One thing I love about this channel is that you guys are open to showing your learning experiences. So many people want to appear like they are just miraculously great at stuff off the bat with no dead-ends or changes of direction, which is just not reality. On a broader scale in the last year we've seen shifts around approach to backsweetening and sweeteners, a development in favour of pectic enzyme, a process of learning about oaking and where it is/isn't worthwhile. what got me with this though was here within one video going "we are going to process this fruit and here is why" to "actually this was a bad idea" which a lot of people would try to reshoot or edit around. Way nicer to me as content to see that actually happen and get discussed.

Mulbery wine was by far my best wine ive ever made. Sadly my tree blew down and i haven't made any more. I warmed my must to 130f and added sugar untill it all disolved. Then i let it cool and pitched my bread yeast. I didn't add any yeast nutrient figuring the berries would would provide sufficent nitrogen for yeast proteins and phosphorus for yeast dna. After the ferment and racking i added lemon juice. I didn't take original or final gravity readings.

In 2020 I made a 6 gal batch of Mulberry wine. I have 5 bottles left and I am guarding those and waiting for the right time to enjoy them.I did not add any wood, yet this is one of the best wines I have made. YUou forgot to pair it with a 18 oz porterhouse cooked medium rare. Heaven

I appreciate slipping in the early learning opportunity. kinda fast and loose with good notes is perfect. It's a hobby with tasty dividends. Not much to add for conversation but in service of the mighty YT algo!

Blackberries in Louisiana have powerful natural yeasts that brew a very strong wine but I froze the bag I just used for wine for about 10 months and just used them to make room for a fresh bunch that are just beginning to ripen. I just planted four dwarf everbearing mulberry trees and got 3 wide-mouth brewing jars with airlocks. I`ll probably get a lot more of them. I drink my wine fast so I won`t be storing any unless I buy jugs to keep it in. I also got 20 lbs of raw organic sugar because it`s oddly the least expensive and by far the most delicious for oatmeal and creamy wheat.

Brian and Derica, i want to thank you for the great videos y’all create. They are helpful, entertaining, informative and enjoyable to watch. Please keep it up!

This sounds amazing, and it's so simple to make! The color is unbelievable too. A year from now, it should be a 10! 👍 I would not have back-sweetened it either. As soon as I really like something dry (which happens rarely) I don't even think about making it sweeter. Otherwise, what I've started doing every time is, filling up a couple of bottles dry (for some folks who always prefer it that way), before back-sweetening the rest.

In the past year I’ve been using powdered wine tannin in every brew I’ve made and they’ve been finishing A LOT better than my earlier attempts. I’ve also found that when I add it after I take out the solids that it actually helps to clear the brew. But it really does make a world of difference and like you said it’s a lot more consistent.

