How to take the SG of thick must.

[mikewatkins727]

Go to town and buy a 5 gallon paint strainer for half the price. I have two for when I really busy.

 

[Snafflebit]

My technique is to take a measuring cup and press the opening against the side of the fermenter ( I use Brutes) and push down slowly through the cap until the cup fills through the small space between the measuring cup and the Brute wall. I do this BEFORE punching down the cap, Punchdown stirs the sediments and is the biggest interference during SG measurement

 

[thedove]

I like to take fine strainer push down in the cap, dip out enough to get reading .

 

[hptasins]

I made jig by drilling holes in a PVC pipe. I wrap this in a fine mesh bag and push into the must. Samples can be drawn from inside the pipe, and at pressing time I rack as much liquid as I can from it before pressing. Saves labor.

I tried a mesh bag directly around an autosiphon today, and that failed miserably. I think there needs to be a large enough amount of space around the siphon to allow wine to flow in as fast as it's being pumped out. Your solution looks great for that. Is that about 2" dia PVC?

The winery I worked at for a couple harvests used a "shorkel" attached to the pump to drain tanks before pressing. Basically this but with stainless pipe and fittings to connect directly to the pump:

https://www.napafermentation.com/store/p397/winemaking-SNORKEL.html

 

[hptasins]

I use a deep "noodle" strainer like this to take samples from must:

https://www.amazon.com/M-V-Trading-SD2011-Stainless-Strainer/dp/B01EU20XG4

 

[winemaker81]

I tried a mesh bag directly around an autosiphon today, and that failed miserably. I think there needs to be a large enough amount of space around the siphon to allow wine to flow in as fast as it's being pumped out. Your solution looks great for that. Is that about 2" dia PVC?

I think mine is 4" diameter -- the Fermtech wine thief barely fits inside.

The winery I worked at for a couple harvests used a "shorkel" attached to the pump to drain tanks before pressing. Basically this but with stainless pipe and fittings to connect directly to the pump:

Mine was made from scrap, slightly less than the $500+ USD that the stainless model costs. OTOH, I probably make < 1% of what the winery makes ...

 

[Snafflebit]

I use a deep "noodle" strainer like this to take samples from must:

https://www.amazon.com/M-V-Trading-SD2011-Stainless-Strainer/dp/B01EU20XG4

I like this, and then I can cook ramen the other 11 months of the year!

But seriously, I hate trying to clean the strainer after each measurement, and it never seems to get completely clean.