On Apr 16, 11:01*am, AxisOfBeagles wrote:
IMHO, the terms 'primary and secondary fermentation' are somewhat
misleading. There is only one sugar fermentation and, if desired, a
separate malolactic fermentation. Everyhting else is protcol, and
subject to the practices of the winemaker.

For still red wine, I ferment on the skin until the most active sugar
fermentation clows way down and there remains only a few percent sugar.
Usually about 8 to 10 days. I then press, settle, and begin bulk aging.
Somewhere in there the sugar fermentation truly finishes. And somewhere
in there mlf begins - but usually doesn't complete for some time. I
have found it more accurate, in my winemaking logs, to record 'sugar
fermentation' and track it as Brix or SG (and later as residual sugar
as tested by Clinitest), and separately record and track malolactic
fermentation. I do not refer to primary and secondary, as those are not
hard and fast definitions, in my mind.

On 2008-04-16 05:34:47 -0700, Wayne Harris said:



I thought I understood this. *But, *in my infinte dumbness, *I have
discovered that i truly do not.

I am trying to gain a better understanding of the definition of
primary and secondary fermentation. *Specifically, what defines the
seperation between the two. I have read some, and in the last year, i
have made 5 5-gallon batches. *All of these were with different
recipes.
So, I understand the basics. *Primary fermentation is open to the air,
and yeast converts sugar to alcohol. *After some period of time, or
some measurement, the wine is racked off the lees into an airtight
container to continue for several weeks.
I am specifically leaving MLF out of this for right now.
I guess my question is this, what to most of you use as an indicator
for when to transfer wine wine from primary to secondary.

* *A fixed period of time?
* *A Specific gravity reading?
* *A leveling out of the SG at a certain level?

What are we looking for here?

Sorry for the newbie question, but this has been bugging me for a bit
now.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You said it better than i could. It has been the mapping of the terms
"Primary and Secondary fermentations" to "Alcoholic / Malolactic
fermenation" that has been bugging me.


Thanks.