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.

For my red wine production from grapes, I ferment
in primary until cap sink which is usually about
10 days to two weeks. It is essentially through
fermenting at this point. After I press and put
in carboy, I rack off the heavy lees in a couple
days. Most of the time, I will only do one more
racking before bottling.

For my white wines from juice of the grape, I will
typically put in a large enough carboy to allow
for a head of foam and attach an airlock right
away. After fermentation is through, I rack to a
smaller clean carboy.

I think most everyone has slightly different
procedures and some may choose to get into a holy
war debate over which is best.