Secondary Fermentation

Due to different Starting points of the primary fermentation ("1ry"), the transer to secodary fermentation ("2ry") was staggered. Fortunately the stagger did not actual reflect the disparity btween 1ry fermentation start dates, otherwise this would have been a drawn out affair.Equally fortunate was that Anton and I had the Monday off to deal with day two fo the transfer.
I know I have theuse of the hygrometer this year, but I still use the old methods, as they're simpler. So I had kept an eye on the fermentation rate and did the finger test to see how the cap was coming along. When I had judged a transfer to 2ry date for a varietal I stopped punching down the cap, to give the cap time rise out of the wine. I prefer to transfer the wine primarily without pressing - "free run" - and letting the cap rise naturally divides the wine from the skins.
This year was the first time we used the pump at this stage. The trick was how to pump wine from the 1ry drum? It's all well and good suggesting filters, but I have not seen a filter that works for any length opf time as it's soon clogged with skin, seed and silt. To my knowledge there is no simple and cheaper filter that constantly cleans itself whilst working.
To get the hose into the drum and below the cap, I cut down a spare 4inch diameter drainage pipe and bored a lot of holes into the lower end, with the idea that this pipe is first lowered through the cap and the pipe inserted into it. As a filter I bout a pair of Nobo fishnet tights. I knew the finer denier of tights would not do and would gum up too quickly, whereas this fishnet style would work and serve to keep out larger objects such as skins.
The drainage pipe "wore" the tights - see photo.
This was not too successful at first. The pump is very powerful and the open end of the drainage pipe just allowed all the seeds that had settled on the bottom to be sucked up and into the end of the hose and thus clog it. Attempts with window screening similarly failed. The solution was to cap off the end of the drainage hose. Job done.
After a few 1ry drums we found out that it was best to send the pipe down through the centre of the cap and not down the sides.
The wine obtained by pumping out was transferred into closed topped 2ry drums and sealed off. The remaining grape skin and seed went to the press, where we recovered the wine trapped therein. This wine went into the demijons and were sealed the traditional way with olive oil.
We thank Nina for the use of her personal press. I think it saw more action during the 2 days of transferring wine than ever before!
The SanGiovese came out as it always has - not too sweet , not to dry, with a hint of bitters. The Shiraz was a fruit bomb, and despite no malolactic fermentation, had vanilla in it. The Cab Franc tasted of purple pastille. The Pinot Noir thought it was already finished. The Cab Sauvignon and Merlot were not out of the ordinary.
Of course none of them are nearly done. The check with the hygrometer saw a dramatic reduction from the last time I checked during 1ry that should get us to where we want to be during this stage. I'd like to be at a specific gravity of 1 or just below. I believe this is always possible without intervention if you look after the wine. So, after 1ry the heating went off to lower the temperature so as not to risk overheating the yeats that's left to burn - too hot and it dies you know. But i did turn it on again when we had a sudden cold snap as equally too cold and it stops. At the moment I am heating, but not that you would notice any.
2ry fermentation took off straight away. This year I took note of 2005's notes fro the Cab franc and pulled it out a day early actually and avoided the eggy smell. By the way, the eggy smell isn't the end of the world, you can get rid of it without chemicals, like we did last year.
By the end of the week the San Giovese calmed down, followed by the Shiraz. After 2 weeks now, the Pinot, Cab franc, Cab Sauv and Merlot are visibly, and audibly, active. The Shiraz and San G have gone quiet, but there is still activity as they're still bubbling but at a reduced rate. The San G must be nearly at a specific gravity of 1.0 by now.
Last Sunday Michael and I topped up the demijons and the 2ry drums. We tested and tasted too. Seems like everything's on track.
Today I have begun to swap out the airlocks on the 2ry drums to keep them clean and to do it now whilst preserving gas is being produced to eliminate the air in the headspace of the drum. This is never an issue with demijons whose slender necks eliminate headspace.
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