Time for secondary fermintation? Chilean Juice Bucket

[kyle6367]

Good Morning,
I have two 6 gallon juice buckets from Chili (carmenere and chardonnay) currently in primary. They have only been in primary for 5 days. Temperatures have been in the mid 60's most days. There was a lot of small fizzy bubbles, but no huge foam producing fermentation. I also added some nutrients last night to each of the buckets. Starting SG for the white was 1.080 and 1.090 for the red. As of last night the white was down to 1.020 and the red was 1.034. I am fermenting in the buckets they came in, so I am getting a little concerned about O2 exposure as fermentation begins to slow. I am tempted to check them this morning, and transfer to a carboy for protection as they finish up.

My question is would you guys rack into carboys now and air lock it for secondary ferm? Or leave the buckets with a loose lid until the SG gets down to 1.000?

Thanks!

 

[Rice_Guy]

just an opinion: the experience in the vinters club seems to be that Chilean white juice buckets have extremely high potential to oxidize, (see below vs reds came in with free SO2 of 10 to 20 ppm). @weaverschmitz has requested we start a project to look at off flavor production/ causes in whites so we are curious with what you do. Also curious if you have chemistries on the two buckets. , , , ,

.. the white grape are finished so I am tempted to crowd source an answer for the vinters club, ,,,, what would you do if you got ont or one each of these named varieties?
. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .pH .. . . .. .. ..gravity........ . .. . ..% TA ... . . . . free SO2.. temperature (infra red) on several buckets
View attachment 74216
numbers look similar and I have seen this in past years
No active fermentation, temperature in the trailer was 35F and 35 F on the last two pallets, measured temps were after sitting at the dock for 1 to 2 hours

Now my opinion, , with the white get it to where foam is tolerable, 1.020 or cool to 50F and then put it under air lock with 50ppm SO2, keep it high on the meta treatment at all times. With the reds it doesn't matter there is enough phenolic content that it will run well at room temp with a cheese cloth or lose fitting cover.

 

[kyle6367]

just an opinion: the experience in the vinters club seems to be that Chilean white juice buckets have extremely high potential to oxidize, (see below vs reds came in with free SO2 of 10 to 20 ppm). @weaverschmitz has requested we start a project to look at off flavor production/ causes in whites so we are curious with what you do. Also curious if you have chemistries on the two buckets. , , , ,


Now my opinion, , with the white get it to where foam is tolerable, 1.020 or cool to 50F and then put it under air lock with 50ppm SO2, keep it high on the meta treatment at all times. With the reds it doesn't matter there is enough phenolic content that it will run well at room temp with a cheese cloth or lose fitting cover.

Thanks for the feedback! I racked them both into carboy for some peace of mind. I don't have a chemistry for the wine this time around, since this is just my second batch, but I am definitely going to look into it for next time. The SG on the white this morning was down to 1.012 and the red down to 1.020, so I'm glad to get the racked.

 

[Rice_Guy]

A future note red juice has natural antioxidants so you can run dry .990/ .996ish and a century ago folks used to do it organically. The opinion is about white and I am on the learning curve with you, , , most of what I run is country wine.

iThe SG on the white this morning was down to 1.012 ,, , , , the red down to 1.020,