How much air at the top of bottles?

[guitarsammy1]

I bottled my first brew, a John Bull IPA kit, last weekend. Still haven't opened a bottle, going to leave it at least another week. As per the instructions that came with the kit, I left about 5cm/2 inches air at the top of the bottles before capping.

Reading through some posts on here, it looks as though a lot of people leave less air than that. What do you lads recommend, and will the fact that I've left a fair old gap between cap and beer prevent my brew from carbonating?

[mrmojorisin]

2" is a bit much, 1" would be better, though if you use a bottling stick you are left with somewhere inbetween. Doubt it'll drastically affect carbonation.

[guitarsammy1]

Decided to throw caution to the wind and uncapped a bottle this evening - nice hiss as the cap came off! Just finished the bottle - tastes plenty carbonated to me and although it's still cloudy and definitely needs time to condition, it's already perfectly drinkable.

Happy!

[DeadFall]

I use a bottling stick and fill until the beer reaches the top of the bottle, I suppose there is about 1.2" of air.

[staplefordbill]

The reason for not having too much air at the top of bottles is to avoid the beer oxidising. Like DeadFall I fill to the top of the bottle with a bottling stick, then when you remove the bottle there's enough air at the top.

[poo hed]

one benefit of pet - you can squeeze all of the air out after "filling up", by the time my 1l ones are inflated, i am usually left with up to 2" of space though, i use a bottling stick.