Moving to Secondary by SG or Time?

[WineDown]

Newbie with questions. I have 4 six gallon buckets of Amarone red I am making from the juice. It is been in the buckets it came in for 8 1/2 days. Added yeast on second day. I checked the SG level on the 2nd day it was 1.080. Today after 8 days its only at 1.030. Been stirring it two to three times a day. Temp is around 67-68 in my basement. I talked to the place I bought the juice from and when I talked to him the SG was at 1.045 he said its fine to transfer to carboys now. I thought that was too early based on my hours of searches. So, should I wait it out longer or leave it? What is the longest you should leave it in the buckets? It is still fizzing. Thanks

 

[St Allie]

hello and welcome to the forum,

you can transfer it now, it'll be fine.. and don't worry if you transfer a bit of the sediment as well, it'll all drop out after it's done fermenting.

I've fermented the whole process in the primary before and never had any issues either.

Allie

 

[abefroman]

If you move it now, it will take longer to ferment, but will oxidise less, so it would be good to get it in a carboy. You will probably want to age it for longer than fermentation takes, so that really won't make a difference.

 

[Tom]

Newbie with questions. I have 4 six gallon buckets of Amarone red I am making from the juice. It is been in the buckets it came in for 8 1/2 days. Added yeast on second day. I checked the SG level on the 2nd day it was 1.080. Today after 8 days its only at 1.030. Been stirring it two to three times a day. Temp is around 67-68 in my basement. I talked to the place I bought the juice from and when I talked to him the SG was at 1.045 he said its fine to transfer to carboys now. I thought that was too early based on my hours of searches. So, should I wait it out longer or leave it? What is the longest you should leave it in the buckets? It is still fizzing. Thanks

Personally I would wait never go by time always go by gravity.
I make Amarone every year from juice for the last 6 years. In the primary I would not rack till 1.010. Then rack, let it go dry and add MLF and oak. Let it sit there at least 2-3 months then rack and age. This should bulk age at least ONE year. Bottle then let it sit another 3-4 years before opening it.
Did you add raisins? If not add 2# to each 6 gal if the gravity is still up and you not racked from primary.

 

[Tom]

BTW
Where in NJ are you?
I'm guessing you got the juice from Gino's

 

[abefroman]

What does the Amarone taste like? They have the juice at my local wine making store, can't say I've ever had it before though.

 

[WineDown]

Yes I did get it from Ginos. I was following their instruction sheet to do everything. Okay, what is MLF? Do I need to add Oak? Raisins? Never heard of that. So I should still wait even though tomorrow will be 9 days?

 

[Tom]

whats the gravity?
It may be done by now.
Mlf will make the wine much smoother. You need to get MLF culture for that to happen. Raisins will add flavor and body.
Where U located? I'm below the Burlington Bristol bridge along the river.

 

[Tom]

What does the Amarone taste like? They have the juice at my local wine making store, can't say I've ever had it before though.

Lets put it this way.. the cheapest you will find is $50 and that was bottled 4-5 years ago.

 

[Tom]

There is a "STICKY" on Wine Profiles that I uploaded. Do a search for it.

 

[WineDown]

whats the gravity?
It may be done by now.
Mlf will make the wine much smoother. You need to get MLF culture for that to happen. Raisins will add flavor and body.
Where U located? I'm below the Burlington Bristol bridge along the river.

The SG reading today was 1.030. Do you really need to wait 3 years to drink the Amarone? They told me in a year at most. I guess I would need to get that MLF from Ginos also? When would that get added? Is it a neccesity?