Racking to Secondary

[Drez]

Just curious on reasons and whats happening when racking to secondary so I can better apply this to my wine making. Most kits I've done appear to skip this step OR do it rather late. As I understand it we rack from primary fermentation bucket to secondary (carboy) around SG 1.010 because it rejuvenates the yeast with a good stir and because by this point in fermentation we dont need much oxygen anymore and its better to prevent too much oxygen exposure.

Is my understand correct thus far?

Additionally, do we need to rack down again after SG is <1.0 or is it fine to simply stabilize and clear the wine in the secondary from this point? This is what I have been doing thus far.

Last question, is it always advantageous to do it this way or is there benefit to not rack down to a secondary at times? I ask as I'm doing an Apflewine and it calls for fermentation in the primary right to bottling ~3+ months later and I'm not sure if this is just the easiest way to do it or if racking it down my help with clearing or prevent over oxidization etc. Should I just leave it as it, leave it as it is but top up to the neck of the carboy or rack down?

As always thanks for your help!

 

[cpfan]

IMO, 1.010 is a tad early. I have had problems with fermentation picking up vigor when moved to carboy (as you suggested) and then bubbling out the air lock. I prefer to move closer to 1.000.

The instructions for most kits recommend moving to carboy below 1.010. So no different from what you said. The main exception is that some RJ Spagnols kits recommend finishing fermentation in the primary. Some people follow this approach for all of their wines.

I have been told that the wine receives very little oxygen just sitting in the primary, and that vigourous stirring prior to pitching the yeast should add sufficient oxygen.

Steve

 

[Tom]

Yea I agree if doing a kit wine. Always best to follow each mfg's directions.
Now if doing wine from Grapes, Fruit or juices that may another thread..

 

[abefroman]

Yea I agree if doing a kit wine. Always best to follow each mfg's directions.
Now if doing wine from Grapes, Fruit or juices that may another thread..

At least for the first time, the mfg is not always right.

 

[Drez]

I try to follow the kit instructions for those very reasons but now I'm just curious about the principles so that I can apply those skills to other recipes that aren't in kits, for the example the Apflewine I linked. Since its different from what I've done in that it doesn't call for racking down I now fear I might not be doing the best for it (or possibly even doing it harm). Is there any reason I would not want to rack down a non-kit recipe when its done fermenting and only bulk aging. It would only do it good to get rid of any sediment and to top it up while it waits...

 

[abefroman]

I try to follow the kit instructions for those very reasons but now I'm just curious about the principles so that I can apply those skills to other recipes that aren't in kits, for the example the Apflewine I linked. Since its different from what I've done in that it doesn't call for racking down I now fear I might not be doing the best for it (or possibly even doing it harm). Is there any reason I would not want to rack down a non-kit recipe when its done fermenting and only bulk aging. It would only do it good to get rid of any sediment and to top it up while it waits...

Depends on what kind of wine you are going for. If you want a more tannin rich wine, you probably wouldn't want to rack the sediment off right after 2nd ferm.