# Mulberry Wine



## Wade E (Apr 30, 2009)

*6 Gallon recipe*
36 lbs – Previously Frozen and Thawed Mulberries
10 1/2 lbs – White Table Sugar
1 – Red Grape Concentrate
1/4 tsp – Liquid Pectic Enzyme
3 tsp – Acid Blend
6 tsp – Yeast Nutrient
1/4 tsp – K-Meta
3 tsp – Yeast Energizer
5 Gallons – Water
1 Sachet – Red Star Pasteur Red Yeast
Pour 1 gallon of warm water in a 7.9 gallon primary bucket or bigger.
Add K-meta, Yeast Nutrient, Yeast Energizer, Grape Concentrate, and stir well. Put all fruit in fermenting bag and squeeze over primary to extract most of juices and then put bag in primary. Pour the 1 gallon of boiling water with all dissolved sugar over fruit. Fill the rest of the way with remainder of room temp water and check SG, it should have a SG of around 1.085 give or take a little, if more then add a little more water, if less then add a little more dissolved sugar in small amount of water as sugars from fruit can vary a little. Let sit for 12 hours with lid loose or with a cloth covering bucket with elastic band or string tied around so as that not to sag in must. After those 12 hours add your Pectic Enzyme and wait another 12 hours while also adjusting your must temp to around 75 degrees. After those twelve hours, pitch your yeast either by sprinkling yeast, dehydrating yeast per instructions on back of yeast Sachet, or by making a yeast starter a few hours prior to the 12 hour mark. At this point either leave primary lid off with the cloth again, place lid on loose or snap the lid shut with airlock. Punch down cap twice daily to get all fruit under the liquid level. When SG reaches 1.015, rack to 6 gallon carboy and let finish fermenting with bung and airlock attached. When wine is done fermenting, (check a few days in a row to make sure SG does not change and SG should be around .998 or less) you can stabilize by adding another ¼ tsp of k-meta and 3 tsps of Potassium Sorbate and degas your wine thoroughly. You can now sweeten your wine if you like by using simple syrup which consists of 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of boiling water or by using a juice or frozen concentrate. I typically take 2 quarts of an alike juice and simmer on stove at medium heat with lid off until its 1/3 its original size and let it cool to room temp and then add slowly to taste. Be careful not to over sweeten. At this point you can use a fining agent or let it clear naturally. Once clear, rack into clean vessel and bulk age more adding another ¼ tsp of k-meta at 3 month intervals or add ¼ tsp k-meta and bottle age for at least 3 months and enjoy. Longer aging will give you a better wine so save a few bottles till at least 1 year mark so you can truly see what this wine can aspire to.


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## WildSeedGrrrl (May 12, 2009)

My landlord has a mulberry tree. I'm going to try this recipe after picking all the berries I can reach. He's actually willing to string up a net to catch them (he said they make a huge mess on the deck).


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## Madriver Wines (May 23, 2009)

I have a huge Mulberry tree and they do make a huge mess. The berries are very popular with the local birds too. I am going to try your recipe later when the berries come on. Thanks Wade.


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## ffemt128 (Jan 25, 2010)

May have to give a try at this one when our Mullberry tree gets berries this year.


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## Wade E (Jan 25, 2010)

I bottled this batch(#3) about 2 months ago.


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## skiboarder72 (Oct 27, 2011)

How did it turn out wade?

I just started a 3 gallon batch of the one Jack Keller has on his site. We will see how it turns out! The must tastes awesome!


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## Wade E (Oct 27, 2011)

This one was a little thin. The berries just weren't ripe enough for the flavor to come through. The year before this we lost all the berries due to a wind storm right when they were prime and this time we were expecting a big wind storm right around the same time so I picked m bit they just werent ready yet.


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## alvachristeen (Nov 1, 2013)

ingredients:
•	6 lb. ripe mulberries
•	1-3/4 lb. granulated sugar
•	1 lb. chopped or minced raisins
•	¾ tsp. pectic enzyme
•	½ tsp. acid blend
•	6 pts. water
•	Bordeaux wine yeast and nutrient

METHOD:
https://www.cubancigarsbest.com/index.php/cohiba-cuban-cigars.html
Bring water to boil and dissolve sugar in it, stirring until completely clear. Meanwhile, wash the mulberries after removing the stems and pour into primary fermentation vessel. Add raisins, chopped or minced. Pour boiling sugar-water over fruit and allow to cool to 75-80 degrees F. Add pectic enzyme, acid blend, and yeast nutrient. Stir well, cover and set aside 12 hours. Add yeast, stir, recover, and allow to ferment four days on the pulp, stirring twice daily after punching down the cap. Strain through nylon sieve, pressing lightly to extract juice and then pour into dark secondary fermentation vessel or clear one wrapped with brown paper, topping up if necessary, and fit fermentation trap. Rack after two months and again two months later. Stabilize and set aside 2-3 weeks. Bottle, store in a dark place and taste after six months to a year. A full-bodied wine, it tastes better after two years.


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## x_diver (Dec 25, 2013)

My uncle's neighbor has a mulberry tree and said that i could take as much as i wanted. i'm new to wine making so i took just 6lbs and used this recipe to make 1 gallon. Great deep flavor after 6 months. Can't wait to see how this will be after a year. I'll be picking 36lbs this summer!


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 13, 2014)

I know this is an old thread but wondering if any of you who grow Mulberries can tell me roughly how many lbs of fruit you can harvest per 1 large tree? I'm planning my tree order for this spring and found a place that sells the Illinois Everbearing Mulberries and it looked intriguing to me to make wine out of. I'm sure it would take years to get a good harvest from these trees but it looks like an awesome tree to grow, being relatively pest free and disease resistant and bears fruit to boot. Thanks in advance for any info you all might have on this tree. 

They sell other kinds too including white mulberries but I've never eaten one either so really not sure what they taste like. Looks like a blackberry but read they don't quite taste like those?


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## jamesngalveston (Mar 13, 2014)

Mulberries are a wild and very plentiful tree here in texas, they are everywhere and get huge....I have seem some that were 40 to 50 ft.
From past when picking, i would guess maybe 200 lbs on a tree, providing you were able to get them all....
They do not all ripen at the same time, birds love them, and the ones at the top are hard to get to.


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## cintipam (Mar 13, 2014)

I have a couple mulberry trees that have been in the yard forever. I have read that some taste better than others, but the ones here verge on tasteless to me. I understand folks have different taste buds, but the only thing I could do with these would be make wine. And then I'd have to fpak a lot to make it taste good.

Trees are tall, but I can pick a decent amount from the ground. I let them grow as we like to help feed the wildlife, and birds love them. This is the source of the ubiquitous purple poop that covers everything during mulberry season.

Other folks may have diff opinions, but this is mine. Plant gooseberries instead.

Pam in cinti


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 13, 2014)

Thanks James and Pam! I have gooseberries already  I figured that from reading that I have done that different varieties do have different flavours and some are stronger flavours than others. The varieties I have found are apparently very flavourful. The Illinois one is supposed to only get up to 16 feet tall and the other variety (also everbearing) I'm looking at gets only to 8 feet tall and apparently has an intense flavor. http://www.greenbarnnursery.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=92901


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## cintipam (Mar 13, 2014)

Carolyn, it would be awesome to have a short highly flavored mulberry. Let me know how it goes. I keep my mulberries fairly short and the branches grow long and weepy, making picking easy if i would want to. They have no problem with pruning, even intense. There was a way too tall mulberry we thought was on the neighbors property till we checked the property spikes. That tree was about 40 feet, we cut it down to 8 ft. It skipped a year of fruiting but recovered just fine.

BTW if you haven't tried Black Velvet gooseberries you should. They are my fave, and I have about 6 kinds.

Pam in cinti


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## Julie (Mar 13, 2014)

I would have to agree with Pam, not sure on how flavorful of a wine it would make. They seem to be extremely sweet, I would think to get a decent wine from it you would end up with a very sweet wine.

Lol, I use mine tree as bait. I planted two cherry trees nearby, the birds will leave the cherries along and go after the mulberries.


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 13, 2014)

Julie: well that's the thing  I'm planting cherry trees this spring as well, I won't have cherries for a while but I need something to keep the birds away from my blueberries and elderberries lol 

Pam that sounds good! I only have yellow gooseberries here at the farm. What do the black velvet ones taste like?


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## jamesngalveston (Mar 13, 2014)

Yea... i would take the cherries over the mulberries any day....good strategy.


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 13, 2014)

Hmmm that nursery I posted has the black velvet ones too, now you've inspired me a bit to try these!


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 13, 2014)

jamesngalveston said:


> Yea... i would take the cherries over the mulberries any day....good strategy.



Maybe that's because you don't have a bird brain James!! JK I personally love cherries lol


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## cintipam (Mar 13, 2014)

Ok, first I gotta say I love tart flavors. I also have cherry trees, but not sweet cherries mostly because they are a lot harder to care for. I have tart aka pie cherries and I love them. Newest plantings are supposed to taste like a cross between tart and sweet plus be very hardy, but new in this year so no tasting yet.

Black Velvet is a very fast, upright growing gooseberry that is flavorful with a subtle taste I've not been able to put my finger on. Maybe a hint of licorice, but I don't like black licorice. It's something kind of sweet and very flavorful. Anyway I already had Pixwell (I don't even bother to pick them) Hinnomaki red (very tasty but smallish berries and uberthorny) Tixia larger, less thorns very yummy all producing well and 2 years back put in Hinnomaki Yellow, Black Velvet and Whitesmith. Haven't been impressed yet by the Hin Yellow, but it's only produced a few berries. Whitesmith might have been mislabled. Large white red cheeked berries with medium flavor so no complaints. But the black velvet is wonderful. The description says blueberry flavor. That might be it, but I think there is something more. Maybe a blueberry raspberry cross? Anyway, I really like them alot.

