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Awray83

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Hi everyone
Been part of this group for a fair while now, had a bit of a break from home brewing whilst I had a baby but now back in the swing of things.
I have a question which I worry may sound a bit silly/dumb but need it clarifying.
I have a batch of rose wine clearing in a 5l demiJohn, I siphoned it over to a new demiJohn to clear but have easily lost the equivalent in half a bottle due to the murkey dregs, I was thinking of topping it up with cool boiled or filtered bottled water to make the difference back up again without affecting the taste or strength too much (my batches tend to be a bit on the strong side)
Would love to hear what everyone's opinion is on this
TIA
 
Hey! I struggled with the same dilemma,I hate topping with water,it just seems wrong and try and keep it to a minimum. Over the years I have acquired a lot of demijohns and they vary from 4.7litre all the way up to 5.3 litre(to the neck).I have labelled them now and always start in a large jar and rack down to a smaller one to allow for the loss with sediment(it also means I often get an early sample :laugh8:). Failing that I top up with a similar wine from the stock,or as a last resort open a bottle of commercial wine and top with that.That last option is a rarity though and only worth it on something special.
 
Hey! I struggled with the same dilemma,I hate topping with water,it just seems wrong and try and keep it to a minimum. Over the years I have acquired a lot of demijohns and they vary from 4.7litre all the way up to 5.3 litre(to the neck).I have labelled them now and always start in a large jar and rack down to a smaller one to allow for the loss with sediment(it also means I often get an early sample :laugh8:). Failing that I top up with a similar wine from the stock,or as a last resort open a bottle of commercial wine and top with that.That last option is a rarity though and only worth it on something special.

What a brilliant idea, I will do this going forward, thank you
 
Everyone,everybook says top up with water.But i just dont like it.

Far better to top up with wine or even brandy in my opinion.

What for the last ten years or so i do now is ferment in plastic containers then rack into demijohns and old spirit bottles
so i can fill the airspace in the demijohn with wine from the bottles.

Only drawback is visitors see the spirit bottles and think i have just drunk themashock1
 
I always start with a gallon and a half. It gets racked into another gallon and a separate quart or so. May be a liter, a wine bottle, a beer bottle whatever I can fill into the neck. Next, those two get racked and becomes a gallon with possibly an early sample.

All the Best,
D. White
 
I have been juggling with the 'topping up' question for some time now, attempting on various occasions to get as near to a gallon/6 bottles from a demijohn. I soon realised that there is a great variance between a flower wine, and the more substantial vegetable/fruit musts. Added to which, working out the SG can get pretty complicated.

Whatever the recipe for country wines, I'm thinking of using a gallon water from the start, using some to add 1kg syrup and adding more syrup as the fermentation settles down. I guess this would mean re-mixing the contents of the DJ with the 'top-up' must in the bottle to keep the SG in both stable. Mind you, this also probably depends on the amount of fibre in the must...I'd better get a selection of plastic bottles!
 
Re Wynott>.I should not worry to much about matching the abv of the top up with the demijohn it wont make a lot of difference.In fact very little.
Assuming of course your top up is in the region of 0.5-0.7 litres or less.
 
Well, good old CJJ Berry says to top up with sugar water with the same amount of sugar as the original liquid.

Personally I like apple juice for topping up. Only costs about 80p for a carton and it's extremely low effort lol.

Or I make 2 gallons of whatever, then when I rack into new demijohns, I don't bother topping up.
Then I bottle them when the finings have done their job.
 
I think apple juice is better than sugar water for topping up.Its not so much about the alcohol,But watery wines taste "yuk" to me.
There is a bit of a debate going on here about Berry,I think its safe to say he must of had a bit of a sweet tooth.!!!
 

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