I have a question about a couple of things on the Jack Keller web site:

He is says (excerpts below) that the transfer from primary to secondary
fermentation should contain all the yeast and the secondary fermentation can
sit for up to three months before the first rack if it is stirred once a
week.?

Is this right? Is it typical to do it this way? Are there any adverse
consequences that people have found leaving all that yeast on the bottom of
the fermentation vessel for so long - even with weekly stirring?

The E.C. Kraus web site http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-steps.html says
transfer from primary to secondary should be done with a siphon without
stirring up the sediment, and that bottling is done 4-6 weeks later, as soon
as it clears and the hydrometer reading is between .990 and .998.

What is the right way?


The relevant excerpts from jackkeller.net a

This is from the page about the first transfer from primary to secondary
fermentation:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/secondary.asp
Transfer does not mean rack. While the solids are strained off and
discarded, the liquid and lees are poured through a funnel into the
secondary. The lees are important at this stage because many of the live
yeast cells will have settled into the lees. Without them, fermentation will
get very sluggish or stick (stop altogether). The best procedure is to stir
the wine to get the lees into suspension, then pour the liquid through a
large funnel into the secondary. If the funnel has a fine-mesh screen
insert, use it to filter out the gross lees (large bits of pulp). The fine
lees, containing the yeast, will pass through the mesh.

This is on the page about racking:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/racking.asp
"The rule is, as long as there are fresh deposits on the bottom after a
regular interval (30 to 60 days), even if they are just a light dusting, the
wine should be racked.
....
It is not necessary that the interval between rackings be 30 days, 45 days
or 60 days, but it should not be less than three weeks. It is perfectly okay
to leave the wine on the lees for three months. Beyond that and the wine
enters a danger zone caused by dead yeast cells breaking down -- rotting.
While this can cause off-flavors and odors if allowed to go on too long, the
bigger danger is the formation of hydrogen-sulfide gas, which smells like
rotten eggs and can be the death of the wine. But if the lees are stirred
every week or so, neither the off flavors, off odors nor hydrogen-sulfide
gas form. Indeed, the wine is actually improved by extended contact with the
lees as long as they are stirred frequently."



Thanks