Fermentation question

[akpingel]

Hello,
My GF and I made a Winexpert Malbec last Sunday. We have been making beer for years, but this is our first wine. This kit included grape skins. Per the instructions, it said wait until gravity reaches 1.01 before transferring to the secondary stage, which is where you get rid of the skins. There are also oak slivers in the bucket now as part of stage 1. Instructions say this should be around day 7, assuming 75 degrees. Its cold in NC now, and it today is day 6. We took a sample and the current gravity is around 1.045, or about halfway there. My dilemma is that I will be out of town until next friday (day 12). I am probably over thinking this, but what is more important- not keeping the skins in or waiting until 1.01? Should I take the skins out and transfer later?
Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Alex :beer:

 

[Twerp129]

Shouldn't matter too much either way. You can transfer on day 12, just make sure the carboy is topped all the way when you transfer. You could also transfer off the skins now and it shouldn't affect the tannin extraction much at all. If you really want to be thorough, you could toss a cube or two of dry ice in the fermenter before you leave, but that would be mostly unnecessary.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I'd opt to leave the skins in for an additional few days as long as it is fermenting slowly.

 

[bernardsmith]

Never made wine from a kit but the kit manufacturers time schedules are really designed to make sure that your fermenters are empty and ready for the next purchase sooner rather than later. Not to say that their timing is poor or bad but another few days if the wine is not ready for the next stage should not really have any deleterious affect on the wine.

 

[tooldudetool]

I assume they want you to transfer it before it reaches terminal gravity, so once its in the secondary there will be enough yeast activity still to fill the headspace with CO2. I've done 3 kits, and that's what I assume to be their reasoning. I purge my secondary with CO2 before transferring anyway, so it doesn't really matter for me.

 

[akpingel]

Thanks for the input all. I am going to let it ferment down further, occasionally pushing the grapes down in to the wine. Makes sense that the skins should be fine- after all it's all grapes! :beer: