Secondary Fermentation

Well All Right! Now Im on my way to making some wine! This past weekend I finally got the two wines I started a couple weeks ago into secondary fermenters. I removed the fruit from the strawberry after one week, after the PA (potential alcohol) was about 3-4, using my hydrometer. I then cleaned and sterilized with ammonia two 1 gallon jugs, and stoppers and airlocks, as well as much racking tube. After 2 weeks I did the same with the Blueberry. I let it sit overnight to let it precipitate out and then racked both of them into the clean 1 gallon jugs.

When moving wine with the racking tube, they recommended putting the fermenter three feet above the other while moving wine from one to the other using gravity. Here is a pic of that it looks like. to the right (note, this is NOT my wine setup, however, I WILL ADD some pics of that at some point soon, I promise!)

I had a bit more luck at 4 1/2 feet, and I put the tube to the side of the gallon jug to eliminate a lot of air getting into the mix, so it ran down the side instead of shooting into the middle of the jug, making bubbes and adding air, which IS NOW MY ENEMY. I filled the jugs to just about where the stopper fits, and labeled the outside of them with the date that I racked them. Within hours the sediment was precipitating and I was seeing bubbles, indicating some secondary fermentation was beginning. They will sit for at least a couple months before I rack them again to fine them and remove sediment. I am also looking into getting some marbles to add to the bottom of the fermenter to add volume to bring the level to the top again after I rack it again. This was recommended by my good friend Mike Sears, and I think its a great idea.

We had very warm weather here in Syracuse over the last few weeks, and with no air conditioning in my house, it provided an excellent environmentfor fermenting!

The strawberry smells awesome! Not like the blueberry, which smells very yeasty still. Im not sure if thats something I should be worried about, but man, it smelled good enough to drink already!

Next Stop: Peach, More Strawberry and Pinot Noir! My first real grape wine, which should be an interesting experience, of which I will write all about! My good friend Tim Wheeler requested when asked that he would like to see a peach wine, so Im going to bring him over one day soon and show him how to make one. Also, strawberries are cheap and in season now, so I am thinking about getting about 20lbs and trying to make an even larger batch of 5 gallons.