Should I worry about 5 inches of airspace in secondary carboy?

[otherchuck]

Greetings,

Not sure how this happened (since it never has before), but I just racked my basic mead from the primary (after about 3 wks) into the carboy, and I didn't have enough to go into the thinner carboy neck. The carboy starts to narrow starting at about 6 inches below the top, and my level is about 5 inches below the top, so it is just a little above where the carboy starts to narrow. I am pretty sure there is not much more fermentation that is gonna happen (unless racking re-stimulates it a little) so I don't know that I am gonna get much of a CO2 blanket. For the record, the abv of this mead is around 14%-15% (judging from recipe and OG vs FG). I figure I will leave it in the carboy for a couple of months, assuming it clears nicely in that time frame, and then I will rack it into bottles.

Should I correct this airspace problem, OR is it unlikely anything terrible will happen (in which case I should just let it be)? If I should fix it, can I just pour some distilled water in there to top it up? If so, do I have to boil the distilled water first? I would prefer not dilute the mead, but would prefer something like that as opposed to using marbles as a displacement strategy. Distilled water won't add any weird flavors will it? Alternatively, I could boil and cool water from our tap that I used to brew the mead; we are on a well system, so there is no added chlorine or chemicals.

Thanks!

Otherchuck

 

[JimRausch]

If you have any mead from another batch, top off with that. Even using some white wine would be better than water.

 

[CKuhns]

Agree wuth Jim thats a reasonable aproach. Marbles work well too. However your Mead will hold a lot of CO2 in suspension if in secondary and only for a short time. I would shake it gently with the airlock in place. See if you get some CO2 to come out of suspension. (Look for bubbles to thesurface and airlock activity) If you do get some then do it a couple more times and dont worry too much you should be ok.

 

[otherchuck]

I don't have any other batch of mead on hand, unfortunately. I just checked the airlock, and it is bubbling once in a while. I just saw it bubble twice with a 2.5 minute interval in between. I presume it was not bubbling anymore in the primary (though I didn't check it much...just assumed it was done), but I guess racking it stirred up a little extra activity?

Otherchuck

 

[CKuhns]

Yep, racking often does that. You should be ok.

 

[IslandLizard]

If you have CO2 available, you can flush the headspace.

 

[HVCBrewing]

It looks like the mead just completed fermentation. Assuming your mead is just honey and water, you could top up with a small batch of honey and water. Fermentation might re-start. Given the small size of the addition the fermentation
shouldn't be to active.

 

[Yooper]

What size batch is this? Could you rack to a smaller carboy?

I would definitely not leave 5 inches of headspace, and I would also use some k-meta (campden) at this point to prevent further oxidation since it's been exposed to so much oxygen/air.