What is the purpose of starting in a primary fermenter versus a carboy? I thought it was to let some oxygen in during the primary phase but this "vino Del vida" kit said that if you have a lid and an airlock to use it during primary, or just cover it...
Seems to me there is a big difference in the amount of oxygen involved between airlock and a cover.
That link to winemaker mag, says let the hydrometer be my guide. No problem, I can do that, but whats the point in racking after 6-10 days to a different vessle if there there will be no difference? is it just to get it off the lees after a week?
So should I take the air lock off and let it breath to start?
I believe the reason it says place an airlock in the lid is to basically fill the hole in the lid of the primary so contaminants can not get in. You could throw a towel over the lid with the same results. You want the oxygen that is inside the container but you want to keep other stuff out like fruit flies.
There are a couple different reasons to rack out of the primary after 5-7 days or so, particularly when the SG reaches 1.010. First reason is the fermentation is not producing as much CO2 which blankets the must in the bucket and protects from oxygen. There is still CO2 present but not as high levels as the yeast are dying off. There is a chance oxygen can get to the wine. When you rack to the carboy, you still do not top up yet. There is still enough CO2 to blanket the wine as the surface area has been greatly reduced.
Second reason is if there is oak added to the kit you get the wine off of the oak. They normally use either chips or powder for oaking which extracts its flavor much faster than cubes. If you leave the wine in the primary for extended periods of time on oak, you could over oak the wine.
I follow the first few steps of the kit instructions very closely until I get the wine off of the gross lees. After that, I basically bulk age until I find time to bottle.
Smurfe
