Wine Kit Question

[cgraber]

Sorry in advance if this has been asked before, but I couldn't locate if it had been. Also sorry for asking a stupid question and for me being a full blown idiot.
This is my first time making wine. I bought Orchard Breeze Blackberry Merlot kit. I made this yesterday and is now in the fermenter. The SG was 1.056. My. airlock is showing signs of fermentation, but nothing like I get with beer. I have read that you should gently stir everyday for a couple of days, but don't know if that is for using actual fruits or if that applies to kits as well. The instructions don't say anything about stirring until its in secondary, and than only the day it was transferred.
So here is my questions.
1. Do I stir while it is fermenting. if so how much, how often and how vigorous.
2. Once transferred to secondary, how often should I stir and again how vigorous.
3. How often should I check gravity and is it ok to pour the sample back in or just drink the sample and loose that amount of wine.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as well as any tips or tricks that this idiot is not aware of. Thanks in advance.
I am not a wine person, but my wife is. She asked me to make this, and of course I agreed to do it, She doesn't ask for much, but when she does, and I'm able to produce, it makes for a happy wife which leads to an extra special bedtime. So I want this to turn out decent for a happy wife.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm on my 3rd kit. First two turned out great. No stirring at all until it's time to clarify, which is after secondary. At that time, you add stuff and stir with a wine degasser to remove all CO2. That was it for stirring.

 

[DoctorCAD]

A little stirring is good for fermentation in general. With a juice kit, it isn't as important as with a grape pack kit because the grapes tend to float. They need to be stirred back into the wine.

 

[passedpawn]

One of the red kits I did had skins. I'm sure the kit directions did not mention stirring. My intuition is to not mess with stuff when it's fermenting, mostly out of fear of infection and oxidation.

 

[cgraber]

Thanks for the help. I got up this mourning and it is bubbling away nicely. So at least I didn't mess that part up. Thanks again for the help much appreciated

 

[jgmillr1]

There are no stupid questions, so please ask anything if you are not sure.

You should not have any need to stir the wine as if ferments. Yeast only need oxygen during the initial "lag" phase as they reproduce and there should be plenty of dissolved oxygen in the juice you are using. One of the biggest enemies for winemaking is inadvertent oxidation; so the less you are getting into it and introducing air, the better.

References you found about stirring wine probably are in the context of fermenting fruit or grapes. In that case, you need to punch down the cap of fruit and skins a couple times a day until you press off the wine.

Cheers