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Something funny on the inside of the bottle

Newbie here - Appreciate your patience.

Awhile back, I bought one of these 24 bottle wine refrigerator to keep some of my red wine in. Recently, however all of the bottles I take out have something sticking to the inside of the bottle right where the neck begins to narrow. It's almost a scale-link coating. The bottles are stored on their sides and the corks are still tight and moist upon opening. The temperature ranges from 54 to 59 (motor kicks on at 59 and off around 54. Is my unit causing this?

I appreciate any assistance.

rob

Reply to
R. Lee
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As no-one else is running with this one...

Don't know what a scale-link coating is, but sometimes sediment seems to form in this location and sticks to the bottle. I have noticed it several times. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about, and it is nothing to do with your unit.

Reply to
Steve Slatcher

Nothing to worry about. Just something precipitating out of the wine because of the colder storage temp.

Andy

Reply to
JEP

Rob, what you're seeing are almost certainly what are called tartrate crystals or just "tartrates" for short - technically a chemical called potassium bitartrate. They're happening because these wines have probably not been this cool before. White wines are typically "cold stabilized" at the winery by chilling them to temperatures in the 20's (F) for days or weeks in order to prevent customer complaints that would happen once the wines were chilled at home were the wines not "cold stable". Red wines, on the other hand, are most often not treated in this way. The crystals are probably in the shoulder, near the neck because that's the lowest part of the bottle when it's on its side in your cooler. They are completely harmless - nothing to worry about - but if they bother you, try cranking up the temperature a little if that's possible.

- Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Willstatter

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