Pink sediment

Nov 01, 2003 1 Replies

I have two different wine kits going. A merlot that I racked from primary into a carboy a couple of weeks ago and chianti that I just racked out of the primary this evening.



I noticed bright pink sediment in the merlot about a week ago. Figured it was probably normal. Then tonight, an hour after racking, I noticed similar pink sediment in the chianti. Is this normal? What is it? My thought is to leave each in the secondary for a few weeks before racking again. Does the existence of the sediment indicate that I should change my plan and rack sooner?



Thanks, Dave


Since it's red wine, you _could_ do an extra racking without risking any injury to the wine, but if it smells OK and has no film growing on it I'd leave it alone for 6 months or so. It'll drop a bit more sediment in that time, as well as improve quite a lot.

BTW, that pink stuff is mostly spent yeast. Leaving it in there while the wine is bulk aging is a good thing.

When things are OK, the minimalist approach is usually best.

Tom S

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