What should I use to top-up my demijohn for Plum wine?

[Ring Many]

Hi everyone,

I've been making some plum wine, but there isn't enough of the wine to fill my demijohns:

I don't have a smaller container to put these in. I'd estimate I need around 600-700ml to full these 2 demijohns. .Left demijohn is 1.9 litre, right is 5 litre.

I've been reading about how to top-up.

http://eckraus.com/wine-making-topping-up/

One suggestion is to add a combination of water and vodka, to ensure that the alcohol content isn't diluted. I can't add pure water as I'd estimate it needs at least 450ml of water to top up. Which is recommends only adding 1 pint (568ml) per 5 gallon. As this is only 1 gallon, I need to potentially add vodka.

It also recommends adding a similar wine. I do have some home-brewed California cabernet sauvignon, which is quite a dry, red wine. Haven't had much luck finding suggestions online on what to combine with plum wine.

What do you believe is the best liquid or solution to topping up these 2 demijohns?

Thanks.

 

[bernardsmith]

You might use some wine to top this up and for the future you should aim to make a slightly larger batch than the amount you intend to bottle... so you begin with 2.25 gallons if you are making 2 gallons or 1.125 gallons if you are making 1 gallon - and that means you use a bucket as your primary fermenter. Your secondary vessels should be filled right up into the neck.

 

[Stigmond13]

Sanitised glass marbles works well if you don't want to mess with the wine or add some cheap commercial wine.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I agree with Stigmond13, this is a perfect time to use sanitized glass marbles/pebbles to take up volume in a container.
Regards, GF.