Secondary Fermentation (first time jitters)

[RJBanks]

This is my first attempt at wine making. Working a CC Chardonnay. I racked to my secondary fermentation last Friday (feb 25th) The instructions say leave it for 15 days. It's only been three days and the bubbling has really slowed down. Am I ok or is my yeast dying....should I stir??? leave it alone???....room temp is a constant 69 to 71 degrees. When should the bubbling stop all together? Thanks

 

[surlees]

RJ,
You're fine. Fermentation does slow down and eventually stop as the yeast digests all the sugar to alcohol. The best way to know when fermentation is complete is when it appears to have stopped check the s.g. daily and when it is less than 1.000 and is the same on two consequtive days it has pretty well finished. You should still leave it in the secondary for the full 14 days before racking as it may ferment a little more. The wine will have plenty of CO2 in solution to protect it against oxidation over that time frame.

Fred

 

[RJBanks]

Thanks for the quick response

I will be able to sleep now.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Yeah - your are fine.

Keep in mind that about 70% of the fermentation is done within the first few days - so once you rack your wine into the Secondary fermentation container and the remaining 30% or so of the fermentation can take anywhere from two to three weeks depending on the amount of nutrient and sugars still available.

So as you can start to see, the secondary fermentation is much
slower with less activity at any given time. You will also notice
the activity becoming slower and slower with each passing day.

Once you have verified that your secondary fermentation is complete - then rack your wine off the lees.