Time to rack?

[Cagekiker298]

I have 6 gallons of Chilean Malbec airlocked in a carboy. The activity stopped in the airlock a couple weeks ago and there is a good 1/4" sediment on bottom, my question is can I rack now or should I wait for the next full moon? Heard from a couple people that I should rack to coincide with the full moon cycle. Is there any truth to this theory? Just don't want my wine to start getting an off flavor from sitting with the sediment. Thanks.

 

[bernardsmith]

IMO, - for what it's worth - we are always in the full moon cycle. Waning or waxing - 29 days approximately. Here in the west in the 21st Century there is really no good scientific reason to wait for a full moon. You can switch on an electric light and see perfectly well. Not sure that the gravitational impact of a full moon on the liquid in your carboy is detectable. Even lakes don't have tides, do they?
But to be serious, you should rack every couple of months based perhaps on the amount of sediment building up ( a quarter inch seems about the right time) and also the "need" to add more free SO2 to inhibit oxidation (you add campden tabs or their equivalent every time you rack) and the "need" to help the wine expel the CO2 so that come bottling time you have very little need to actively degas the wine