Oooooohhh… now I wish I had bought that mulberry tree a few years back! On mulberries: although quite frequently found in gardens in large parts of the US (or so I’m told), the red mulberry isn’t very well known in the part of Europe where I live. A variety of mulberry is very common in Eastern Europe and there it’ll often be used to deepen the colour of red wine and to add depth and interest… or to use on its own for wine by adding sugar to the must. I was advised to use if I can’t get them although those aren’t as good flavour wise (wouldn’t know, only have access to blackberries for now). Commercially, mulberries are almost impossible to get as they’re such delicate fruit. About fruit in wines/meads/ciders in general: my go-to rule of thumb is around 3000 grams to 3.5-4 liters of added liquid, with sugar or honey added up to the desired gravity without the fruit. When making wines, I’ll often add at least half of that in some kind of juice that’ll nicely compliment the added fruit, if not all. When making mead, it’s either only water, or up to half the total volume of added liquid in some kind of complimentary fruit juice. That way the resulting wine or melomel never tastes watery. Depending on the fruit or my mood, I’ll add a handful of chopped raisins for body. This rule of thumb has never failed me so far. Of course there are exceptions. I’ve got an exceedingly nice blueberry mead that used less fruit. Haven’t checked my notes, but I think it was somewhere around 2000 grams of fruit, no added raisins, vanilla and oak in conditioning, slightly back sweetened. My wide mouth fermenter has a capacity of 5 litres. Perfect for adding those straining bags. On steeping time for fruit: my general MO is that hard fruit such as apples can sit in the must until fermentation is done. Soft fruit is left in for roughly a week. Very soft fruit like defrosted strawberries get taken out after 3-5 days because after that they’re just nasty mush that’ll seep through the bag and make my life difficult and leave too much sediment. Fruit with seeds: depending on whether I’ve added tannin, it varies. If I added tannin, I remove the fruit after a week because otherwise the brew ends up being too tannic. If I didn’t add tannin, I have a taste and decide: remove and leave as is? Add oak? Add tannins? Leave the fruit in for a few extra days? Leave in and add tannin? Back sweetening: I will often involve my daughter. I’ll pour three samples: one as is, one sweetened only a little bit, one finished on the sweet side. We’ll taste all three, decide which one we prefer. We’ll have some food and a drink of water, then have a taste of our favourite and a taste of a mixer between our favourite and our second favourite in equal parts. The winner of those two is our benchmark for the back sweetening. It works for us. Of course we don’t have videos that need to go out. We have the time and this takes longer. On storing yeast packages that have been opened: a little birdy told me I’m going to find an immersion circulator under the Christmas tree. So I ordered re-usable vacuum bags in various sizes and a little pump. Now I’m thinking I might use one of the smallest bags to pop my opened yeast packets in (still using the patented folding method). Seal the vacuum bag, take out the air, and those yeasties will be extra-safe in the fridge! Reason is that I’ve also got a larger packet of yeast I want to keep as safe as possible. Stacking the odds on my side, so to speak. If someone else happens to have re-usable vacuum bags and a manual pump it might be something they’d consider doing. I’m looking forward to the 1-year tasting video of this wine SO MUCH! 😊

Thx guys love what you do and appreciate the learning aspect

"I would pair this with ALL the foods!" That's a glowing recommendation if I ever heard one.

This sounds delish! The mead I brewed with dried mullberries turned out one of my best so now I have to make this version too!! Great vid as always!!

This reminds me of the blackberry mead I have aging in a used rum barrel. Might crack it open after watching this and see if it’s ready to bottle. Love y’all’s content! Main reason I home brew now is y’all’s videos.

So cool . Thanks for the videos

Great video guys. That wine sounds wonderful. I’m sure it will be amazing in a year

Congratulations on all the awards you recieved last night!!!

I love it! edit: I'm so glad you guys have gone back to the original backdrop. Adds so much charm to the videos. =)

Love your videos. You're my "go-to" for Mead Education. I just started a nice Cinnamon/vanilla mead yesterday. Hope it turns out as good as it smells.

Very awesome video, as usual! I started my mulberry mead a couple weeks ago. Can’t wait to try it! You have definitely convinced me to try wood in my brews. Will be putting that on my list of things to order next!

Omg I've been waiting for this one! Thank you

I want to say thank you for creating these video’s because I didn’t know what mead was till today. I have watched about five of your video’s and because of you two and the content you put out I definitely will be trying this at home. I am a intimidated by the math but not deterred. I have to admit that I can’t stand most of the content people put out or the people for that matter but you two are a joy to watch. Thank you!!!

Just bottled my first cider a bit ago, made it after watching your simple cider. Can't believe I'm enjoying my own homebrewed adult beverage, this is awesome. Didn't do anything but apple juice, so it's dangerously easy to drink, haha.

I just got a pitcher like you have. It is fantastic.

Excellent! Color

Omg i just thought of this shirt idea for y’all! The Fermentation Station with a train that goes chugga chugga brew brew! That is all!

I'm not really a dry wine fan, BUT the fact that it is mulberry, reminds me of Fourth of July at the lake, when I would stand on the back of my truck to get mulberries off of a skinny mulberry tree, I love that flavor and how you took me through this, I would like to have some of that wine and I would probably enjoy it, I want to make this

We used,(for a British demi). 3.2lb local wildflower Honey and 2/3 a jar of our own homemade bramble jam. Ended up 1.102. Was a wonderful brew after 6 months.

I've found that sweeteners like stevia and erythritol go well with more abrasive flavors. For example, I always sweeten my matcha with stevia, not sugar, and I recently used Erythritol in a lavender skeeter pee which, as far as I can tell, turned out well because of the acidity of the lemonade. My friend even said that it's her favorite of all the things I've made! If you wanna put your 6 ib bag to use, throw some lemonade and 1-2 tablespoons of culinary lavender on top of those yeast cakes, Brian!

SO entertaining :) Love it. Happy Gilmore, Get in your Home

I am linking you in my next wine video. THANK YOU BOTH

I love the math geeking out!

Yay! Another Happy Gilmore reference lol

Excellent 👍!! A lot of great tips and a little bit of humor 😜👍❤️ I cracked up laughing when Danica specified the SPGV, just after you mentioned averaging,😂🤣😁 Just another reason I love watching you two❤️ Hopefully, after taxes, I can support your videos a bit more 🙏👍😊

Oh Wow, Yes Indeed. I am soo Happy you made this Video 🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️. I'm Making Th8s Too 🤣😂🤣🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️ I am Sharing this and watching all the ads. Thank you 2 💋💋💋💋

Also love the happy Gilmore reference

I just picked up some Cran Cherry. It is so Yummy. I am going to get some to make into Wine hehehehe. I am Loving this.

I love the video. I would love to see a video of paring of food and mead wine and whisky

Thanks for explaining how to average the starting gravity. I don't have a set-up with a wide mouth fermenter, so all the fruit bits are in the liquid..

the stems... Love the channel.!

I have to admit something. There is definitely, definitely,...with absolutely no doubt what so ever.... no hesitation in the truth of it..........that........... ....there is something wrong with my brain because I SOOOOOOO get you guys humor and thought process in getting to the point and relaying information!!!!!!!!!! LOVE THIS CHANNEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Morning guys.

Made this twice and I love it. Elderflower is my fav but rhubarb comes 2nd.

My grest uncle used to add an egg in churn, when egg rose to top. Wine was ready.

When I created my Saskatoon Berry melomel, I tried to break the skins before adding it to the brew. The berries had been in the freezer for around a month after being picked fresh. I tried to squish them with a potato masher. Didn't work out the way I wanted it to. I then switched to a blender and made a purée. A blender could help in place of the mill if need be.

So what I have done with the wood from ken if it’s not charred I char it a bit. And the charcoal helps clean up the brew especially if it’s yeasty or off a bit.

As always... Thanks for the video! I did have an interesting scenario happen last night. I started a traditional mead, 3 gallon batch, in early October that I was going to spice once fermentation was complete. I used 71B yeast and nutrient, OG: 1.138. I got bubbles after about a hour of pitching the yeast and let it sit for awhile to make sure fermentation was complete. So last night I was doing my first racking and I check the SP and it was at 1.068. It was very sweet and not much alcohol. I believe it puts it around 10.5%. I added a cup of water and the spices. I believe I have (2) different roads to go down. Option 1) I was thinking of adding vodka to it and more water if fermentation doesn't start again. Option 2) would be to re-pitch my yeast and nutrient and maybe some more water to it to dilute the alcohol? Also, would you classify this as a stall? Is it because I have old yeast or a bad packet? or too much honey in primary?

Nice Happy Gilmore reference.

I see you are in your right mind

Hey, I did a little testing with one of my brews and I thought you might like to try it or even know something about it. I was using baker's yeast to make an apple wine and it was taking forever to settle out, so I decided to just add the finishing stuff to the secondary fermenter I added the 1/2 teaspoon of sorbate and stirred it gently, and then I added about 1/8th of a cup of that "Realemon" juice to it to make it a bit more acidic. The next day the yeast had mostly flocculated out, with just a slight haze left. The wine was clear within 3 days. I tried it again with some bread yeast mead just a few days ago, and I added the lemon juice just after the bubbling stopped. It worked again, mostly clearing out after just a day even though I shook it to test the theory. So my hypothesis is this: Lemon juice helps yeast flocculate if added after fermentation stops. I can't find anyone else talking about this so I thought I would ask you if it sounds crazy.

BTW mulberries are a syncarp which is a multiple fruit similar to an aggregate fruit created from a tight cluster of tiny flowers. Pineapples are also in the category.

I shoot for around a 10% abv, if I get a little more sugar out of the fruit and it ends up around 12%-13% (hope for the lower ) I'm happy with it. I find wine in general more enjoyable with its somewhere close to 12% ballpark. If I had a proper way to barrel age to mellow it out I wouldn't mind dipping a bit above 13%.

This may have already been pointed out: As to the weights sliding off. Gravity being what it is I’d put the weights in the bottom of the bag like ballast in a ship. They would then hold the bag down from within rather than balancing from without. And if it still floats add more weights in future brews.

When it comes to sugar sweetening a simple syrup is best. Boil two cups of water, add a cup of sugar and a teaspoon of corn syrup (prevents crystallization) and stir until dissolved. Put it in plastic squeeze bottles. Remember how sugar does not sweeten ice tea as well when added to the cold tea. But a simple syrup will sweeten it. To find out how much sugar was added divide the final ounces into the eight ounces of sugar.

Citysteading is the best. Learned so much from your two and now I have a few brews going on myself. I was just wondering how do you dry tubing such as an auto siphon? I don’t want any mold or mildew developing.

Piñot Noir! I have mulberries in my backyard. Really want to try this

Oh wow, yes Derica, I'm with you there. Why can't they just put the alcohol tolerance on the packet???

Could you have used an immersion blender to further masticate the berries after frozen? Love your videos!

Glass fermentation weights remind me of the old glass Ashtrays I would see in everyone's house as a kid. Clean of course.

"Every berry counts." I agree!

Now I have to have mulberries

It's really cool how you guys grow a lot of the fruit yourself. Is it stressful to deal with all the different kinds of factors for not only the wine but all your fruit trees?

Thank you for the useful information. I'd like to hear your opinion. When making wine from fruit in larger quantities of 200l, everyone says the fruit must be sterilised first to kill wild yeasts and bacteria. Otherwise, the wine may spoil or fail to ferment properly. I like how you to don't use chemistry.

The dilemma of back-sweetening. I recently made a ginger mead that went dry, and was very interesting tasting. I thought that I should back-sweeten it and found that now it lost the interesting part and tasted watery. Lesson learned. If you like it, you should probably just go with it rather than trying to improve it. I did add French Oak to the ginger mead, so hopefully it will improve some with that, but it totally lost some of it's edginess going from dry to sweet.

Small glass "pot watchers" could work for the weights

I wonder if a more complex sweetener might help? Demara Sugar adds a light spice.

great stuff I will soon pick a heap of mulberries,, I have this redstar yeast in stock,,, good choice,,,, but am leaning to lalvin K1 V1116,, as it likes reds,,,, but the jury is out still;;; D47 also a possibility also BM4x4... and may do this as a melomel ,,,, so many choices !,, love your blogs,,, it's fun to learn,,, u u help us all learn ,,,, cheers

Good morning from Arizona, both of you are amazing, I would like to know what equipment I need to start my own home spirit's to enjoy, thank you for your sharing your experiences and knowledge

.992 to .994 is what you’d ferment a red wine down to like Cabernet so that to me is perfect. 1-2 years in the bottle and I bet that’s unreal good.

6:54 "I'm not weighing the bag" Me: "His sugar calc will be off a bit. Let's see if it's noticeable." Edit: "Wait, he's taking IG, so he can correct for it. Interesting." Coincidentally l, I just bought a house with a mulberry tree. And a mandarin orange tree. And a grape vine. And a separate shed. Guess what I'll be doing here? :)

Ah, Scoresby's Scotch in the airlock!

Fruit varies quite allot for it's sugar content... There's a reason some strawberries taste bitter, some taste bland (watery) and others taste sweet. You might be able to get a bit more sugar using enzymes but it still won't be consistent among the same fruits from different batches and sources.

Thanks for all the advice and technical details!!! Question do I have to pasturize a dry home brew made from mulberries? Once racked I plan to let age for many many years. I want to keep all the “healthy” properties home brew brings to the table. Many Thanks, Dusty Rougeau- Louisiana

Hey guys! Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe. I’ve yet to work with frozen berries myself, but I’m looking forward to trying it out! I had a question regarding your choice of vessel during the oaking phase. I noticed you used a wide mouthed jar, and that there was a lot of headroom. I’ve had several scenarios come up where I had to rack something that was a little under a gallon into a 1 gallon vessel, and usually worry myself silly about oxidation. I’ve considered trying to find a 0.8 gallon fermenter or investing in filler marbles, but this seems like it might be unnecessarily expensive and complicated. Is this one of those things I really don’t need to be as concerned about as I currently am? Thanks again for everything you two teach and do! : )

It was a good year for mulberries but the trees by me were full of worms this year just when they started to ripen even the dog didn’t eat any this year

Hello, i made a green mulberry wine from my grandma's tree. I started it in the beginning of June. It tasted fine when it finished fermentation. It was a little sweet, but in a good way. Ending ABV was about 12%. After all the rackings and time, i bottle it. I opened a bottle yesterday just to taste it and it was way sweeter than before. Can i referment that batch to dry it out a little bit more? Or how can i fix it? Thanks. I just recently started trying home brews as a hobby lol

I'm mildly allergic to mulberry and id still try it

I made a mulberry mead, but I forgot to add any wine tannin or black tea. The OG was 1.112 and the FG is 1.022. The taste seems a little watery which I attribute to no tannin. Can I add some black tea to the brew to give it some mouth feel or is it too Late?

Love your guys videos, they’re all very helpful! I just made my first brew of mead, but I think I made a mistake 😬. I didn’t add any sanitizing liquid to the airlock, I just threw it in 😂. It’s been like that for two weeks, should I be concerned.?

Does anyone know if CSB has ever tried hyper decanting in any of their videos? It seems like an easy approchable way to make young wine taste better, if it works.

Mulberries are not really known here in Germany. Normally just dried. Here we more have raspberries and blackberries. Also with fruits I take a reading. Just to know what is the minimum Gravity. I never tried tannin powder. I think the black tea I learned from you 2018 works fine for me.

With your switching between gallons and liters, you start to sound Canadian Bryan! 😂😂

Build a computer data base on your brews with a cross reference search engine for pairing

Could you add Mulberry leaves for tannins and nutrient?

why not do half sweet bottled and half unsweetened bottled to see how it differs in age when you cant pick. grate video. making your Vikings blood mead recipe

I can't get over how dark it is looks good, and have u guys ever thought 2 use Glycerin 2 add sweetness and maybe body 2 ur wine?

Are those weights designed not to create air pockets? I assume fruit bags rise because they fill up with co2 during fermentation

With the recap videos, I'd the 1 year is available, could you add that too? Something like a one-stop shop

Think this will work for Saskatoon Berries (also called Service Berries)? I have lots of those!

Could always weigh down the bag with a flipped over saucer

Try an electronic juice extractor ?

Could I put my berry's in my juicing machine first ? Or do I need to use the whole fruits

Those 11/10's that you mentioned, what are they? Tempted to try making some of em

FYI it’s maceration, mastication is chewing.

Brewing C words: Compromise Comparison Contention Categorize Campden Cranberries Cherries Cinnamon Chai Caramelized Chocolate Check Clean Caps, covers, corks Chilli Capscamel... hope it's spelled right Cats

If its that good, leave it alone!

Do I need to add pectin to a blackberry version of this?

Can't wait for 1 year on this. Ok so city and brews I get. What's steading

What ratio fruit to sugar was this? Love the channel. Watch you all the time. Thanks!

Done a few mulberry meads. I don't think they really maintain much of their taste or flavor. Does have a beautiful colour though.

I have a suggestion.... What do you guys think about making some game of thrones themed meads and wines? I would watch those and most likely make them myself