How important is topping off?

[Scientific hippie]

I got some great apple juice from New England from my local place last year; I believe I got six gallons and I fermented it first in a seven-gallon bucket and then in a six-gallon carboy. I used sweet cider yeast (my husband likes it sweet), and it came out great. I used the homebrew place's recipe, but it is not online anymore, so I am recreating it from my notes. I cannot find my notebook right now, but I remember adding apple juice concentrate. I think it was to top it off, but I'm not sure. This year I want to make more than double the amount and make it in two "six-gallon" (really 7.9 gallon) FastFermentors. I ordered 12 gallons of juice, but wasn't thinking of the airspace. There is a much larger airspace in a FastFermentor. Is it going to be mostly CO2, or do I need to order more juice to fill each one up?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

IIRC you don't need to top off if you throw a campden tab in there. The main purpose of topping is to limit oxygen exposure. Somebody who knows more on the subject will likely chime in.

 

[bmd2k1]

I use 30L(7.9g) & 20L(5.3g) Speidel fermentors & my typical batch size 4.5 - 6gal -- their is always plenty of headspace as I never top off. ZERO issues ever [emoji111]

Cheers & Good luck [emoji16]

 

[MarkKF]

I think if you let it age for months after fermentation is complete you need to reduce headspace. Mostly to get the level up in the carboy neck and reduce surface area.

 

[wasully]

Fermentation isn't a big deal, it is aging you need to minimize oxygen exposure(and top off).

 

[Bourniplus]

Fermentation isn't a big deal, it is aging you need to minimize oxygen exposure(and top off).

This is also how I see it.

 

[Scientific hippie]

IIRC you don't need to top off if you throw a campden tab in there. The main purpose of topping is to limit oxygen exposure. Somebody who knows more on the subject will likely chime in.

Thank you! The recipe already calls for pretreating the juice several hours before pitching the yeast.

 

[Scientific hippie]

I use 30L(7.9g) & 20L(5.3g) Speidel fermentors & my typical batch size 4.5 - 6gal -- their is always plenty of headspace as I never top off. ZERO issues ever [emoji111]

Cheers & Good luck [emoji16]

Thank you!

 

[Scientific hippie]

I think if you let it age for months after fermentation is complete you need to reduce headspace. Mostly to get the level up in the carboy neck and reduce surface area.

Thank you! I plan to bottle age it; that's what I did last year.

 

[Scientific hippie]

The general impression I get is that as long as there isn't much space in the bottle, it will be fine. Now I can relax a bit, assemble the third FastFermentor, and try to find the recipe.