I don't have my notes here, but last month we were given a seminar by
Clayton Cone, the yeast guru at Lalvin, and from what I remember he
recommended 2 days or so of open air contact for best fermentation
results. This doesn't mean closed ferment wouldn't work, just that free
air contact is safer, especially for tricky musts.

Pp

Ray Calvert wrote:
> You come to the expert armatures and you get no consensus. For my
part, I
> vote with Jack. The first few days of fermentation are probably
going to be
> very vigorous and you need a lot of head space so the method I was
taught is
> to keep it in a food safe bucket about twice the volume of the must.
This
> allows air to get to the must AND it prevents a major mess. Then
when
> fermentation slows down and it is important to keep air away from the
must I
> rack to a secondary with a small head space and use an airlock.
>
> I recommend that you find an easy to follow, easy to read, and well
accepted
> book that outlines the basics of winemaking. It will probably have
the
> basics on a few pages. Follow these procedures at least for your
first few
> batches. Another good way to start is to make a few kit batches.
They give
> very specific instructions and will get you following some good basic
rules.
> Incidentally, all kits I have seen follow the open air method.
>
> Ray
>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> > Im new to winemaking and making my very first batch. I used two
49oz
> > cans of oregon blueberry puree, 10lbs of sugar, warm water, pectic
> > enzyme, acid blend, grape tannin, super yeast, and wine yeast. I
> > stirred well.
> >
> > Now, the place I bought the stuff said to put the airlock on the
> > primary fermenter as soon as I am done mixing it up. Jack
Keller.net
> > says to let it sit for 48-72 hours to assist the yeast in rapid
> > reproduction. Which is correct? Should I go pull the airlock out
and
> > leave the airlock hole open to allow oxygen to get in the primary
> > fermenter bucket?
> >
> > Any other advice? In 5-7 days I'm going to syphon it into my 5 gal
> > carboy.
> >
> > Thanks
> >