Hello everyone,
I had the intention of making Merlot this year, as a result of my research, the closest place I could find to Istanbul - Turkey was the vineyard belonging to Mr. Alaettin Sevil in Tekirdağ Şarköy Güzelköy. I contacted him in advance and conveyed my request for 105 kg of Merlot grapes that I needed this year. I set off at 06:00 on the morning of September 5th, the road took about 3 hours from Istanbul. As we approached Güzelköy on the road, the places we passed were like natural wonders. I can honestly say that it has a very impressive and fascinating atmosphere, so much so that we stopped at some places. I watched the sea and nature, even if only briefly. I arrived in Güzelköy around 09:15, he welcomed us, we walked around the vineyard, it is really a beautiful vineyard, all the grapes looked extremely fresh and good, I immediately took a measurement with a refractometer, it showed Brix 25, I tasted the grapes, they left a nice fruity taste on my palate, The grapes looked beautiful, their branches and seeds had turned brown, in short, everything was as it should be.
I bought a total of 6 crates of 105 kg Merlot grapes and set out for Istanbul. I arrived home at the end of a nearly 3-hour journey. I had made preparations by covering the areas where I would work with plastic wrap. Immediately after carrying the grapes and bringing them to the balcony, I got to work. First of all, I separated the leaves, broken branches and small dried grapes and put the separated grapes into my manual grape crusher machine. I put each crate in it. I proceeded by thinking of it as a batch, that is, I put a crate of grapes into the manuel grape crusher machine by checking the grapes, then by turning the handle, I crushed the grapes in the entire crate, these grapes fell into the perforated sieve immediately below, then I put the manuel grape crusher machine on top aside, over an empty crate. Then by moving the stems and grapes back and forth on the sieve, I made sure that the grapes that did not fall into the lower plastic box fell, in the end, only the stems remained in the sieve, I put them in a separate bag, this time I lifted the sieve and collected the stems that had escaped from the holes in the plastic box, I also squeezed the grapes that did not crushed with my hand. Of course, if you think that I did all these processes for 5 cases, I was in trouble again. Many people buy their grapes by crushing them in the vineyard and adding pms, of course, if I did this, I would save a lot of time, but I like to spend one day a year by crushing the grapes myself. I added all my 5 batches of grapes inthe tank and finished the process by adding PMS. Last year, I worked with 81.5 kg (180 lb) , and there was very little space left in the tank, so this year I worked 85 kg (188 lb), so I saw that there can be 85% grapes of 100 liter (26.5 Gallon) tank capacity. Then I moved on to the measurements, as I mentioned before, I measured 25 brix, or 1.105 SG, with a refractometer when I was in the vineyard. Of course, this was a measurement taken from a certain point. In the measurements I made at home with a graduated cylinder and hydrometer, I saw that I got 1.097, so I think I got 92% of the brix value, which is close to my measurement with a hydrometer. I also measured the pH and it was 3.42 and I measured the temperature of the grape mustand it was 24°C (75.2°F). After waiting for exactly 1 day, it was time to rehydrate the yeast. I have been keeping my UCLM S377 yeast, which I bought last year, in a sealed bag in the refrigerator for 1 year, I took the yeast out first, then I read it again, it says 20 grams (0.70 oz) is enough for 100 liters (26.5 Gallon), but as far as I read from my notes, since the yeast is 1 year old. I decided to add 2 times the amount of yeast, that is 40 grams (1.41 oz), in total, I boiled 400 ml (13.52 oz) of water which is 10 times as much as the yeast, and waited for it to drop 38°C (100.4°F)., then I dissolved 1 tablespoon of sugar in it and then added my yeast and mixed well, after waiting for about 15 minutes, the yeast started to rise vigorously, this made me happy. Later, Imeasured and saw that the yeast had reached 34°C (93.2°F). Before adding the yeast into the must, I took some must and added in the yeast mix. This both lowered the temperature and prepared the yeast for the wine environment. When I measured again, I saw that this mixture had dropped to 30 °C (86°F).
The temperature of the must was 24 degrees, so the temperature difference between the must and yeast mixture was below 10 degrees, I added my yeast and mixed it well. I put the cheesecloth and rubber band on it and finished my work. When I woke up the next morning and checked from the top of the tank with my ear, I was very happy when I heard the bubbling, I removed the cheesecloth and saw the cap formation. I used the punch down tool that I made from round stainless steel last year, it's really a perfect application to relieve stress, after 1 day I took an SG measurement, and saw that it went down to 1.080. Again, I decided to use a total of 30 grams of Fermentis Springferm yeast nutrient , which I bought last year. 1 day after I added the yeast, I used 20 grams of yeast nutrient and the remaining 20 grams 1 day after that.
As I wrote before, I started with an OG of 1.097 and in 1 day it went down to 1.080 and in 2 days I was at1.052, it goes a little faster than last year, this may be due to the 40 grams of yeast that I used and the ambient temperature is higher then usual. I took a temperature measurement 2 days after adding the yeast, and when I saw that, the temperature had reached 30°C (86°F), I first took out a 5-liter plastic water bottle, which I had frozen before, 5 minutes later, I disinfected it with a K-Meta solution and rinsed it with boiled and cooled water and put it in the middle of the tank. This 5 liter water bottle, provided temperature control and reduced the temperature to 25°C (77°F), and punching down the cap was very easy with this bottle, unfortunately, global warming affects everything, they say that, even the yield in the vineyards yield is around 50% in some places this year, so the temperature is only 25°C (77°F).
I think I can keep it around 24°C (75.2°F) starting from next day. I just wanted to share my experiences withthe forum. This is my second year in wine making, I think I have come a long way since. Thanks.
I had the intention of making Merlot this year, as a result of my research, the closest place I could find to Istanbul - Turkey was the vineyard belonging to Mr. Alaettin Sevil in Tekirdağ Şarköy Güzelköy. I contacted him in advance and conveyed my request for 105 kg of Merlot grapes that I needed this year. I set off at 06:00 on the morning of September 5th, the road took about 3 hours from Istanbul. As we approached Güzelköy on the road, the places we passed were like natural wonders. I can honestly say that it has a very impressive and fascinating atmosphere, so much so that we stopped at some places. I watched the sea and nature, even if only briefly. I arrived in Güzelköy around 09:15, he welcomed us, we walked around the vineyard, it is really a beautiful vineyard, all the grapes looked extremely fresh and good, I immediately took a measurement with a refractometer, it showed Brix 25, I tasted the grapes, they left a nice fruity taste on my palate, The grapes looked beautiful, their branches and seeds had turned brown, in short, everything was as it should be.
I bought a total of 6 crates of 105 kg Merlot grapes and set out for Istanbul. I arrived home at the end of a nearly 3-hour journey. I had made preparations by covering the areas where I would work with plastic wrap. Immediately after carrying the grapes and bringing them to the balcony, I got to work. First of all, I separated the leaves, broken branches and small dried grapes and put the separated grapes into my manual grape crusher machine. I put each crate in it. I proceeded by thinking of it as a batch, that is, I put a crate of grapes into the manuel grape crusher machine by checking the grapes, then by turning the handle, I crushed the grapes in the entire crate, these grapes fell into the perforated sieve immediately below, then I put the manuel grape crusher machine on top aside, over an empty crate. Then by moving the stems and grapes back and forth on the sieve, I made sure that the grapes that did not fall into the lower plastic box fell, in the end, only the stems remained in the sieve, I put them in a separate bag, this time I lifted the sieve and collected the stems that had escaped from the holes in the plastic box, I also squeezed the grapes that did not crushed with my hand. Of course, if you think that I did all these processes for 5 cases, I was in trouble again. Many people buy their grapes by crushing them in the vineyard and adding pms, of course, if I did this, I would save a lot of time, but I like to spend one day a year by crushing the grapes myself. I added all my 5 batches of grapes inthe tank and finished the process by adding PMS. Last year, I worked with 81.5 kg (180 lb) , and there was very little space left in the tank, so this year I worked 85 kg (188 lb), so I saw that there can be 85% grapes of 100 liter (26.5 Gallon) tank capacity. Then I moved on to the measurements, as I mentioned before, I measured 25 brix, or 1.105 SG, with a refractometer when I was in the vineyard. Of course, this was a measurement taken from a certain point. In the measurements I made at home with a graduated cylinder and hydrometer, I saw that I got 1.097, so I think I got 92% of the brix value, which is close to my measurement with a hydrometer. I also measured the pH and it was 3.42 and I measured the temperature of the grape mustand it was 24°C (75.2°F). After waiting for exactly 1 day, it was time to rehydrate the yeast. I have been keeping my UCLM S377 yeast, which I bought last year, in a sealed bag in the refrigerator for 1 year, I took the yeast out first, then I read it again, it says 20 grams (0.70 oz) is enough for 100 liters (26.5 Gallon), but as far as I read from my notes, since the yeast is 1 year old. I decided to add 2 times the amount of yeast, that is 40 grams (1.41 oz), in total, I boiled 400 ml (13.52 oz) of water which is 10 times as much as the yeast, and waited for it to drop 38°C (100.4°F)., then I dissolved 1 tablespoon of sugar in it and then added my yeast and mixed well, after waiting for about 15 minutes, the yeast started to rise vigorously, this made me happy. Later, Imeasured and saw that the yeast had reached 34°C (93.2°F). Before adding the yeast into the must, I took some must and added in the yeast mix. This both lowered the temperature and prepared the yeast for the wine environment. When I measured again, I saw that this mixture had dropped to 30 °C (86°F).
The temperature of the must was 24 degrees, so the temperature difference between the must and yeast mixture was below 10 degrees, I added my yeast and mixed it well. I put the cheesecloth and rubber band on it and finished my work. When I woke up the next morning and checked from the top of the tank with my ear, I was very happy when I heard the bubbling, I removed the cheesecloth and saw the cap formation. I used the punch down tool that I made from round stainless steel last year, it's really a perfect application to relieve stress, after 1 day I took an SG measurement, and saw that it went down to 1.080. Again, I decided to use a total of 30 grams of Fermentis Springferm yeast nutrient , which I bought last year. 1 day after I added the yeast, I used 20 grams of yeast nutrient and the remaining 20 grams 1 day after that.
As I wrote before, I started with an OG of 1.097 and in 1 day it went down to 1.080 and in 2 days I was at1.052, it goes a little faster than last year, this may be due to the 40 grams of yeast that I used and the ambient temperature is higher then usual. I took a temperature measurement 2 days after adding the yeast, and when I saw that, the temperature had reached 30°C (86°F), I first took out a 5-liter plastic water bottle, which I had frozen before, 5 minutes later, I disinfected it with a K-Meta solution and rinsed it with boiled and cooled water and put it in the middle of the tank. This 5 liter water bottle, provided temperature control and reduced the temperature to 25°C (77°F), and punching down the cap was very easy with this bottle, unfortunately, global warming affects everything, they say that, even the yield in the vineyards yield is around 50% in some places this year, so the temperature is only 25°C (77°F).
I think I can keep it around 24°C (75.2°F) starting from next day. I just wanted to share my experiences withthe forum. This is my second year in wine making, I think I have come a long way since. Thanks.
