Safe to top off?

[B_ChiZ]

Hello all!

I have a 5 gallon batch of Cherry/Raspberry melomel brewing right now. Pitched it in October, and last racked in December. During the 3 times i racked on and off the fruit, i obviously had some loss. As it sits, my 5 gallon carboy has about 3 inches of empty space until it hits the base of the neck.

Is it safe at this point (4.5 months in) to add some water to top it up to the neck?

 

[brewingmeister]

Is it safe to add water? If your instruments and your water are clean then sure, it is as safe as your cleanliness. I wonder why you want to top up though. Are you looking for a diluted product or are you scared of head space?

-cheers

 

[biochemedic]

This is the reason why I switched to 6 gallon batches...when I go from primary to secondary, I rack to a 5 gallon carboy, and then fill up a few extra 22 oz bombers or 750 ml wine bottles (you'll obviously need a few extra small rubber stoppers and airlocks)...I use these to top up when I rack down the line.

That being said, some of my batches I don't even secondary...my last 2 cysers cleared so well that I'm bottling right from primary after a couple months...

 

[B_ChiZ]

Is it safe to add water? If your instruments and your water are clean then sure, it is as safe as your cleanliness. I wonder why you want to top up though. Are you looking for a diluted product or are you scared of head space?

-cheers

I'm not looking to water down the final product. I don't want to sacrifice flavor and ALC content. I just want to get as many bottles as i can for my hard work. ...

That's a good idea starting out with 6 gallons. Maybe I'll try that on my next batch.

 

[brewingmeister]

I'm not looking to water down the final product. I don't want to sacrifice flavor and ALC content. I just want to get as many bottles as i can for my hard work. ...

Forget about topping up then. It's also just going to make any reading and recipe useless after. To get the most, try careful racking to get the most out of a batch

Fear of head space is grossly unnecessary.

-cheers