Top off secondary?

[brewnscooter]

I just finished making my first batch of homeBrew. I made an American Amber from Brewer's Best. I decided to rack to a 5 gallon carboy after the primary completed to clarify. I filled the primary to the 5 gallon mark, but when I racked it to the secondary, there was a considerable amount of headspace above the beer. Should I have been concerned about oxidation with that much headspace in the carboy (about 2 or 3 inches below the shoulder). I'm guessing that between the sample for the OG reading and the fair amount of trub that was left over along with leaving some behind in the primary is why it was short. Should I have topped off the carboy to eliminate the headspace and if so how? Or, should I just DWAHAHB???

 

[Nurmey]

Welcome to HBT!

There isn't an issue with head space because when you racked you knocked the CO2 out of suspension and will blanket the top of your beer and protect it.

It's your beer of course but I would never top off fermented beer. I work hard to make nice beer and would not want to ruin it by watering it down.

 

[OrvilleOrdinary]

Rdwhahb .

 

[bull8042]

Welcome to HBT!

There isn't an issue with head space because when you racked you knocked the CO2 out of suspension and will blanket the top of your beer and protect it.

It's your beer of course but I would never top off fermented beer. I work hard to make nice beer and would not want to ruin it by watering it down.

Yeah, exactly what Nurmey said...... And welcome to HBT from me too.

 

[Grinder12000]

Topping off is a mistake that many wine makers do when noticing there is a lot of head space - I would not do it as it will water down the beer.

 

[brewnscooter]

Excellent. I'm glad I let it be then...Just read a lot of posts about oxidation and was a little nervous.