Top up or leave alone?

[MissouriRhine]

Did my first kit about 6 days ago, The KR California Grand Red. Today I racked to secondary at 1.010 on the hydrometer and came up about 1.75L short in the 6g Better Bottle. Come to find out, my original measurements were off and I marked my 10g primary about (coincidence) 1.75L too low.

There is definitely still fermentation going on and CO2 being released, but my 6g Better Bottle is low, because there's only about 5.6g instead of the 6g needed to fill adequately. My original plan was to leave this wine for 3 weeks in this same Better Bottle because I'm using the 5-20-40-90 schedule.

Wondering if I should just leave it as is, or if I should go ahead and top up with 1.75L of distilled water, considering it was probably made low in the first place.

Thank you in advance for any advice/suggestions!

 

[Kraffty]

I'd add enough water to get to the original 6 gal. the kit was designed to make. It's early enough that I doubt it'll hurt anything at all.
Mike

 

[robie]

You don't need to top-off during secondary as long as the wine is under air lock and pretty much left alone. However, I would go ahead and add some water to get the level near where it should have been in the first place.

Just remember that most carboys will hold more than 6 gallons, so don't add too much water. If you fill the carboy it likely will be about 6.5 gallons, which will result in your wine being watered down. I would add about 1 liter, then after you rack, top off with a like wine, not water.

 

[MissouriRhine]

Thanks!

I appreciate the advice.

 

[REDBOATNY]

I agree with above, but I would be tempted to add enough sugar to the water to achive 20 brix.