You do not want to add oxygen to the wine at this stage.
#What to do when you lose your marbles free#
First, all the free oxygen as been removed. You will want to use distilled water for two reasons. This small amount is not enough to alter the flavor or character of the wine to any noticeable degree. Add Water: If the secondary fermenter is only short a cup or two, then adding water is perfectly okay.Here is a list of what you can do to eliminate headspace in a secondary fermenter, starting with eliminating a minor headspace and ending with eliminating a major headspace: Which method you choose depends on the severity of the situation. You are waiting for it to clear, and you plan on this taking a few weeks if not longer.įortunately, there are several things you can do when you have too much headspace in a secondary fermenter. Okay, so your fermentation has completed and you have it in a secondary fermenter, such as a carboy. The wine is not still for a long enough period to be affected by oxidation. If you are using a wine ingredient kit that can be bottled in 4 or 6 weeks from start to finish, then topping up is not something you need to be worried about. The last assumption I am going to make is that the wine is going to be in the secondary carboy for more than a week or two. In other words, the headspace is harmless in this situation – as long as you keep the airlock in place. While there is a fermentation occurring, the headspace is not filled with damaging air, but rather, CO2 gas from the fermentation. This is because during a fermentation having too much head-space is not an issue. I am also going to assume that the fermentation has completed. If the wine is in a carboy, topping up will eventually get you into the neck of the carboy where there is little surface contact with the air.
![what to do when you lose your marbles what to do when you lose your marbles](https://previews.123rf.com/images/jonaldm/jonaldm0705/jonaldm070500014/955147-losing-your-marbles.jpg)
Regardless of how much you top up a bucket fermenter, the surface contact area essentially remains the same. Topping up a wine that is in a bucket fermenter is not very practical since the ultimate goal is to reduce the surface contact area, not necessarily eliminate headspace. I am going to assume that the wine is in a carboy at this point. Either of these manifestations can be disastrous to a wine. Mold spores and bacteria thrive on oxygen. Not only does it promote the oxidation of the wine, it promotes spoilage of the wine. I’m sure there are others that have the same question about what to do when they have too much headspace in their secondary fermenter, so hopefully by sharing this we can help other home winemakers as well.įirst we have to ask, why is having headspace even an issue? The reason is because oxygen is one of wine’s biggest enemies. and get lets say 4 1/4 gal? What you would use?įirst of all, thanks for the great question. Use water? etc? And after racking secondary from 5 gal.
![what to do when you lose your marbles what to do when you lose your marbles](https://www.w3trending.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/lose-your-marbles-over-this-diy.jpg)
Can you please shed more light on this process and what’s the best way to deal with too much headspace in secondary fermenter. I am very new to wine making and have questions about the secondary fermenter and handling the headspace in the fermenter… I am sure it’s never good to let get oxygen in there with the wine but it never seems to work out for me.