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.