# Mulberry Wine



## Jeffro59 (Jun 17, 2013)

For my Fermenting Friends - I just harvested 22 pounds of mulberries! I laid out a tarp, and used my pole saw to shake the berries loose from the tree. I had what I needed in about 10 minutes...slick, eh? I am starting a Mulberry Wine tomorrow - I have enough to make a nice 3-gallon batch!

Anybody else ever make it? I'm using a Jack Kellar recipe...


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## Duster (Jun 17, 2013)

I have often thought of this wine, Mulberrys grow wild all over around me. I have always figured they wouldn't have much flavor. 
Please keep us posted


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 17, 2013)

i think when ripe, mulberries are sweeter then blackberries,which ripen at about the same time every year..
the mulberry jelly i make every year is excellent..
i cant wait till next year when they get ripe...have a few trees, that i will water.


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## GreginND (Jun 17, 2013)

I tried to make it when I was 16 and it didn't turn out too well. What with bread yeast, tons of sugar and no equipment . . . well, my first foray into winemaking was a learning experiment.

I haven't lived anywhere where mulberries will grow for about 30 years. I wish I had some to play with. I have fond memories growing up in Michigan munching on mulberries all day long.


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## Turock (Jun 19, 2013)

We made Mulberry a few years ago and it turned out very good. If you allow it some good aging time--a year or more--it becomes very complex-tasting.

Treat it like any fruit wine--if you freeze them first, you'll have more juice. We only added a pint ot two of water. Used Montrachet for the yeast.


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## jswordy (Jun 19, 2013)

Jeffro, we just cleared an area and found a young mulberry tree growing in it. Saved it! The berries are mostly over my head and there aren't many this year but they are sweet. I am planning to chop it off this fall to force new and more bush-like growth.

The taste reminded me of my childhood, when we'd go to a neighbor's mulberry and pick and eat. 22 pounds is quite a feat! Great idea for harvesting. Good luck, it should make excellent wine. If you are following Keller, don't dilute near as much as he usually recommends and it'll taste better. Keep us posted.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 19, 2013)

Are you doing anything to take care of the overripe fruit that fell like adding KM? WVMJ


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## skyrat (Jun 20, 2013)

My 3yr old mulberry trees just started producing decent fruit this year. Only problem is they don't have that much flavor to them. Typical of Russian Mulberry??


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## jswordy (Jun 20, 2013)

skyrat said:


> My 3yr old mulberry trees just started producing decent fruit this year. Only problem is they don't have that much flavor to them. Typical of Russian Mulberry??



Gardening post I found from a guy who raises mulberry in an orchard:



> Stay away from M.alba, including 'Russian' mulberry - it's a weedy, invasive species, with fruit quality inferior to M.rubra or the M.albaXrubra hybrids, like Illinois Everbearing.



He likes the Illinois Everbearing quite a lot.



> "Stearns" is probably my next favorite variety, followed by "Colllier".


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## Downwards (Jun 21, 2013)

I've got a white mulberry I planted for my chickens in their yard. Taste kind of like plain sugar to be honest- maybe the tree is too young yet, just a sapling really.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 21, 2013)

We have lots of wild mulberries here in WV. The purple trees, we taste tested each tree on the farm and found 2 that had quality fruit above the others. The white ones are nothing but sugar, no acid or taste - even when they get bigger so Downwards tree isnt going to start producing good fruit when it gets bigger. We planted some Illinois Everbearing so we could prune them like a peach tree so we could reach the fruit. Its working except the deer prune the lower branches, some fatassed birds snap the interior branches hunting catipillars and the tree wants to grow straight up so we have to prune it good each year. Usually we just go down and eat them all as a spring treat but this year we are going to save them for a mead. WVMJ


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## skyrat (Jun 21, 2013)

jswordy said:


> Gardening post I found from a guy who raises mulberry in an orchard:
> 
> Thanks JS... That settles that for me...Beautiful trees but they are also overgrowing into other usable space so time to fire up the ol' chainsaw and knock 'em back or down completely.


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## Arne (Jun 23, 2013)

Nastiest tree we ever had in the yard. This time of year would shed mulberries til you couldn't walk on the sidewalk, couldn't come inside without staining all the rugs purple. Birds ingested and deposited all over cars and clothes on the line. Got even with it, tho. Now it is just a stump, but almost 4 ft across at the base. Arne.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 23, 2013)

Free berries and you cut down the tree for making too many???

One year a friend bought their little girls over after Easter service in their nice white dresses. They wanted to pet the horses, the horses that had been eating mulberries all day, the horses that sneezed on the little girls giving them nice purple spotted new spring dresses, the little girls thought it was funny but their parents not so much. 

WVMJ


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## Downwards (Jun 23, 2013)

Think I could graft something good onto my white mulberry? It's been in the ground a couple of years and has finally just started to grow well, would be a shame to replace it all together unless that's actually easier.


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## Julie (Jun 23, 2013)

Arne said:


> Nastiest tree we ever had in the yard. This time of year would shed mulberries til you couldn't walk on the sidewalk, couldn't come inside without staining all the rugs purple. Birds ingested and deposited all over cars and clothes on the line. Got even with it, tho. Now it is just a stump, but almost 4 ft across at the base. Arne.



roflmao, well apparently you had it planted too close to the house. We have one but it is very old and does not produce much in the way of berries. What berries it does produce the birds get BUT is a great diversion so I have a better chance on getting my cherries


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## saramc (Jun 23, 2013)

Downwards said:


> Think I could graft something good onto my white mulberry? It's been in the ground a couple of years and has finally just started to grow well, would be a shame to replace it all together unless that's actually easier.



Definitely. I have a gardener friend who has a black & white mulberry tree with a few different cultivars grafted.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 23, 2013)

Thats pretty cool. I would donate some scoin from an Illionois and one very good wild one we have. WVMJ



saramc said:


> Definitely. I have a gardener friend who has a black & white mulberry tree with a few different cultivars grafted.


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## Downwards (Jun 23, 2013)

OMG yes please! I'll PM you my address and gladly pay you for it (plus shipping).


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## Minnesotamaker (Jun 23, 2013)

I've made it a couple of times. A really good wine. LOTS of color... almost like India ink with a purple tinge. Since the berries aren't as flavorful as other fruits, I find that a high fruit content makes for the best wine.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jun 24, 2013)

Hi Lon, how about some details, Unfortunately they are ripe the same time as black raspberries and my picker likes black raspberry wine better than mulberry. I might only have 10 pounds for a 3 gal batch of mead. WVMJ



Minnesotamaker said:


> I've made it a couple of times. A really good wine. LOTS of color... almost like India ink with a purple tinge. Since the berries aren't as flavorful as other fruits, I find that a high fruit content makes for the best wine.


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