Mullberry wine with sweet berries

[evilhomer]

I've been looking over a bunch of the old posts and various internet recipes. Here in Michigan we have the dark purple berries and they are very sweet and watery, almost too sweet. Wondering if anyone has recommendations on how to adjust for that? We've been picking them and putting them in the freezer. Anything you'd add for more body? I'm concerned about that because of the high water content. A lot of posts say to do a higher berry to gallon ratio. Currently thinking of doing 8lbs per gallon.

Some recipes say to boil berries others don't. Any input on that? The one method I was looking at was to thaw in mesh bags in a fermentation bucket, adjust SG and all that. Ferment in there for about a week and then transfer to secondary.

 

[Seamonkey84]

I wouldn’t boil, as that changes the flavor of the product. Most of the boiling is to sanitize the fruit, which can also be done with sulfites. 8lbs to a gallon is on the heavy side, but that’s what I do with my batches, just need sweetening after as berries tend to be rather tart/acidic. As for body, I ferment on the fruit/skins in a mesh bag for 7-10 days, or until it’s close to being done. I then remove the bag and transfer it all from the bucket to a carboy to let it finish with less headspace. Even if your berries are very sweet, take a gravity reading after you mash the juice and mix with the water, you’ll likely still need to add more sugar to bring it to 1.090-1.100.