Brian,

If you don't want to change the balance of the wine kit as it was packaged,
then go buy those glass beads that people use for decoration and add those
to fill the extra space. Just make sure you clean them first. Many people
also
use these instead of topping up the carboy with water in a 6 gal. carboy. I
saw some
last weekend at a dollar store. good luck.

Scott


"Bruce_Nolte_N3LSY&" > wrote in message
...
> Brian wrote:
>
> > Have homebrewed beer for several years with good success. I won a wine
kit
> > at our club Christmas Party, a nice Shiraz. The kit calls for
secondary in
> > a 6-gallon carboy. All I have is a 6.5 gallon carboy (I thought this
was a
> > standard size). Anyway, the kit says to top up to within 2" of the
stopper,
> > and I'm wondering if adding that much water is a good thing, or do I
risk
> > ruining the wine by not doing so?! Thanks in advance for your help!
> >
> >
> If you need to get an additional half-gallon of liquid to top off your
> carboy with a kit, one way is to add the additional half-gallon of water
> mixed with about 1 pound of sugar. This will result in a slightly
> lighter wine, but maintain the wine's intended alcohol content, which
> will aid in helping the wine keep. You may want to use grape juice
> concentrate if you want to maintain closer to the intended taste of the
> kit, but adding a half gallon of sugar solution to a 6 gallon must will
> only weaken the flavor slightly.
>
> If you have a hydrometer from your beermaking exploits, you can use it
> to more accurately make up a sugar and/or juice concentrate solution.
> Shoot for a "topping off" solution with a specific gravity of about
> 1.095, which will yield about 12 percent alcohol when fully fermented.
> Add this topping off mixture after doing the first racking, while
> fermentation is still somewhat active, but after the frothing phase is
> complete.