Wayne,

Things are said here before my message that are right on the nose.
Normally however primary fermentation is meant to be alcoholic
fermentation. The secondary fermentation is the malo-lactic fermentation.

However it is normal winemaking language to speak of an open fermentation
vessel as the primary. And the closed (carboy) vessel as the secondary. So
this might be confusing.

So moving to the secondary means transferring from the open fermentor to the
carboy.

Now when to do this is a totally different kind of discussion.
Indeed like some pointed out grapes can be in the primary (vessel)
for a few days to several weeks.
This depends on all kinds of issues.
The longer the must is fermented on the lees the more colour will
get into the wine. For reds this might be a good thing. But the more the
grapes are in the must while fermenting, the more alcohol will start to
form and this will dissolve tannins.
And the more tannins in the wine the longer it has to age.
So it really depends on the winemaker on how long the wine will be
in the primary and then pressed.

If you are making fruit wines and I take elderberries as an example,
the elderberries will have lots of tannins, so no longer as 4 days in the
primary and then pressing and over to the secondary vessel.
Most fruit wines will not be longer as a few days to a week in the primary.
After that they will be pressed and transferred to the secondary (carboy).

Luc

Wayne Harris wrote:

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.

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http://www.wijnmaker.blogspot.com/