Secondary Fermentation temperature

[mpt1123]

Hello:
I'm brewing my first batch of wine. I'm usingMosti Mondiale Petite Syrah and things are going okay - I guess. I used a brew belt to keep the must in the primary fermentation bucket at 76 degrees. That worked great - maybe too great. The SG dropped to 1.030 in only 3 days. Now I've racked to my secondary - a better boy carboy. Should I keep the brew belt on the secondary to keep it warm?

 

[ibglowin]

Depends on what the temp is where your fermenting. If its 65 you would benefit by keeping the belt on. It the room is 70, its probably OK to take it off and finish off at a lower temp.

 

[mpt1123]

Hmmm. I'm at around 68 degrees. I guess the question is - would adding the brew belt - and bring the temp to about 76 degrees hurt or improve the process?
Thanks.

 

[ibglowin]

68 is not bad. I would not leave the belt on 24x7. 76 is on the high side of things. I would turn the belt on at night and then off in the AM when you leave for work. That should be enough heat to keep it around 70-72.

 

[Dean]

it will be perfectly fine. The one thing to remember is that these are kits, and have been concentrated and formulated in such a way that lower temp fermentations do not "preserve the delicate esters" like you would get from fermenting fresh pressed white grape juice at low temperatures.

Red wines, even in wineries often hit 85F or higher in the cap, and the entire fermentation is considered "hot". All that a home kit winemaker does is stress the yeast with too low a temperature. Fast kit fermentations are good things, and not to be worried about. If the yeast are working well at 76F, keeping them at 76F will prevent premature death due to cold, etc.