Mulberries

[J.T]

Hi All,

My trusty mulberry tree has given me about a 10 litre bucket full of mulberries in the last week or so, with about another bucket full to come when the remaining berries ripen. Providing the birds don't beat me to it!
I'm after a few suggestions as what to do with them. I'm keen to perhaps try a fruit beer (or maybe even a mulberry wine) but knowing mulberries, even a small amount will turn a batch into something that looks like ribena!

Keen to hear your thoughts or recipe suggestions.

Cheers

JT

 

[superdave]

My Pop used to make mulberry wine with his. Can't help with recipes though as he passed about 10 years back. I can't even remember what it tasted like either But it's an idea of what to do with them though.

 

[Tyred]

Mulberry mead perhaps ?

Or mulberry beer. Have a look at the strawberry thread/recipe. You may have to tone down the use of mulberries a bit as they would probably be slightly stronger than strawberries.

Another thought might be mulberry porter. I have memories of seeing a recipe for this somewhere but have no idea where it was.

Wheat beers go nicely with fruit as well so mulberries would probably be a go there as well.

Basically, have a look for fruit beer recipes and look for ones that use berries of any description.

 

[petesbrew]

Mulberry mead perhaps ?

Or mulberry beer. Have a look at the strawberry thread/recipe. You may have to tone down the use of mulberries a bit as they would probably be slightly stronger than strawberries.

Another thought might be mulberry porter. I have memories of seeing a recipe for this somewhere but have no idea where it was.

Wheat beers go nicely with fruit as well so mulberries would probably be a go there as well.

Basically, have a look for fruit beer recipes and look for ones that use berries of any description.

I tried a mulberry stout (knk) a couple of years ago, but it was wasn't much good. From memory I don't think I used enough.
Still, a mulberry robust porter or wheat beer could work.

 

[J.T]

A mulberry wheat sounds a good idea. Had already picked up a few hints from other threads, particularly the raspberry ones. But a mulberry mead has got me thinking!

 

[mjfs]

Mulberry mead perhaps ?

Or mulberry beer. Have a look at the strawberry thread/recipe. You may have to tone down the use of mulberries a bit as they would probably be slightly stronger than strawberries.

Another thought might be mulberry porter. I have memories of seeing a recipe for this somewhere but have no idea where it was.

Wheat beers go nicely with fruit as well so mulberries would probably be a go there as well.

Basically, have a look for fruit beer recipes and look for ones that use berries of any description.

maybe a mulberry porter using wheat malt.... or maybe i've just had too many LC's pale ales....

 

[Bribie G]

Mulberry wine is simple to make although you have to be an energetic person, and you end up with a good quaffer although the colour can be a bit alarming, but eventually settles down to a sort of ruby port colour on ageing. I'm stretching my memory back about 30 years here but it went along the lines of:

Fill a bucket shaped fermenter with fruit, wash well with a fairly weak solution of sodium metabisulphite. Drain well, squish them up as far as possible using hands up to elbows. I don't remember too much staining of skin but we lived at Bargara and a bit of surfing soon fixed that up Mix in a couple of kilos of sugar made into a solution and stir till homogeneous, then pitch some all purpose wine yeast from the LHBS and a couple of tsp yeast nutrient. Ferment at ambient for about a week. Then the messy bit is to take batches out and squeeze them with cheesecloth either into gallon demijohns or into an airlocked fermenter and give it another couple of weeks, then bottle. Mine still hadn't attenuated fully and we ended up with a fairly fizzy mulberry spumante. Nowadays you could do the whole lot in a bag like BIAB, hoist and squeeze the bag and then reseal the fermenter and fit airlock.

I used to do the same with ripe prickly pears (thick rubber gloves ) and made a sort of prickly pear port. Personally for the effort involved I'd just get a wine cask

 

[RdeVjun]

I used to do the same with ripe prickly pears (thick rubber gloves ) and made a sort of prickly pear port. Personally for the effort involved I'd just get a wine cask

Surely you jest, BribieG? Prickly Pear Jelly is one of my favourite memories from life as a young chap! My rellies had a farm that grew mostly stones, goannas and bushfires (like where Gavo lives ), though occasionally they'd hit the jackpot with a bumper prickly pear season so our tribe would harvest fruit on our 'olidays while Ma and Auntie would make Pear Jelly and whack it in little jars to be had on toast for years to come as a reminder of just how lucky we were. Happy days...

