topping up carboy

[dalton]

Hello. I just recently racked my Showcase Merlot to secondary carboy from my primary. When I first started my wine kit, I didn't realize the spigot on the primary fermenter was leaking, so I lost a liter or two of must. When I racked it to my carboy, there was quick a bit to top up to get it within two inches from the top. I had to put in 2.5 bottles of cheap wine that I made with a costco kit to top it off. Would this be too much and affect the flavor of the Merlot? I'm currently looking for glass marbles now so I won't have to worry about this. Thanks for any help

 

[cmason1957]

Let's round up and call it 3 bottles so the math can be done in the head, maybe. 3 / 30 is the same as 1 / 10 or 10%. So pour out 90 ml of your best wine ever and add to that 10 ml of the worst red wine you have ever tasted. Can you tell the difference? Possibly, but probably not. That is my guess.

 

[dalton]

Let's round up and call it 3 bottles so the math can be done in the head, maybe. 3 / 30 is the same as 1 / 10 or 10%. So pour out 90 ml of your best wine ever and add to that 10 ml of the worst red wine you have ever tasted. Can you tell the difference? Possibly, but probably not. That is my guess.

Great! Thanks Cmason

 

[terrymck]

I don't know why you guys don't look into Steve's AIO Headspace Eliminator and stop adulterating your wine. It will work with just a hand vac pump like mityvac.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Thanks terrmck -

I really liked your comment - about the headspace eliminator -

stop adulterating your wine -

That could be a catchy phrase for the AIO headspace eliminator - HMMMM

 

[sour_grapes]

I had to put in 2.5 bottles of cheap wine that I made with a costco kit to top it off.

I don't know why you guys don't look into Steve's AIO Headspace Eliminator and stop adulterating your wine. It will work with just a hand vac pump like mityvac.

2.5 bottles (nearly 2 liters) is a LOT of pumping with a brake bleeder, don't you think?

Also, with that much volume, you would really need to get the vacuum down to a pretty low level to remove as much oxygen as you would simply by topping up. Maybe like 28 inHg to approximate the oxygen left in the usual amount of headspace recommended here.

 

[heatherd]

This is where a smaller carboy comes in handy. That said, you likely won't notice the difference in taste topping off with a commercial version of your same varietal.