schedules

[knockabout]

Hi, I f I missed a sticky or great thread on this, thank you for redirecting me...I keep seeing people posting they are following the 5-xx-xxx-xx-xx- schedule or the xx-xx-xx-xx- schedule. What does this mean and is one certain schedule better to follow than another and is it better to follow a schedule up front than your specific gravity? I have my first kit in a carboy and 2nd in the fermenter and I am a little confused about timing, but totally lovin' it! Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Arne]

I have seen people talking about those schedules on here. Don't know for sure where they came from but have a sneakin suspicion they mite come with instructions for some kits. Your best bet is to use the specific gravity. Next best bet or maybe even the first one is patience, patience, patience. Wine will come along in its own good time. MOst things in winemaking don't have to have much of a set schedule. If you miss doing something by a day or two or a week usually no big deal. Good luck with your adventure. Arne.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Those digits represent days at each step.

5 days primary
10 days secondary
90 days after stabilization
180 days until bottling

If you are starting out, follow the directions exactly and then you will know that you are doing things right. If you want to change things up, do it after a few kits have been made successfully.

 

[Jeff180]

I've seen it where the days are cumulative. So a 5-20-40-90 schedule has you bottling on day 90:

Rack at day 5, finings at day 20, rack at day 40, bottle at day 90.

The schedule comes from this article:
http://www.winemakermag.com/stories/article/indices/25-kit-winemaking/459-make-your-kit-wine-shine

And the follow up:
http://www.winemakermag.com/component/content/article/26/850

 

[GreginND]

Just saying - I have never bottled a wine after only 90 days. I think 6 months may have been the earliest I have ever bottled.

However, I do know one winery that had a rhubarb wine in the bottle two weeks after harvest.

The only schedule I go by is the schedule the wine tells me it wants.

 

[jswordy]

I'm with Arne, and the main reason is that I don't need an instruction sheet that way is cuz my eyesight ain't what it used to be and I am too drunk to find my danged glasses!



Seriously, use the instructions as a guidelines to how things would go if it all goes perfectly, but trust your hydrometer, your eyes and your tongue. I routinely bottle at 60-90 days. Somewhere in there it will get clear enough for me to package it.

 

[tonyt]

Knockabout, I believe Jeff180 properly answered your specific question , follow the links and read the articles. Gregin is right 90 days is quick to bottle for many of us. We all tend to settle in to some schedule or general pattern. I have a schedule similar to TimV's as stated in the link above but I almost NEVER stick to it. Arne and Jim make good points and like drcad says follow instructions first time out.

 

[Rocky]

"The only schedule I go by is the schedule the wine tells me it wants."

My thoughts, precisely. I don't use a clock or a calendar to make wine; I use an hydrometer. If I am driving from Powell to Pittsburgh along a specified route, I know it will take about 3.5 hours but don't use a clock to tell me when I am there, I use my odometer. I am not in Pittsburgh until I have covered 201 miles along that specified route. If I encounter a lot of traffic along the way, I could be in Wheeling, WV at the 3.5 hour mark and I would know where I was because my odometer would have registered only 144 miles and I would know that I have 57 more miles to go.

 

[Luc]

Schedules are nonsense, something that is only MAYBE valid with winekits.

When working with real fruit the wine indicates itself when it is time to take the next step.
For example read my stories on pulp fermenting. You can see in the graphs that each fruit has its own time-span:

http://www.wijnmaker.blogspot.nl/2011/04/pulpgisten-deel-7-pulpfermenting-part-7.html

Same goes for racking. Some wines throw more dust as others. Follow the wine and your instincts not some paper that is generally set up and not specific for your fruit.

And again same goes for bottling. Some wines clear earlier as others so just have patience.

Luc