I’m getting too much head

[Kalaloch]

I’m getting too much head!!! I did Ed Wort’s alphenwein and left it in primary for a month then moved to secondary where it’s been for two weeks (I plan on leaving it in secondary for 2-3 more months), but somehow I didn’t realize in my secondary that my glass carboy is only full to about 4 gallons, so there is a lot of head space for oxygen.

Iwas going to add more bottled apple juice but am afraid of splashing/oxygen and afraid of bacteria (although the 8% alcohol would kill most of it)

What’s a guy to do with too much head?!?

 

[Totally]

I’m getting too much head!!!

Do you have access to co2?
You could purge some of that head space with co2.

If it was the primary I wouldn't worry as much since there would be a lot of co2 being generated, likely not much in secondary though.

I would have the same concerns as you as far as adding more juice though, oxygenation and contamination.

Hopefully some smarter cider guys will chime in.

 

[rlmiller10]

I’m getting too much head!!!

Said nobody ever.

 

[Maylar]

Adding more juice is acceptable, just minimize the splashing as much as you can. Use a siphon, don't just pour it glug-glug.

For the future, consider getting a few smaller containers for secondary. A 3 gallon, a couple 1 gallon, and a half gallon jug will let you minimize head space. A brewer can never have too many carboys.