Question on racking to secondary

Hi:

My peach must will soon be ready for racking from primary to secondary! When I do the transfer, should I put the tube as close to the bottom of the secondary carboy as possible to avoid oxygenation? Or, should I hold it near the top so that the wine splashes so that I can introduce as much oxygen as possible?

I know that oxydation is bad, and that the secondary fermentation is anaerobic, so I assume I should avoid introducing extra oxygen. However, I assume a splashy transfer would assist with degassing the wine. :-/

Another question is, do I still need to do periodic stirs of the carboy? Or, just let it sit there for a month until it is ready for a second racking? If I am supposed to stir it, should I stir it like crazy to help degass, or just swirl the contents around gently?

Thank you in advance.

One more question: My recipe says, "Rack into a clean carboy, top up, attach airlock, move to a cooler location, ideally 65F (18C)".

How long should I maintain this temperature? My airconditioning bill is going to be a bit expensive, having to keep a room at 18C for a month or so.

All transfers from here on out should be done "quietly"- that is no splashing. You only have to worry about degassing when doing wine kits- not for regular country wines. I always add 1 campden tablet per gallon (crushed and dissolved) every other racking to help protect the wine. Don't stir! Allow the lees to settle and rack regularly when it needs it- maybe as often as every 30-45 days. Eventually, the wine will clear and you'll have no more lees.

Temperature isn't a huge issue- just try to avoid major fluctuations. Ideally, it would be cool for the entire fermentation but that doesn't seem realistic in the summer. Just try to put it in the coolest (but consistent) part of the house. You don't want it 80 degrees while you're at work and 65 when you're home, for example. A steady 75 is better than fluctuations.

Hello yaeyama, yes put your tube as close to bottom in secondary to avoid splashing. Be careful to keep the tube up and away from lees in primary, leaving the lees behind will help stop gassing or fermentation.
I would avoid oxygen unless you have a very,VERY strong sulfide odor.then you would need splashing to release gases, but i dont think thats the case here.
Now we will stop all stirring and swirling, this should be time to let the lee's settle to the bottom for clarity.
You will lose a little wine here, but lees are what were getting away from for a pretty wine.
I make all of my wine indoors and keep temp just normal temp for me, 70 to 76F. I dont work at the temp very hard just comfortable for me.
I've never added campden tablets betwwen rackings, but it sounds like a good idea. thanks yooper chick.

I didn't add any campden tablets when racking from primary to secondary, because my recipe book mentioned nothing about this. (It mentions adding sulphite to the -final- racking).

I am planning to do another racking within 10 days; there is still a LOT of fermentation activity in the carboy so I assume I can get away with not having added campden tablets this time around?

yaeyama said:

I didn't add any campden tablets when racking from primary to secondary, because my recipe book mentioned nothing about this. (It mentions adding sulphite to the -final- racking).

I am planning to do another racking within 10 days; there is still a LOT of fermentation activity in the carboy so I assume I can get away with not having added campden tablets this time around?

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I would wait on racking for at least 30 days. Let the secondary fermentation start making the alch. You are getting a lot of activity because the second stage is kicking off. If you rack too soon you will get rid of many of the active yeast still working. Remember when the sugar is converted it puts off CO2 and alcohol so you will see the activity in the airlock. I don't add the campden during any rackings but it is a good way to help protect it.