Secondary fermentation

acecaz123

Hi

I have 2 lots of wine, 1 red and 1 white, fermenting in secondary stage. Its a 28 day brew. According to the instructions, they are due to be moved on 12th March to another carton to stabilise .I am wondering if it can be done earlier? Both of them have been fermenting at 22-24degrees. They are both currently reading .992 on the hydro and have been for 3 or 4 days. Does this mean its finished fermenting? I am tempted to leave it till the weekend then transfer, so that would be 4 days early. But if the hydro has not moved by then, I assume it will be ok to move? Just wanted opinions please. Thanks

HBO_Staff

It varies from wine to wine whether or not the manufacturers have given a recommended hydrometer reading, if they ahve then this is a good guide. If not then a stable reading is good, the extra time does allow more sediment to settle out and will result in a clearer wine, so that is one drawback of transferring early. Brewing at different temperatures will affect how quickly it finishes fermenting, at 22 to 24 it will ferment relatively quickly, it is the settling of the sediment which wont be increased much

acecaz123

Thank you, the manufacturer says reading should be below .995 However, the last batch wasn't too clear so bearing that and your comments in mind, I think I will leave it another few days.