so i collected mullberries today

[Grod1]

I collected a little over 3 pounds of mulberry from ripe trees today. I saw some bird **** on a few. Obviously i threw out anything that wasn't kosher and rinsed everything(loosing precious juices) but there is no way im going to throw them into a good beer post boil which is my plan for a sour.
I went ahead and did a little research and found a good way to pasteurize.
I put them in a water bath in a turkey bag and let hem sit between 160-170F for 30 mins.Problem is my meat thermometer broke the turkey bag. so i have a bag full of pasteurized berries and water.
Should i keep the water( i feel like i need to) or should i drain them and just put the whole fruit into primary.
What would you guys have done wirh the fruit.In can get more and plan to while the picken is good.
can them? just put them in the boil?

 

[Lefou]

I'd resist boiling them if possible. Mash and puree after freezing, then add the fruit to a second carboy - if you have one. Siphon the beer on top and leave minimal headspace.

I love mulberries. One of my unfinished future projects is a mulberry-infused mead (morat). Never got around to it because learning to make beer became a priority.

 

[Grod1]

They are ripe get out there. Just drove past nyack the other day.

 

[TBC]

I freeze the fruit I pick and when I'm ready to use it I let it thaw a little and throw it into the blender and purée them. Then dump them into a secondary and rack on top of them. I also add a blow off tube at this point because the secondary fermentation can get wild. I use 1-2 pounds of fruit per gallon in my wheat beers.

 

[MaryB]

Morat is on my list when the mulberries get ripe. I have enough honey I think for a 5 gallon batch. Make it, keg it and let it sit for awhile.

 

[rippajak]

The first thing I ever fermented was a mulberry mead, which I'm only know learning is called morat. It was probably awful, but I remember it fondly.

I would probably just freeze the berries and add them in secondary. I know that they tend to have silkworms and all sorts of stuff on them, but I would be afraid of losing too much of the fruit essence in any kind of steeping. I would just trust the acid and alcohol in the fermented beer to keep other microbes at bay, at least for as long as it took me to drink it.

Your idea of canning them sounds solid. Putting them in a jar and cooking them in a pressure cooker/canner would heat them up to sanitizing temperature. I've never tried to cook mulberries, though, so I don't know what the flavor difference would be.

 

[MaryB]

Cooked mulberry is great, I make a pie once a year(pain to make, remove all the stems from that many berries...). I also make jam but there I don't worry about the stems.