Pam in cinti


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 14, 2014)

Thanks for the info on the gooseberries Pam they do sound wonderful. I love anything that grows fast around here too! 

Standard sweet cherries aren't really hardy enough to grow up here either. But there are a good few dwarf varieties and some developed up here in Saskatchewan to be very cold hardy (zone 2-3). I'll be focusing on these smaller trees - easier to manage! Looking forward to spring and being able to dig in the dirt!!


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## cintipam (Mar 14, 2014)

WWW
are you planting the Romance cherries? Like Romeo, Carmine Jewel etc? I've been eyeballing those but they are hard to find and pricey around here. This is one instance where living in Canada really is an advantage! I just put in a Jubileum, Danube and Balaton which are also very cold hardy and while easy care are sweeter than regular tart cherries. I currently have a couple Richmond Early and a probable North Star picked up on clearance. Love them all.

Pam in cinti


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 14, 2014)

cintipam said:


> WWW
> are you planting the Romance cherries? Like Romeo, Carmine Jewel etc? I've been eyeballing those but they are hard to find and pricey around here. This is one instance where living in Canada really is an advantage! I just put in a Jubileum, Danube and Balaton which are also very cold hardy and while easy care are sweeter than regular tart cherries. I currently have a couple Richmond Early and a probable North Star picked up on clearance. Love them all.
> 
> Pam in cinti



Yes! there are a few in the romance series that look great as they are sweet enough for fresh eating as well. The Carmine Jewel looks good as does, Cupid which grows like a 6 foot shrub, Evans cherry which gets to 10 feet, Romeo and Juliet. All supposedly good for fresh eating. There are a few other sweet cherries that are grafted onto Gisela rootstock and hardy to zone 3-4. Kristin and Sweetheart. I haven't heard of the ones you mentioned probably because I'm in Canada? Or haven't researched it long enough. The one place sells the romance series for $13.99/tree but they are only 1 year old. The other place sells the other dwarves for $39 but they are 3-4 feet tall I believe. They also have a few non-dwarf varieties that are also hardy to zone 4. It can be a challenge to find just the right trees for your landscape and hardiness zone. Mazza and Biga... If I could I'd plant so much stuff, my place would be a forest lol


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## cintipam (Mar 14, 2014)

Gisela is great rootstock for my area .

To make you feel better in USA for the past couple years only Carmine Jewel was available. It averaged $40 for a rooted cutting that was prob 6 months old. I lucked into a sad one at a clearance sale but it was too far gone to live (believe me I babied it!). Now CJ is $30 and Romeo is available at the $40 range.

There used to be a professional paper online about the 3 varieties from the Danube area where it was believed a sweet and tart cherry interbred, but I just looked for it and it's been pulled from the internet. Best I could find was that one of them is hardy to zone 4.

Pam in cinti


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 14, 2014)

wow that's pretty steep... I think I did luck out when finding these deals. There is a nursery that I frequent in Ottawa too and I almost bought some cherry trees last summer. They are potted and range anywhere from 4-8 feet tall and range from $59 - $150... I might look again but I'd already have any ordered ones in at that point by the time they get their stock. The romance series ones also come as 2 year old bare root stock that are approximately 19" for $19.99... decisions decisions! I would have thought cherries would have been easier for you guys to get? Or is that just a regional thing for your general location?


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 14, 2014)

oops sorry the 2yr olds are approx. 16" for $19.99 plus shipping. They do give a discount for 10 or more trees for $12.99 a tree for a bundle of 10.


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## cintipam (Mar 14, 2014)

A lot of work went into breeding those Romance series, all done in Canada. After a couple years they did license one company in the USA to offer them, and Garden's Alive has kept a tight leash on who sells, and for what price. From what I've read about them, if I had a choice I'd jump at the deals you found on Romance. They are very hardy, very productive, and will produce much sooner than any regular tree you might buy. The Romance are sold basically as bushes, and you get some by year 2. For a tree it might be 4-5 years plus it is a lot harder to net a tree than a well maintained bush. Yes it helps to have bait trees, but the birds figure it out and go for the good stuff too.

If you haven't seen this yet, this link is all about the development of the Romance series. Lots of good info about each kind, taste, productivity etc. Good read since you're shopping now.

http://www.agrireseau.qc.ca/petitsfruits/Documents/Cold hardy cherries-02.PDF

Pam in cinti


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 14, 2014)

Thanks Pam! I'll go to the link! Yes when I saw they were developed in Saskatchewan I knew these would thrive at my place  I've been eyeballing them since last year. But I put a big order in for high bush cranberries and Saskatoon berries for hedging on two sides of my property. I wish I could hide some of these in a suitcase and bring them over to you  I hope that article will help make my decision on which ones I'll go for in that series.

You made a great point of course that these are smaller and will mature and fruit quicker and that's my goal, so they win!!


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## ckvchestnut (Mar 14, 2014)

wow that article is awesome... still reading but they even show the brix levels of these fruit, good read thank you


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