[chardon-man]

I just transfer the wine from the primary to my carboy to find out it was 6 1/2 instead of 6 gal. I have about a 1/2 gal space is this going to be a issue with the racking stage or just top it off with water . Its a Riesling

[Waldo]

It will be fine as long as it is still fermenting

[grapeman]

You might want to buy another 6 gallon carboy. You will find you need it in the future. The 6 and a half gallon one is good for fermenting in(secondary) but will give too much headspace for finishing the wine up. Like Waldo says, as long as there is still some bubbles, it will be ok, but when you rack it the final time and let it sit a while, it should be full to within a couple inches of the bund to minimize air contact.


1/2 gallon of water will dilute your wine and make it thinner. You can buy a similar wine and top up with that.

[Wade E]

This carboy will be great especially if you do the MM kits as they want you to rack at a much earlier sg and that can be pretty volatile at that point so this carboy would be very highly recommended for this procedure.

[zehnmm]

As very recent newbies,my wife and Igot started by getting some advice from a friend and a place selling WE kits about 50 mi. from wherewe live. The advice was to buy 6.5 gal. carboys. That is what we did at first. Thenwe ran into the top-off issue and called WE and the lady that I talked with asked why in Sam Hill didwe get 6.5 gal. carboys vs. 6 gal.? I told her that one of her dealers recommended it. Her response was that is not what they recommend, in that they tailor their kits mostly for the 6 gal. carboys.
Well, rats! I was thinking thatwe had just wasted money on the two 6.5's that we paid some $100+ for.


As it turned out, I am very glad we got them. After the primary fermentation in the bucket, we rack into a 6.5 for secondary fermenation, where topping off is not required, sincesome fermentation is going on and we haveCO2 present. Moreover, when it comes time to stir, we have a bit more room so as to avoid the dreaded wine volcano.


We laterrack to 6 gal. carboys for other steps.


In short we are now using the 6.5s for secondary fermentation only and we are glad we have 'em!


Steve

[Wade E]

Yes, thats another good use for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chardon-man]

Thanks for the Help. I decided to buy a 6 gal carboy . Another way to add to my collection of stuff