Secondary headspace

[TUO]

I just racked an all juice cherry cyser from primary to secondary and it has about a 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of empty headspace. Should I top it up with to 5 gallons, if so should i use cherry juice, apple juice, or water? The mead did stop fermenting high at 1.040 from 1.120 if that makes a difference on what to top off with.

Thanks

[fong song]

Its not going to help you now, but I've started making a little more than I need and fermenting it in any old bottle to cover losses.

[Robusto]

Ever see a raven try to get a drink from a half full bottle? Think like them- take some sanitized item- like glass beads or marbles and drop them in- slowly. They will displace their own volume and reduce your head space at the same time.

[TUO]

Robusto.. that is a good plan, but i would probably need about 50-75 marbles lol. Besides making the mead thinner/weaker is there any other disadvantages of just topping off with water? or at this point should i just leave the headspace.

[Chevette Girl]

Topping it off with more juice isn't a bad idea. If I don't have whatever juice I used in my wine or melomel, I like using apple juice or apple cider because it's got a little sugar in it but in that amount, the juice won't affect the flavour much.