Can I move the primary fermenter?

A question that might seem silly, but I'd rather know for sure before I do something to ruin my batch!

I'm just about to start my first batch of wine, a nice Pinot Noir. My main living area is about 18-22 degrees C and the cold room in my basement usually sits around 12-15 degrees C in the summer and probably 10-12 C in the winter (sorry I don't know these in F). Now, here's where your expertise comes in. I've read that the primary fermentor does better in a warmer area, say 20 degrees C or so, whereas the secondary fermentor and bottling is better in a cooler area, such as my cold room (15 degrees C give or take).

a) is this true?

b) if so, here's my dilemma. Can I sit the primary fermentor upstairs and then move it downstairs just before racking to the carboy? The issues I'm imagining are that it would be pretty heavy (23L) and would stir up all the sediment in the liquid.

Does this make any sense? Ultimately, I want to ferment upstairs and rack it longer term in the cellar. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Sure, you can move your fermenters anytime you want! What I would recommend, though, is moving it a day or so before you plan to rack, so the sediment can resettle. Fermentation really isn't a big deal, though- you can easily ferment the entire batch in the same temperature area. The only time I worry about temperature change is when I have a wine that just won't clear. Then, I stick it someplace much colder (like the basement in the winter) and that helps it clear in a couple of weeks. The cold makes the yeast flocculate (fall out) out.
That said, wine yeasts are very temperature tolerant and some ferment well up into the 90s (I don't know that in celsius!) and down into the 50s. So, I usually just ferment in my laundry room and do primary and secondary in there as long as the temperature is fairly reasonable.

Thanks YooperBrew! Glad to hear it's not a very big deal. If that's the case, maybe I'll just do the whole thing in the basement. Probably much easier that way.

Here is a handy online conversion site you may find useful. http://www.onlineconversion.com/

The only thing it doesn't convert is terrorist into human beings.:cross:

I have an actual wine cellar I do all my production in. It is a constant 60F(15.5C for you nonEnglish speaking people) year 'round. Works great. I have a table I put my Pri fermenter on until its ready to rack. Makes it easy to siphon. When I remove the bucket to wash I lift my carboy onto the table to settle. I then repeat the process until the wine is bottled.