Quick question, so I have been letting my wine sit in a carboy and I haven’t bottled it. It probably has been sitting about 4 weeks longer than the directions stated. The problem is there is a quite a bit of room from the liquid to the top. I am using a 6.5 gallon carboy versus a 6 gallon. What should I do with this? Should I degas it again then bottle it, or should I just bottle it?
From the sounds of it, you have done all the processing and would already have degassed the wine thoroughly?
In this case do not degass again. It would be a huge oxydation hazzard. If you are worried about gas at this point, I would recomend leaving it in a carboy for an extended period, but you seem to have already done this. So it should be fine to bottle.
If you notice any significant amount of sediment at the bottom, you could alwyas rack it again before bottling, but even this is not necessary if you are carefull enough.
If the wine is clear, still, and stable it is fine to be bottled without any other processing - though filtering is an option.
I am actually more concerned over the amount of space in-between the wine and the carboy. I think a 6.5 gallon leaves to much room. What do you think?
For the short term it should be fine. If you plan on any significant aging in the carboy it would be a problem. If the wine is ready to bottle, then bottle it. This is why kit companies design their wines specifically for bottle aging - less chance of oxydation. (this was kit wine right?)
On the other hand, if you would like to age your batch in bulk then either top it up with wine, or move it into a container with a smaller volume.
Unless you are talking about the absolute top of the line kits, I don’t see any net benefit from bulk aging. And even for the very best kits, it is debateable. Of course this does not include barrel aging.
