WineXpert Not enough water added as mentioned in the kit instructions - Did I mess up?

[bcassidy003]

I recently started my first wine kit (Winexpert Chilean Carmenre) but began with only putting 5.5 gallons - juice (4.2 gal) and water (1.3 gal) into the primary fermenter. The instructions called for topping it off to 6 gallons but wasn't paying proper attention I guess.

After moving it from the primary fermenter into the glass carboy, there of course was a lot of additional room which got me nervous due to the oxygen even though I know that it was probably somewhat safe since it was/is still fermenting a bit.

I decided to put in about half a gallon to make up for the fact that I didn't include it in the beginning and also added a bit of cheap store bought Merlot. Once again, wasn't thinking that when I degas with the wand (drill attachment) that it is now probably filled to high. It is currently filled right below the bottle neck.

Did I mess it up significantly by adding the water that should have been there in the first place (based on the instructions)? Should I be trying to siphon a bit out before trying to degas it?

Lessons learned...just follow the instructions word-for-word next time...

Thanks for the help!

 

[sour_grapes]

You will be fine. Adding the water later rather than earlier shouldn't cause any real problem, as long as it fermented okay. (The biggest danger of this is that, with too high of an initial sugar concentration, the yeast may have a hard time getting going, and/or a hard time finishing. But probably not at the level you are talking about.)

You are correct, though: degassing will be a bit difficult in the carboy. You could remove some, as you suggest, or, better yet, you could remove ALL of it -- put it into your primary fermenter to degas.

 

[bcassidy003]

Thanks for the quick response!

I'll probably take your suggestion in siphoning it back into the primary fermenter and degassing it then putting it back into the carboy afterwards. I wanted to avoid moving it around to much to limit the contact with oxygen but it shouldn't do that much "damage" to it I guess.

 

[bkisel]

Thanks for the quick response!

I'll probably take your suggestion in siphoning it back into the primary fermenter and degassing it then putting it back into the carboy afterwards. I wanted to avoid moving it around to much to limit the contact with oxygen but it shouldn't do that much "damage" to it I guess.

You haven't degassed so your wine is loaded with CO2. Racking back into your bucket will do no harm. Also, if it were mine I'd sheet rack into the bucket without having any qualms or concerns about oxidation.