# Top-up



## ben485 (Feb 9, 2011)

What can i use to top up my cherry pee that is done fermenting, k-metaed and sorbated?


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## Tom (Feb 9, 2011)

what stage are you in? 
How big a batch?
what do you mean_ k-metaed and sorbated ?_
When you rack you want as little head space as you can. That may mean fill up the carboy, put the rest in smaller bottles.


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## ben485 (Feb 9, 2011)

i'm at the stage where the pee is clear, i have added the potassium sorbate, and the potassium metabisulfite. I just racked the pee off of the sediment, and have some space i need to fill. i dont have extra. i need to top-up, top-off what ever it's called. What should i use? i have a 6 gal carboy w/ about 5.75 gals, so i need about a qt of something to fill that space. What is the question.


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## Brian (Feb 9, 2011)

Ben, because SP is mostly water you could add water to top up and it won't make a big difference. Just for future reference what I do is I always make enough to fill my 6 gal carboy and have some left over... at least a wine bottle full. that way when I rack for the last time I have some to top up with. but not to worry water should be fine for yours.


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## robie (Feb 9, 2011)

ben485 said:


> What can i use to top up my cherry pee that is done fermenting, k-metaed and sorbated?



Sounds like you have added kmeta and sorbate... I'll assume that.
If so, it definitely needs topped off. 
You can add a like wine, if you can find such for your cherry pee, or you can use unpainted, sanitized marbles. if you are lucky enough to have argon gas, it works great.

You can get the marbles at Hobby Lobby in the floral section.


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## Minnesotamaker (Feb 9, 2011)

Hey there Ben, this is what I do. After I've added the kmeta and sorbate, I give it a really good degassing and then add the Sparkolloid. Stir like mad or use vacuum if you have equipment to do it. Since you won't be aging this stuff very long, I don't really worry much about oxidation; just don't expose it more than you have to. After you've stirred really well to release gas, I would put the airlock back on it, move it to a warm part of the house, and then agitate the carboy using motion. I put the carboy on a couple of layers of towels on a slippery floor and then slide the carboy back and forth to shake it up a bit. This should help realease any remaining gas. As the gas comes out of solution, it will push oxygen out of the carboy and as long as you don't remove the airlock, no new oxygen gets in. Let it rest a while and shake again. Keep repeating until you don't really get any more activity in the airlock. You can then move it to an area to let the Sparkolloid clear it. Once clear, I rack mine into a fresh clean carboy. It's now time to sweeten with sugar, so using a funnel, I add the sugar to the carboy. If I had topped up, there may not be enough room for the sugar addition. After all the sugar is stirred and disolved, then you can top up with water or another light wine if you'd like. I find that after the sugar addition, there isn't that much head space left, and since I'll be bottling in less than a week, I typically don't worry about topping up.
Cheers!


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## ben485 (Feb 11, 2011)

THANKS GUYS! VERY HELPFUL


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