Sounds like you are off to a good start. Did you add or are you planning on adding a yeast nutrient during fermentation? I would recommend Fermaid as a nutrient. You add 1/2 to 1 gram per gal when the brix reading is about a third completed (e.g if your initial brix was 24 then you would add the nutrient when the brix is around 16). This will help to reduce the possibility of hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg odor) and volatile acidity (nail polish odor). When fermenting wine in buckets I simply set the lid on top, no need to keep it tight.
As for your questions:
1. I do not recommend stirring the juice during fermentation. For some white wines the lees are stirred to help increase the mouth feel but for red wine I haven’t done it and don’t think it is necessary. Although others may have a different opinion.
2. Potassium metabisulfite is added to the juice prior to fermentation to keep the wild yeast at bay and give the yeast starter a better chance for doing its job. The next time you want to add pot meta is when your fermentation is completed. This means after you transfer the wine to your carboys and notice the bubbles have stopped coming out of the air locks. Then you want to add 50 ppm of pot meta, which is ¼ tsp per 5 gal. (thoroughly mix a ¼ tsp in 2 oz water). So that I don’t have to worry about stirring in the pot meta, I pour the solution into the carboy before I transfer the wine. This way the solution and wine get mixed without having to try to stir the wine.
3. Before I get to racking, if you are going to add oak, add them to the glass carboy when you transfer the wine from the buckets. You could sanitize the oak cubes/chips using a sanitizing solution of pot meta like you used to sanitize your equipment. Put the oak in the carboy before you transfer the wine. Fill the carboys up to the neck. At this point you want to minimize the surface area of the wine to air.
4. After you have transferred the wine to the 5 gal carboy, wait a month then do your first racking. 2 months after the first racking you should be ready for the second racking. After each racking you will want to add a little pot meta (25-30 ppm). This time mix an 1/8 tsp of pot meta to 2 oz water.
5. Unless you are testing for acid you should not have to add any thing else. There are ways to reduce acid or add acid, if needed but your post said the juice was balanced. Do you know what the acid and pH was? Mixing air into your wine is not a good thing, which is why you want to lightly sulphite at each racking. By the way, when you rack the wine, keep your siphon tube close to the bottom of the carboy so you keep any air to a minimum.
6. As for a step by step process, go to www.morebeer.com. Look for their section called More Wine. In that section they have free user guides for both red and white wine making that you can download. They are excellent reference material.
Hope this helps.
