What do you guys use to top off your wines after losing some to measuring the gravity or racking to a new carboy. It doesn't take much to take the level a fair bit below the neck of a carboy thus leaving more headspace/exposure to oxygen. I'm still new to all of this but in the past I just use water.
Top off??
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DoctorCAD
Well-Known Member
Water if its only a cup or so. A similar wine if its a half bottle or more. A smaller carboy if its a half-gallon or more!
depends what i got brewing, but i havent topped up my port when it was low just because i didn't want to dilute and didn't have a similar wine. as long as it was still fermenting there shouldn't be any oxygenation as there will only be CO2 in the carboy. the port turned out to be the best i've made yet.
I am only using Kits though so they may be more stable then raw ingredients.
i also did my beers with significant volume reductions in the carboy, PA came out fine with 19L in a 23L carboy, IPA will be tested at the end of the week. which was 21L in a 23L carboy again (PA at half volume was too strong IMO without aging, IPA still came out at 6.8% with 2/3 the water and very hoppy
)
I'll also throw out that small amounts of oxygenation are what leads to ageing, doing so in the carboy could accelerate the ageing process if desired.
I am only using Kits though so they may be more stable then raw ingredients.
i also did my beers with significant volume reductions in the carboy, PA came out fine with 19L in a 23L carboy, IPA will be tested at the end of the week. which was 21L in a 23L carboy again (PA at half volume was too strong IMO without aging, IPA still came out at 6.8% with 2/3 the water and very hoppy
)I'll also throw out that small amounts of oxygenation are what leads to ageing, doing so in the carboy could accelerate the ageing process if desired.
Yeah my situation typically runs like this. I usually take a gravity reading after the ferment by using a hydrometer with the tall tube (probably about 1 cup of liquid). Assuming I rack at the same time...depending on the wine I'm making...I may have lets say 1/4 inch of sediment. In a 5 gallon carboy that may be lets say a few cups of liquid space. All said and done after it goes in the new carboy it may now be a good 1/4-1/2 inch below the neck which means the airspace is now the entire diameter of the carboy. By this point most if not all fermentation is complete. Typically I don't have another wine on hand to top off with and a smaller carboy is out of the question since the loss isn't that much. I always top off with water since I understand headspace is a bad thing. By the post above is it right to assume that headspace is ok assuming the wine wont stay in the carboy for more than 3-4 months?
DoctorCAD
Well-Known Member
I think you'll find way more "no headspace" opinions than "headspace is OK" opinions.
Oxygen is not what ages wine, time and micro-oxygenation are 2 of the parts (of hundreds) needed to age wine.
Oxygen is not what ages wine, time and micro-oxygenation are 2 of the parts (of hundreds) needed to age wine.
Heavywalker
Well-Known Member
I will use a similar wine if it is a half bottle or so, but if it is more than that I use sanitized glass beads.
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
While I believe that brewers are loathe to add back the wine they have extracted when measuring the gravity, wine makers are less fussy and as long as you use good sanitizing practices there seems to be no problem in replacing the wine. Of course, you might steal a small measure to taste the progress but there is no reason to dump a half pint or so of wine every time you measure the gravity
wasn't trying to insinuate that oxygen was the only factor in ageing just a big one from my understanding... and I've heard of commercial brewing using oxygenation to get the desired flavour accelerated in a wine.
glass beads is a brilliant idea!
I personally just didn't want to dilute my brew and since i'm new at it I Didn't have any similar wines to top up with. And maybe because it was a port i didn't have an issue, a delicate white wine might be a different story?
i have left full carboy size head space without any issues on beer(2/3 brews) and port(1/2 brews), so I stated so.
I am also cold brewing so it stays active longer...
I also return my gravity readings to the carboy minus a shot or so on all brews so far. (3x beer 2x wine and 2x port I'm obviously not an expert but i haven't had any issues yet? it's all sanitized.)
glass beads is a brilliant idea!
I personally just didn't want to dilute my brew and since i'm new at it I Didn't have any similar wines to top up with. And maybe because it was a port i didn't have an issue, a delicate white wine might be a different story?
i have left full carboy size head space without any issues on beer(2/3 brews) and port(1/2 brews), so I stated so.
I am also cold brewing so it stays active longer...
I also return my gravity readings to the carboy minus a shot or so on all brews so far. (3x beer 2x wine and 2x port I'm obviously not an expert but i haven't had any issues yet? it's all sanitized.)
DoctorCAD
Well-Known Member
If your marbles or glass beads are 1/2" in diameter, it would take 220 to make one cup.
A hydrometer is intended to work in conjunction with a 100 ml graduated cylinder. 100 ml is 3.3 oz. Half a pint would be 235 ml, i.e. enough to do more than two measurements.
A 100 ml pyrex graduated cylinder costs less than 10 bucks. It should be considered a necessary partner to a hydrometer.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IAZ9TWM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
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Cider.
I don't seem to be able to make Cider (although it doesn't stop me from trying) with much flavour. I've seen it suggested a lot to top up with Apple juice, but I don't like the idea of adding more sugars into a batch that has otherwise nearly finished fermentation. I've got a small batch of cider that has finished fermentation, and am using it to top up my Feijoa wine at each racking at the moment.
The other thing you can do is, if you've got spare fruit, juice some more a couple of days prior to racking, then add in pectic enzyme and some K meta. All you'll end up with then is a slightly lower alcohol content. If that bothered you, you could always add sugar to match the starting gravity. That does mean, however, you'd be up for a bit more fermentation.
I don't seem to be able to make Cider (although it doesn't stop me from trying) with much flavour. I've seen it suggested a lot to top up with Apple juice, but I don't like the idea of adding more sugars into a batch that has otherwise nearly finished fermentation. I've got a small batch of cider that has finished fermentation, and am using it to top up my Feijoa wine at each racking at the moment.
The other thing you can do is, if you've got spare fruit, juice some more a couple of days prior to racking, then add in pectic enzyme and some K meta. All you'll end up with then is a slightly lower alcohol content. If that bothered you, you could always add sugar to match the starting gravity. That does mean, however, you'd be up for a bit more fermentation.
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