Never thought of a PP Port, makes sense though- the pain and irrits took some shifting and they were cruel... the fruit wasn't much kinder. :lol:

 

[wynnum1]

Have this from old book

MULBERRY WINE
2 1/2 lb sugar
3 1/2 Ib. mulberries
1 gallon
4 oz. chopped raisins

Campden tablet

Pectozyme

Nutrient

Burgundy yeast

Stalk and wash the mulberries, add the chopped raisins,pour on 1/2 gallon boiling water and when cool add one Campden tablet and a teaspoonful of pectozyme. After 2 days strain .stir in the 1 lb sugar, nutrient and yeast .Then with the pulp 2 nd time pour on the 1/2 gallon boiling water and when cool add one Campden tablet and a teaspoonful of pectozyme after 2 days then strain and press and ADD to fermenting wine with remaining sugar

 

[brettprevans]

search results form AHB - 2 pages worth of mulberry info

plenty there to read and give you some ideas.

 

[O'Henry]

I've made mulberry wine. Bottled after a year of aging. Tastes like port. Not a quaffer. One glass is enough as a night cap. It is freaking delicious though. Would be great if the flavour was not so intense. I would say more water and sugar for the juice. I used equal portions of all. Came out a bit sweet too. Recipe is at home. Let me know if you want me to post it.

 

[J.T]

Yes Please!

 

[waggastew]

+1 for the mulberry wheat beer idea. I brewed a mango and passionfruit wheat beer recently and it is awesome. Non beer drinky people love it. Very good summer beer. Would probably only need about 1-2kg of fruit to get good flavour and we all know about the colour of mulberries!

 

[dr_pepper]

i'm giving this a go once i put down a few other batches (i'm just starting out)

i've got about 1.5kg of mulberries from this years harvest. trying to figure out best way to do it...adding raw fruit (boiled first) or boiling then juicing them and adding the juice.

I've made a couple of mulberry food recipes and found i didn't really get much juice from them... which might not be enough to flavour the beer.

 

[J Grimmer]

i had a simmilar question in relation to mulberry beer, search this forum for the thread, also their are some articles to look at the best way preping the fruit to add to the beer.

 

[dr_pepper]

i had a simmilar question in relation to mulberry beer, search this forum for the thread, also their are some articles to look at the best way preping the fruit to add to the beer.

yeah i've read through the threads i believe, and can't remember if i saw anything specifically about juice quantities required. if using juice instead of fruit...there seems to be a lot of unfinished threads... anyway i'll have a look again i could have missed it

 

[barls]

be careful boiling them as you may just end up with jam if you set the pectins. personally id use the whole fruit after freezing as it bursts the cell walls.
ive used both raspberries and blackberries and the amounts used were one kg and two kgs in five litres of mead. the raspberries were the right amount but the black berries needed more. also one to two kgs in twenty litres was about right as well. but mullberries i have no idea how much

 

[sinkas]

I made a mulberry wine a few years ago, I was too slow to crush them and they started to turn fuzzy, so I had to simmer them, made half still, half carbonated, with a beligan yeast, very nice, a bit like unoaked cabernet wine,

 

[dr_pepper]

be careful boiling them as you may just end up with jam if you set the pectins. personally id use the whole fruit after freezing as it bursts the cell walls.
ive used both raspberries and blackberries and the amounts used were one kg and two kgs in five litres of mead. the raspberries were the right amount but the black berries needed more. also one to two kgs in twenty litres was about right as well. but mullberries i have no idea how much

so just add whole frozen mulberries into fermenter then add ingredients and water etc?

i know there is a million threads on fruit beer and i should read them, but there is so much info its confusing.

do i need to do anything else to the fruit?

i would be racking to a secondary (first attempt) for this beer

cheers

 

[barls]

ok this how.i.would do it
make base beer without berries
the day before racking, defrost berries adding part of a camden tablet and a little water
leave for 24hours then rack on to the fruit mix
leave for the length of time desired then rack again