Is My DemiJohn half full or half empty

[Seanav]

Hi All

First time brewer - as I mentioned in my Introduction post, I essentially bought the kit to brew cider but while waiting for apples I decided the kit was just sitting there so I'd try a Beaverdale wine kit ...but being a tightwad ...and a newbie I decided to dip my toe in with a 6 bottle kit ....so far so sensible (and cheap!)
Except in my head 6 bottles would = 6 litres ...only it doesn't it = 4.5 litres , slightly less after taking samples for Gravity readings.

End result just over 4 litres in a 5 litre Demijohn for secondary ?
And Im wondering if this is too much headroom as most advice is to fill to the neck I'm hoping the CO2 coming off the wine after a brisk shake will stop the wine oxidising but i suspect not

Thanks in advance

Sean in Dublin

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Most kits advise to top up to the neck if this doesn't don't worry about head space if you intend to bottle soon after its cleared.

 

[Stevieboy]

6 bottles is not 6 litres....a bottle is 750ml......6 bottles equals 1 gallon.....1 gallon is eight pints.......or 4.5litres......not all demijohns are created equally. Pour 4.5litres into your demijohn and mark the level.

 

[Supersocks]

You'll be fine, I've tried a few kits this way in a demijohn and all were fine. As said, they vary a little in size but it's no accident the six bottle kit comes in that volume.
Beaverdale is nice, my favorite being a Sauvignon Blanc. On the House is very nice too and the instruction sheets with them are strikingly similar to the far more expensive Wineexpert range and to my mouth taste pretty good too.

 

[Wynott]

I only made a couple of kits when I started, but this is something I find I have to deal with from time to time.

I've generally found that an air space of down to the shoulder is ok. Sometimes I have quite a bit more than 4.5 litres to begin with, including a lot of sediment, so I use one of those small cider flagon bottles, with a trimmed down cork bung. You can get about 2.5 bottles worth into one of those.

Hope this is of some help.