of my low-color moderately hopped English-style pale ales.