Fermentation by the moon?

[Fabiola]

Does anyone in this forum practice fermentation or winemaking done by the moon phases? I know people do it for beer fermentation. I use the moon phases for gardening and hatching chickens, and this technique has been in use since old times with a large success rate, not only by farmers by also city folks who use to the old farmers almanac or get online updates of the moon positions in their smart phones. I have read that the moon phases have some influence in starting the yeast, so I thought it would be interesting to know if people in this forum practice this technique...

 

[robie]

My parents used to practice planting by the moon's phases. For wine making, I just start it when I get it.
Seems it would be hard to do much in the commercial winery by the moon. Sometimes, to get the grapes in at the very best time, they will pick the grapes at night or around the clock. It would be pretty hard in that case to wait on the moon before starting fermentation.

One could still plant the vines by the phases of the moon. Just have never thought about it.

 

[JohnT]

I have heard of this before. A number of old worlders believe that you should never rack wine during a full moon, or never press during a full moon.

There is no real scientific justification for any of this. The moon's phases are simply caused by the amount of sunlight that strikes the moon. The Moon's phases has nothing to do with the moon's gravitational influence on the earth. Remember that there are high and low tides each and every day.

This is more of a superstition, although there might be others that disagree. If tradition is important to you, just keep in mind that there is no harm in using a "moon phase" approach to you winemaking. Go for it.