Found this thread on a forum search of "topping off meads" as I have a question..
I'm just starting my first 2 (1) gallon batches of mead. Joe's Ancien Orange and then a mixed berry meads I put together. My question is what happens when I rack my mixed berry into a secondary and I end up left with an inevitable headspace? I'm going to assume that the berries took up alot of space in the primary so i'll end up with alot of room in my secondary.
Since it's just a small 1 gallon batch, it's seem i'll have to be careful with what i use as a filler since it'll probably have a decent impact on the flavor. What would you guys recommend for me?
Maybe heat up some more simple honey/water must to top off? If so, should i add anything else along with it?
Thanks in advance!!
Option 1 rack to a smaller container, but since you are at 1 gallon, you proably can't do that.
Option 2 top of - which is what you are looking at. It is generally recomended to fill up with the same sort as you are making, so a pino noir would be used to top offa pino noir, but you probably don't have any of this mead lying about to do the top off.
Other options are water, mead, or a bit of honey and water. OF them, I rank the honey and water higher than the water because you won't dilute it as much. You will probably kick off another fermentation, but you should end up with a profile closer to what you have when you rack.
Option 3 marbles. you can use marbles to fill in the bottom of a fermentor. I recomend the glass ones for fish tanks. So this will fill in the bottom of the secondary with displacement.