First racking

This evening I decided it was time to rack the wine off the yeast sediment into a 23 litre demijohn.  I was planning on leaving it longer but it was settling well and I wanted to get it out of the plastic bucket. Partly because they are not the best containers to store wine in long term, but also because I need the bucket for my next batch of beer!

Getting it off the sediment reduces the risk of off flavours from the wine sitting on dead yeast cells. Transferring it to a slightly smaller container also means it can be filled to the brim, keeping headspace to a minimum and therefore reducing the chance of oxidation.

Racking the wine off the sediment
Tilting the bucket to get as much out as possible, you can clearly see the yeast sediment at the bottom.

It will sit for a few months now to clear.

2 Replies to “First racking”

  1. So excited to follow this! We’re just over an hour from napa – can I expect the same quality from your bottles?

    1. Yes that’s the quality I’m aiming for, although to be fair with the amount of sun in California it’s easy to grow grapes. The real challenge is doing it in Cambridge ?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *