Conwy Mulberry Dark Mild?

[seymour]

Anyone know any recipe details about Conwy Mulberry Dark Mild?

sub-question: does "mulberry" simply refer symbolically to colour or something, or does this ale actually contain mulberries?

[timbo41]

No great help on recipe,but mulberry has an historical reference

http://www.conwybrewery.co.uk/3.html

[seymour]

No great help on recipe,but mulberry has an historical reference

http://www.conwybrewery.co.uk/3.html

Gotcha. So it's probably just a branding thing, and doesn't have anything to do with brewing ingredients.

Has anyone tasted this dark mild? Is it a good one?

[timbo41]

Getting info slowly Seymour

http://www.realaleinfo.com/beers/view/1721

[timbo41]

Mmm ....mulberry in the mash/boil/added pierced like sloes...interesting

[DaveyT]

Do you want info on this beer specifically or do you want info on using mulberries?
The latter I'm looking into as my mother-in-law's two-freakin-storey mulberry bush is about to explode in fruit for a month. I've never managed a brew so far, but I'm hoping that this is my year.

David

[seymour]

Do you want info on this beer specifically or do you want info on using mulberries?
The latter I'm looking into as my mother-in-law's two-freakin-storey mulberry bush is about to explode in fruit for a month. I've never managed a brew so far, but I'm hoping that this is my year.

Both. I've considered putting mulberries into a secondary fermentor and racking beer onto it, then bulk-aging, similar to a fruit lambic approach. I'd love to hear what techniques you come up with.

[DaveyT]

Very similar, Seymour. In terms of lambic, would you encourage yeast from the fruit or heat treat it?
I was thinking about the long stems and the odd texture they have, that surface slime. I was thinking of freezing then boiling briefly.
A wine maker called Jack Keller suggests getting rid of the stems. If you plan to add these to a secondary vessel, would they be such a big deal? Keller only has the berries in a fermenter for four days and he thinks it's worth removing them. Once thawed from a freeze this may not be too difficult if the fruit is mulched.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request135.asp
I was considering a mild and a saison. The saison mainly because I'll be brewing in high temps in August, but then I started thinking about what spices I could pair with the mulberries in a saison and got all excited. Liqorice and mulberry, perhaps.

[DaveyT]

Just waiting for some mulberries to cool before I add them to a dark saison. When I aimed to pick them, I forgot that I was leaving the country after only a week of their appearance and that week would be spent preparing for the trip away. So I only got 235g which is going into 4.65l of a dark saison along with 4g of liquorice root extract. I say 4g but my scales are really bad with low weights and are alternating between 2 and 4g. Anyway, it seemed to round the berry flavour nicely when I reduced the lot in a pan.
The beer is a mix of malt and wheat extract with 6.5% oat malt, 6.5% roast barley and a healthy pinch of coriander. I had a bit of an issue with it which you can read about here if you want to:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=61251
I'm adding the berries to a secondary then transferring the beer from the primary. It's had 9 days in the primary and may have another 9 in the secondary depending on when I get round to bottling.
Great stuff!

David

[seymour]

Sounds delicious, I can't wait to hear how it turns out!

[Eric]

No great help on recipe,but mulberry has an historical reference

http://www.conwybrewery.co.uk/3.html

Gotcha. So it's probably just a branding thing, and doesn't have anything to do with brewing ingredients.

Yes, all to do with the Mulbery Harbours for the D-Day Landings which were built at Conwy. The same site was used to build the tunnel that is the newest river crossing and is now grassed over with a car park, footpath and information board.

[DaveyT]

Got this bottled on Saturday so it was 9 days in the FV then 9 days in the secondary. It got down to 1.004 and smelt awesome. My Spanish wife said it reminded her of her summers drinking sangria, but, she added, in a nice way.
The earthy notes of the mulberries don't spoil the berry flavour as I thought they might but add to the liquorice really well. I got the amount of liquorice right too as I had completely forgotten about it and thought it was a flavour derived from my clever grain bill. Felt a bit of a cheat, but it looks mighty promising for it.
Needless to say the colour is very intriguing. The red of the fruit really work well with the red hue of the roast barley. Makes me want to brew something else!
I'll try and get some photos up, but that is a current weak point of mine.