Poormanfarm
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2012
- Messages
- 111
- Reaction score
- 4
I would like to ask you experienced wine makers a question. I am wondering why it is necessary to top up the carboy at the first racking out of the fermenter? I know that the reason for topping up is to make sure oxygen does not get to the wine. However, when I come out of the fermenter into the carboy I normally still have some slow fermenting going on in the carboy for a few days or a week or so before it slows down. To me, It looks like as long as that fermentation is going on I should not have to worry about oxygen touching the wine. The reason that I am asking this question is that almost everytime I make a 5 gal batch I am coming up short some wine in having enough to completely fill the carboy and I wind up adding some water which I do not want to do. It would be a lot easier for me if I did not top up on the first racking and then top up with wine on the second racking a few weeks later? What do you think? Would I be sacrificing quality?
Last edited: