Topping up fermenting barrel

[andrews40]

Hi
I am useing wine kits a the moment and with it is a fermenting barrel with the firt batch 15 bottels ther was quite a lot of space between the must and the airlock i have been advised by (Bob on this forum) to use ballast so on my 2nd go i am useing small sterelized stones but is takeing quite a lot.
So i think i will use also some grape juice
(this is free from preservatives and supposedly not from concentrate)
What i really need to know is should i use extra yeast and nutrients other than that supplied with the kit and if so how much.
I will be adding 4,5 liters of extra grape juice (1 gallon) the juice is white grape i dont think i will need extea sugar as the juice should have the right ammount of it.
But if i do need more sugar please let me know.
Thanks
Brett

[lockwood1956]

Your hydrometer will let you know how much sugar you may or may not need.

4.5 litres is a lot to add.....

what capacity is the fermenter you are using and what volume is the kit?

(the grape juice will likely be around the SG 1.060 mark)

[andrews40]

Hi again Bob
The fermenter is 30 liters (6.6 gal ) the wine kit is 22.5 liters (5 gals ) then 4.5 liters juice = 27 liters.
I will make up the rest of the space useing marbels as you suggested.
Brett......

[SiSandrine]

Thats a lot of marbles (3 litres worth). 30 litres sounds like a primary type fermenter. Is it a youngs barrel type? If so then it is probably cheaper to buy a better bottle secondary fermentation container like the ones Karl sells here.

http://www.hobbywinesupplies.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=106&osCsid=4a82vr3p34hgocva1038mfva23

[lockwood1956]

We may be at cross purposes here ....so can I ask.....Is this a bucket you are using with a lid and airlock?

if so that is a primary fermenting vessel and the wine will need to be racked to a secondary fermenting vessel which is either glass or plastic, but is 23 klitres in size

regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

I moved this thread to here so the new winemakers section doesnt become cluttered

this is the right plkace for questions

regards
Bob