Uh Oh !!!!!!

[burch]

I racked off my Apfeilwine today to my secondary. I wanted to try out a cinnamon stick so I racked off part of it to a 1-gal. jug. I started my primary in a 6-gal. carboy. After racking to my 5-gal. carboy i`m now about 2-gal. shy of the top. Sould I be concerned with topping it off or will everything be o.k. The fermintation seems to be at a hault after 4 weeks but I added Potassium Sorbate to be sure. I also did a taste sample to check and see if it needed sweetened and although it is dry it`s not too bad at all. I had planned to sweeten with the same apple juice I started with but i`m not sure if adding 2-gal. will be too much or not. So any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Burch

 

[arcticsid]

Yeah, thats way to much Burch. To "top it off" will dilute it terribly.

Do you have 3, 1 gallon jugs?

Headspace is critical at this point, that is way to much. Oxidation will kill all the hard work you have into this.

Troy

 

[burch]

No I don`t have anymore jugs. What if I racked the 1- gal. back into the secondary and topped it off then ? Now we`re talking about 1 gal. of juice added.

 

[arcticsid]

You certainly could, and you should. What in the world happened to that much wine?

Did you start with 6 gallons?

There is lots of discussions on topping off in here. Go to the search in here and type in topping off. There is going to be tons of threads about this, but even a gallon missing is too much.

Troy

 

[skiboarder72]

go get a 3gal carboy!

 

[burch]

You certainly could, and you should. What in the world happened to that much wine?

Did you start with 6 gallons?

There is lots of discussions on topping off in here. Go to the search in here and type in topping off. There is going to be tons of threads about this, but even a gallon missing is too much.

Troy

I started 5- gals. in a 6-gal. carboy. I just went back to the recipe and it does call for a 5-gal. carboy, My mistake The recipe doesn`t call for a second racking but I wanted to clear out the dead yeast. I racked it back and now I have about 1- gal. of space at the top. I`ll check on the other threads.

 

[burch]

O.K. after checking a few threads it looks like i`ll be o.k. adding juice to top off. I`ve got some bubbles on top of my wine after adding back the gal. Is this going to alright ?

 

[Malkore]

For apfelwein, you don't need a racking to clear. 4 weeks in primary, it should be as clear as it'll ever be. I know mine always are but we variations in the recipe and with juice sources I can see this taking from 3-5 weeks to clear.

 

[burch]

For apfelwein, you don't need a racking to clear. 4 weeks in primary, it should be as clear as it'll ever be. I know mine always are but we variations in the recipe and with juice sources I can see this taking from 3-5 weeks to clear.

I just wanted to rack off the sediment and let it age in another carboy. I added Potassium Sorbate, about a quart of the same juice I used and in a couple weeks i`m going to do another taste test and might add a couple cinnamon sticks. We`ll see and thanks for the info.