I've got great fermentation happening after 3 days!! My primary fermenter has about 3-4" of foamy, yeasty grapes on top.

Stir? Or not?

Thanks,
Deanna

When we first put it in the carboy, I had to top off with about 1 cup of sugar water since we were a little short on juice. There was LOTS of activity through the airlock!
Slowed down fast and now one week later, we racked into another carboy and there's very little bubbling.

Ideas??

Deanna

Below is a statement I live by in My racking process......

Depending on your recipe, give it 2-4 weeks in primary (until fermentation slows), then a month or 2 in secondary (until clear enough to read a newspaper through the carboy), then 3-6 months in bulk aging. If you notice a good bit of sediment during bulk aging (1/4 - 1/2 an inch), then you may want to rack again to get it off the lees.
The main thing to remember is that letting it sit on the lees is what leads to off-flavors, when the dead yeast starts breaking down due to autolysis. Some people rack monthly no matter what, some people only rack a couple times during the entire process, it's all up to personal standards.
With apple wine or cider, you want to remember to give time for malo-lactic fermentation though, and so that's why the bulk aging is very important.

I would recommend that you invest in a fermatation bag to use in the primary. IT WILL save you a lot of work in ways to strain hull...etc. Just gently squeeze it daily and you will have a lot more pulp and juice to work with. And just lift it out , let the juice drain in primary and put the hulls in a compost pile.

How any grapes did u have when you started the 5 gal?

You are not stopping the yeast from turning sugar into alcohol by racking. You may create a stuck fermentation by racking but yeast is creating alcohol out of sugar as soon as it starts making CO2.

Correct that letting it sit on the lees may lead to off flavors which is why you rack when it's time to rack not by a predetermined schedule.
I might go a month or two in the tertiary but not in the secondary. There's still a lot of stuff falling out in the secondary. The secondary is a settling tank for most beer but it is still active fermentation for wine.

I have never inoculated for MLF and apples are my main thing. I think the need for MLF would greatly depend on your apples, I have to add acid to mine.
I just bought a IL apple wine and mine was better, theirs is on par with a low alcohol cider I made that didn't think was anything special so I must be doing something right.

To clarify what we've done....
Fruit, water, sugar, yeast, etc. was in the primary for 1 week.
We siphoned into a carboy.
That sat for 1 week.
We racked to another carboy.
It has now been in there for 2 1/2 weeks.

I haven't seen any bubbles in the airlock for the entire 2 1/2 weeks pretty much. None.

There's getting to be about 1/2-3/4" of sediment in the bottom.

Should I rack again or leave it alone for awhile longer?

When we put it in this carboy, the color was what I'd call bubble gum pink. It's now a much clearer light red/dark pink color. I sure can't read a newspaper through it yet though!! :-)

Deanna

The way to judge what is going on is to take hydrometer readings. I generally watch for bubbles rising in the carboy and have got pretty good at judging what's going on from that but I got there through taking hydrometer readings.

If it's starting to clear I'd rack it with that much lees. What you do is up to you.
I racked my Bourgovin cider at just under a week. It instantly dropped a lot of yeast. I went ahead and left it ferment out (another week) and racked it again when it was starting to clear.
Now it is fairly clear with less than 1/4". My Narbonne cider is extremely clear with a lot less than 1/4". I'll probably go into racking them once a month if that. I won't worry about sitting on the 1/4" unless they start bubbling.

Deanna