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

"Dave" > wrote in message
...
> 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?

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