Top off with my extra wine juice?

[AbruzziRed]

Can I top off the secondary and each racking of wine with the juice I pulled out of the primary to make room for fermenting? The juice has been sitting in the fridge in 1 gallon glass jugs?
I buy 6 gallon pails of juice, pull one gallon out and go from there.
I heard you add the juice but others say it will starting fermenting again or make the wine sweet. I have a Zinfandel, Merlot and Pinot Noir.

 

[Rice_Guy]

At first racking I assume that the yeast is active and will top off with a sugar. I would consider it risky after that since it will keep the yeast active.

 

[Scooter68]

When you have too much wine to fit in your planned fermentor - 1) Freeze the extra and save for another batch or 2) Ferment it in a separate smaller bucket. Adding un-fermented juice to a fermented batch is NOT a good idea.

 

[hounddawg]

i ferment my extra out, to top off with, pails, gallon jugs, half gallon, quart, pint, just air lock after ferment and use extra must for topping off with
Dawg

 

[Scooter68]

Agree Dawg, I ferment 3 gallon batches in a 5 gallon bucket and even when I raise the starting volume to 4 or 4.25 gallons there is plenty of space. IF i ran out of space I would probably use one of my 2 gallon fermentation bucket and put enough in there so that I had at least 1 gallon in the small bucket and 3 gallons or more in the 5 gallon bucket. Once I start a batch - i don't want to hold out any to ferment later, but one could do that.

(By the way I have to figure out how I'm going to use my HW "Black Raspberry Juice. Guess I'll run two 4 gallon batches and see how much I lose to sediment at then end of those. Got enough 4 liter and 3 gallon carboys to take care of any 'excess' wine.)

 

[hounddawg]

Agree Dawg, I ferment 3 gallon batches in a 5 gallon bucket and even when I raise the starting volume to 4 or 4.25 gallons there is plenty of space. IF i ran out of space I would probably use one of my 2 gallon fermentation bucket and put enough in there so that I had at least 1 gallon in the small bucket and 3 gallons or i knew you knew better,,lol
Dagwmore in the 5 gallon bucket. Once I start a batch - i don't want to hold out any to ferment later, but one could do that.

(By the way I have to figure out how I'm going to use my HW "Black Raspberry Juice. Guess I'll run two 4 gallon batches and see how much I lose to sediment at then end of those. Got enough 4 liter and 3 gallon carboys to take care of any 'excess' wine.)

yeah me neither, but that dude said he pulled a gallon out, in that circumstance i'd ferment the extra at the same time, different jug, naw i'm like you i ferment with larger fermenters, from 14 gal to 40 gal ferment barrels,
Dawg
Dawg

 

[winemaker81]

I buy 6 gallon pails of juice, pull one gallon out and go from there.

Another choice is to get a larger primary. 8 gallon primaries made for beer & wine making are common, or you can go with a Brute food grade plastic garbage can (buy it new!). A lot of guys use them, and I purchased a couple of 32 gallon cans with lids last year. If doing small batches, smaller sizes are available.

I didn't need 32 gallons .... but they'll handle anything I might put in them. I recommend buying a size larger than you think you need.

EDIT: I find that my 7/8 gallon primaries, designed for wine making, are a bit small when I have a vigorous fermentation. I'm thinking of purchasing a couple of 10 gallon Brutes to use as primaries for small batches, and keep the 7/8 around for intermediate racking containers.