What Is Racking When Fermenting?
Fermentation is the chemical process that occurs when yeast is blended with grape juice in order to make wine. The yeast converts the natural sugars in the grape juice to carbon dioxide and ethanol. When the carbon dioxide is removed, the alcohol remains behind. Does this Spark an idea?
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The Facts
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Racking is the term used for laying bottles of wine down on their sides, either during the fermentation process, the removal of sediment or while aging the wine. Racking is typically done by laying the bottles on a wine rack.
Function
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Racking wine during fermentation separates any sediment in the bottle from your wine. Once the sediment falls to the side of the bottle, the wine is siphoned out into a new bottle, leaving the sediment behind, and sealed to allow the fermentation process to proceed.
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Significance
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The first racking is done within the first five to seven days of fermentation. The bottles can be racked for up to a week and then siphoned. This process typically removes upwards of 80 percent of the wine's sediment.
Considerations
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When fermenting wine, the room temperature should be between 50 and 6 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 and 35 degrees Celsius. Any cooler and your yeast will become dormant; any warmer and you risk killing off your yeast. Red wines ferment best at temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 21 to 32 degrees Celsius.
Warnings
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Siphoning of your wine to remove sediments must be done in a completely air tight container or you risk slowing down the fermentation process. It may be necessary to rack your wines to remove sediment a second or third time, but these subsequent rackings will take place after fermentation.
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