If you wish to stir on the fine lees to in encourage autolysis and
give the wine complexity can this be done after you have added
potassium metabisulphite and what would be a suitable regime when
doing the stirring?

"Jim" > wrote in message
...
> If you wish to stir on the fine lees to in encourage autolysis and
> give the wine complexity can this be done after you have added
> potassium metabisulphite and what would be a suitable regime when
> doing the stirring?

I stir the wine on it's _gross_ lees, but aside from that there's no
difference. The presence of sulfite makes no difference either. Stir every
3-4 months, but don't whip air into the wine. Also, keep the free SO2 where
it should be for the wine's pH.

Tom S

Jim,

> > If you wish to stir on the fine lees to in encourage autolysis and
> > give the wine complexity can this be done after you have added
> > potassium metabisulphite and what would be a suitable regime when
> > doing the stirring?

Yes that's fine. Scroll down to "Stirring Schedules" at
http://members.tripod.com/~BRotter/Surlie.htm
for some common regimes.

Tom,

> I stir the wine on it's _gross_ lees, but aside from that there's no
> difference.

Using that terminology can be confusing given that you do some serious
juice settling resulting in essentially "fine lees" (by definition) in
what would normally be regarded as "gross" or (perhaps better put as)
"bulk" lees. (This confusion arose earlier in the recent "Forgot to
Cold Settle - Advice?" thread.)

Ben

Thank you Tom and Ben for the information.

On 31 Oct 2003 06:28:08 -0800, (Ben Rotter)
wrote:

>Jim,
>
>> > If you wish to stir on the fine lees to in encourage autolysis and
>> > give the wine complexity can this be done after you have added
>> > potassium metabisulphite and what would be a suitable regime when
>> > doing the stirring?
>
>Yes that's fine. Scroll down to "Stirring Schedules" at
>http://members.tripod.com/~BRotter/Surlie.htm
>for some common regimes.
>
>Tom,
>
>> I stir the wine on it's _gross_ lees, but aside from that there's no
>> difference.
>
>Using that terminology can be confusing given that you do some serious
>juice settling resulting in essentially "fine lees" (by definition) in
>what would normally be regarded as "gross" or (perhaps better put as)
>"bulk" lees. (This confusion arose earlier in the recent "Forgot to
>Cold Settle - Advice?" thread.)
>
>Ben

Tom S ) wrote:

>"Jim" > wrote in message
.. .
>> If you wish to stir on the fine lees to in encourage autolysis and
>> give the wine complexity can this be done after you have added
>> potassium metabisulphite and what would be a suitable regime when
>> doing the stirring?

>I stir the wine on it's _gross_ lees, but aside from that there's no
>difference. The presence of sulfite makes no difference either. Stir every
>3-4 months, but don't whip air into the wine. Also, keep the free SO2 where
>it should be for the wine's pH.

>Tom S


Hey Tom,

Did you really mean stir every 3-4 MONTHS? Did you mean every week
for 3-4 months, maybe?

Dave
************************************************** **************************
Dave Breeden

"David C Breeden" > wrote in message
...
> Tom S ) wrote:
> >Stir every
> >3-4 months, but don't whip air into the wine. Also, keep the free SO2
where
> >it should be for the wine's pH.
>
> >Tom S
>
>
> Hey Tom,
>
> Did you really mean stir every 3-4 MONTHS? Did you mean every week
> for 3-4 months, maybe?

No, I meant what I said (wrote). After ML is complete there's no need to
stir so frequently, and I age on the lees for a year or so - stirring every
few months.

Tom S

Tom S ) wrote:

>"David C Breeden" > wrote in message
...
>> Tom S ) wrote:
>> >Stir every
>> >3-4 months, but don't whip air into the wine. Also, keep the free SO2
>where
>> >it should be for the wine's pH.
>>
>> >Tom S
>>
>>
>> Hey Tom,
>>
>> Did you really mean stir every 3-4 MONTHS? Did you mean every week
>> for 3-4 months, maybe?

>No, I meant what I said (wrote). After ML is complete there's no need to
>stir so frequently, and I age on the lees for a year or so - stirring every
>few months.

>Tom S

Hmm. Interesting. How often do you stir DURING M-L?
I normally don't stir during ML, so as to avoid the intoduction of
oxygen, and then stir bi-weekly for a couple of months after ML.

Dave
************************************************** **************************
Dave Breeden

"David C Breeden" > wrote in message
...
> How often do you stir DURING M-L?

Two or three times a week is good, but with a well behaved strain of yeast
plus adequate nutrients I've gotten away with once a week. I don't worry
about aeration during stirring while ML is rolling along; the CO2 gassing
off keeps air purged pretty well.

Tom S