Sanitized fruit

[GoBlue59]

What is the best way to sanitize some fruit for a brew? Normally I'd make a tincture with vodka, but I'm looking to add way too much fruit (5+ lbs) for a vodka bath.

Everything I've read suggests to mash up the fruit, add some water to make a slurry, and then add a campden tablet... Then cover with Saran wrap for a few days. After a few days it should good to add to my secondary. Is this the best way?

[squeegeethree]

Pasteurization Temp chart at the end of the article
Nice thing about adding fruit to secondary is the bedded a Brett inoculation not that much can go wrong.
https://www.zwirnerequipment.com/resources/methods-of-pasteurization/

[GoBlue59]

So if I mash up the fruit (strawberries), add some water, and bring to a boil, it would take 0.01 seconds to sanitize?

Then put into a sanitized Tupperware and bring the temp back down to around 65 degrees F?

[Rburrelli]

If you did that way you would have pasteurized it way before reaching the boiling point.

[squeegeethree]

You can pasteurize at was lower temps than boiling

[brew_cat]

Ive heat pasteurized and added pectic enzyme to try to limit the haze. I've also used Camden tablets which may give you a clearer product. I guess it depends on what you want in the beer your designing

[GoBlue59]

I'm redoing my strawberry honey weizen, using a bucket fermenter instead of the conical (just want to get this particular recipe made quickly).

But I don't want to use a store bought puree, I'd like it to be actual berries.

I understand itd be pasteurized way before boiling, but I figure better safe than sorry, and it's a definite way to make sure it was pasteurized. Some parts might not get heated to appropriate temps uniformly, so if it gets boiling I have visual evidence that it reached a good temperature by seeing it boil

[brew_cat]

If you boil you will probably get some haze not a problem in a weizen so go for it. Of course now we will get people who say you will flash off aromatics bringing to a boil. I get wonderful aroma in my fruit wine just going to 180°

[Grantmesteven]

I freeze my fruit in gallon ziploc bags and never have a problem. It helps break down the cell walls and makes the juice more available without crushing.

[jimrmaine]

I've never added more than 1 pound or two to 5G beers(and those I do exactly as grantmesteven mentions above), but I have made several fruit wines which involved 5-6 lbs of fruit in a 1 gallon batch. These I chop up or puree the fruit, freeze it, thaw and refreeze. Then when I'm ready to use it I thaw it out, add 1 Camden tab , then pectic enzyme about 12 hours later, then pitch my yeast 24 hours after the Camden.

[GoBlue59]

I thought about freezing the fruit as well, I just wasn't sure if the bacteria would return upon thawing. I know it would die in the freezer but I just wasn't sure what might happen once it was brought back to room temp

I want to add ~5 pounds for a 5 gallon batch. I've heard strawberry is a very light flavor, so I would need a 1:1 ratio

[Grantmesteven]

I rack directly onto the frozen fruit so it doesnt have time to thaw. The alcohol in the beer should be enough to kill any nasties left behind.

[squeegeethree]

The alcohol in beer will never approach a level that will kill bacteria. You need >40% to do that. But if your wort is mostly fermented and you have a strong batch of yeast remaining the yeast will out compete the bacteria. That is not the case with Brett and residual unfermentables however

[GoBlue59]

So don't just freeze... Definitely heat pasteurize?

[Grantmesteven]

Just freeze. @squeegeethree is right about the alcohol content. I also meant that a healthy supply of yeast should out compete other types of other bacteria except for Brett and unfermentables.

[WMNoob]

I’ve heated tart cherries to 160 F for about 20 minutes. No pectin haze and no bugs.

[sneezles61]

Dont do use fruit here... But now... I'm confused?? Sneezles61

[GoBlue59]

So update. I heat pasteurized 5# of strawberry and then froze for a week or so. Thawed and poured into my carboy. Racked beer into the carboy, making sure the hose was right on top of the berries.

I had the autosiphon go "dry" at times and had to restart it, but overall it was fine.

Took a taste sample today and it's not the best beer I've ever made, but not the worst either. It has a taste that I can't quite describe. At first it feels like there's not much flavor at all, and then I sort of taste the alcohol (it fermented to a higher abv than expected)... Then you get a little bit of a honey taste, but obviously not sweet. There's a slight tartness to it, probably from the berries. It mixes to more than bland but definitely not what I hoped for. I really was hoping for a strawberry mixed with a Magic Hat "circus boy". I think I'm going to add a small bit of strawberry extract to get that flavor into it. Not planning on lactose unless it is a giant mess.

Any chance bottle aging will change the flavor in a medium to large amount?

Edit: I did draw off the top where lots of berries were floating. I may have gotten some of that "fermented fruit" taste that wouldn't represent my actual beer. