Tater wrote:
> On Mar 26, 6:35 pm, "Casey Wilson" > wrote:
>> "Tater" > wrote in message
>>
>> oups.com...
>>
>>> And boy, does that yeast make a racket!
>>> anyway a wineshop owner I was talking to last friday said I should
>>> completly skip step 2 in the instructions. anyone do this before? I'd
>>> like to hear some comments
>> Let me guess (since you didn't say) step two is something like rack the wine
>> down into a smaller container. Regardless of how insignificant that step may
>> seem the question is how much of a chance do you want to take on the money
>> you spent for the kit? Some additional questions come to mind, like, is the
>> winshop owner willing to cover the loss if the wine goes bad? Did the kit
>> manufacturer put in step two just to give you something to do? Is there any
>> reason to NOT do step two? Why take chances on your first venture into
>> making wine?
>
> yeah, step two is to rack the wine into the carboy with a big
> airspace, which is was their concern. the instructions make it sound
> like i need a 2nd carboy, which they did have, but suggested that i
> would not need as they said i should skip step two. If i was them I
> woulda sold me 1 of everything inthe store(they kept telling me "No,
> you really dont need one of those")
>
> oh, I for got to say(thought i did) Wineexpert Isalnd mist peach
> apricot chardonay.
>
> after re-reading(and re--reading) the instructions, I think i'll stick
> to the instructions rather than their recommendations.
>
When you do this first racking, you want to carry over a large fraction
of the yeast, but not heavy gunk. If you don't take enough of the yeast
(and dead yeast hulls), you risk getting a stuck fermentation in step 2
(secondary fermentation in the carboy).

Without some dead yeast hulls (or other light solids) in step 2, the
active yeast tend to settle to the bottom. That's not what you want;
you want the active yeast to have some solids to attach to so they'll
stay suspended throughout the fermenting must.

I've never done a Winexpert kit. Do they suggest doing step one in an
open top container? Or do they suggest doing step one in a carboy?

If you did step one in an open top fermenter, I highly recommend using
the carboy with an airlock for step 2. This will help protect the wine
from oxidizing (due to the intrusion of oxygen from the outside air) as
the fermentation slows down.

If you did step one in a carboy, then just putting an airlock onto the
carboy as the fermentation slows down might would be enough to protect
the wine from oxidation. If I'm guessing correctly, this might be what
the wineshop owner was talking about.

Gene