Secondary fermentation?!?

[blackpage]

So I THOUGHT I understood the deal between primary and secondary fermentation but it seems the more I read on here the more confused I get.

I thought that primary was to last a few days to a week or so as the yeast ferments the sugar. Is THIS where everyone keeps talking about that "fermentation must finish before racking" and "wait until the SG reads the same for 3 days and then rack"? In some of the threads I've read it seems like these things are for secondary fermentation. Should I be checking the SG in my batches that are in secondary fermentation? I thought secondary was mainly for clearing and needed to be racked a time or two before bottling. I know that the fermentation continues to an extent in secondary but I didn't think to that point that I needed to be checking it regularly or anything.

Can anyone clear this up for me?

 

[Julie]

Hi Blackpage,

When you start a wine, you will be fermenting in a primary (bucket) most will let it ferment to 1.010 or there abouts and rack to a secondary (carboy). Once it is in the carboy, I usually don't check it for at least a month, sometimes 2 months. It the airlock is bubbling I leave it alone. If I am concerned that I have a stuck fermentation or to see if my wine is done fermentating I check the gravity for three days in a row. If you get the same reading for three days in a row, your wine is no longer fermentating. I will then rack. Most times I leave it sit for 2 months before racking again.

Does this help?

 

[blackpage]

yes that helps a lot. Glad to know that I haven't been doing things too wrong! how do you know then when secondary fermentation is done and when it just needs racked again? I guess how do you tell when to bottle?

 

[Wade E]

As you learn more youll see that each person has there different routine and it looks as if you are making your own path which sounds fine to me. I myself ferment almost all of my batches completely in the bucket while others rack between 1.010-1.020 to get a protective layer of C02 in there c arboy. I know myself that when I rack my wine from the bucket I do it very gently with a vacuum pump and which limits the wine to very little 02. At this point also the wine is loaded with C02 so oxygenting the wine at this point is almost impossible. When I am racking it to carboy I am racking it onto a S02 solution that I have added first into the carboy. You are building your own method and there is more then 1 way to skin a cat!

 

[Ernest T Bass]

Another thing I did wrong

I didn't know you were suspose to rack from the tub to the carboy. I just strained all the krud out and poured it into the carboy. It kept on fermitting after I "Poured" it into the carboy. I guess I picked up a lot of O2, is there anything I can do now, it hasn't bubbled in two days?

Semper Fi

Later Bud

 

[robie]

Bud,
To determine when fermentation is completed, you should be utilizing a hydrometer and checking the SG (specific gravity). When you strained the wine and poured it into the secondary fermentor (carboy), it was still fermenting. If still fermenting, it was still producing lots of CO2... this is normal.

There are (at least) two reasons to rack from primary fermentor to the secondary fermentor:
1) To get wine off the gross lees. This is not always necessary, but you need to be experienced and really know the variety of the wine to determine if it is OK to leave wine on gross lees.
2) To seal wine away from oxygen. Wine that has an SG higher than about 1.010 needs oxygen for the yeast to do their job properly. Wine at an SG of about 1.010 or lower should not be exposed to oxygen. Removing exposure to oxygen is typically done by placing wine in a sealed carboy and adding an air lock. The wine is left in this secondary until the SG has not changed for about 3 days in a row.

Some of us change up the procedure a little by leaving the wine in the primary fermentor for the entire fermentation. We start off with the fermentor bucket's lid setting loosely on top, so some oxygen can get in. If there is a grape pack, we stir the wine about twice a day to get the grape skins down into the wine and to let in more oxygen.

Using this modified procedure, once the SG reaches about 1.010, we seal the lid on the fermentor bucket, to prevent oxygen from entering, and we add an air lock, so some of the CO2 can escape. In this situation, without the air lock, the bucket lid might blow off! Obviously, in this case we left the wine on the gross lees.

With either method, once the SG has not changed for 3 days in a row, fermentation is considered completed.

If I were you, I would use a separate primary and secondary fermentation vessel, just like the instruction say. Once you get a handle on all this and if you decide there is even a good reason to use just one fermentation container, change your method. Lots and lots of winemakers always use two containers.

Oh! there is a third reason to use two fermentation containers - to free up the primary bucket so you can start another kit!

 

[gesnipes]

Oh! there is a third reason to use two fermentation containers - to free up the primary bucket so you can start another kit!

There is also a fourth reason - bulk aging. Glass carboys are great for bulk aging the wine. It's also good for clarifying the wine. It's easier to see the progress in clarifying in a glass carboy. Plus it's encouraging to see a lovely line of wines in glass carboys

 

[Eyeguy]

Truely dry in secondary?

I have read one of the ways to tell if your wine is TRUELY dry is to use CliniTest (blood glucose testers) to see if any residual sugar exsists since hydrometers even if stable can not tell the entire story. Does anyone actually do this?
Also if I am happy with the taste of my cabernet kit wine (when the time comes) and the directions call for sorbate anyway is there really a great need to worry about small amounts of residual sugar due to "stuck ferment" right near the end?