Stirring during Primary?

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jdaniels9

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I have heard/read different views on stirring daily while in the primary. The instructions never say to in my kits so I have only stirred once or twice a week (compromise).

What is the benefit/consequence of stirring while in the primary?

Paul
 
You stir, not whip to help move the yeast around to the rest of the sugar in the must. I will stir once or twice daily the must with a plastic spoon that is sanitized so as not to introduce bad bacteria into your brew.

As the sugar is being eaten by the yeast and the yeasts are excreting alcohol and CO2, the CO2 will bubble out of the must. Your specific gravity will decrease until fermentation stops prematurely or when all the sugar is eaten up.

Basically you are assisting the process by stirring.
 
Stirring introduces oxygen. Something yeasties need to get a good fermentation going. Most recipes from scratch ( ie fruit and pulp included) mention stirring once or more daily in the primary until the wine is shifted to a secondary. This introduces oxygen and prevents a hardened cap of pulp forming on the top of your wine which can go moldy rather rapidly.

Kits are treated differently, however you will see us suggest stirring a kit vigorously, if it slows to a standstill unnecessarily and is still at a higher gravity .. above 1.000 ( stuck fermentation)..

Allie
 
I never stir my kits well I shouldn't say never I did once because after about 36 hrs it didn't seem to be doing much so i gave it a gentle stir other then that I don't think they need it unless it's not strting up good on it's own . I know some people do but the way I look at it is if you don't need to why bother .Now wines made from scratch with fruit pieces probably would benfit from stir to make sure all the fruit is being fermented properly but since I have never made any of those wines yet I'll yield to the pros here lol . I figure if it aint broke don't fix it .But I also think it's one of the things thats up to the person if they want to do it .
 

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