Topping up Wine

[MCARCIERO]

I crushed my grapes at an SG 1.025 and transferred to secondary 2 weeks ago. The demi John has not been topped up since.

Im waiting for Optimalo to arrive in the mail so I can add with Malolactic culture.

Am I damaging the wining by keeping it untopped all this time?

FYI - I have not checked if fermentation has completed because I didnt want to open the demi john since i didnt have optimalo yet.

 

[bkisel]

My RJS WS kit instructions have me in "secondary" for "approx." 20 days give or take a day or two. This is without topping off which happens in the next phase of "Stabilizing & Clearing". I'm pretty certain that even though my head space in the secondary carboy comes down to the shoulder the CO2 under the airlock will protect the wine. Hope this info helps.

 

[MCARCIERO]

My RJS WS kit instructions have me in "secondary" for "approx." 20 days give or take a day or two. This is without topping off which happens in the next phase of "Stabilizing & Clearing". I'm pretty certain that even though my head space in the secondary carboy comes down to the shoulder the CO2 under the airlock will protect the wine. Hope this info helps.

ok thanks. Im just worried that fermentation is complete and its not protected by co2

 

[bkisel]

ok thanks. Im just worried that fermentation is complete and its not protected by co2

Please wait for the pros to answer as I'm new to this stuff and just going off limited experience.

 

[CBell]

1. You don't need to top up during secondary.
2. When your wine is dry, you should rack it, at which point it should be topped up.
3. Your wine is probably dry by now after 2 weeks in secondary, but you won't know until you test it. So I'd recommend taking a reading. Opening your airlock for 5 minutes is not going to magically oxidize your wine.

 

[MCARCIERO]

the peice in the airlock is still floating. does this mean co2 is still in there? Thus, fermentation has not finished and the wine is still protected?

 

[JohnT]

How much topping off do you require?

Do you feel that you have about a cup of headspace in there?
Perhaps a gallon?

For the short term, having some headspace is ok, but it really depends on the AMOUNT of head space. I would not recommend that you have a half empty demijohn for all this time, but a cup of headspace is really nothing to worry about.

 

[MCARCIERO]

How much topping off do you require?

Do you feel that you have about a cup of headspace in there?
Perhaps a gallon?

For the short term, having some headspace is ok, but it really depends on the AMOUNT of head space. I would not recommend that you have a half empty demijohn for all this time, but a cup of headspace is really nothing to worry about.

i would say half a gallon of space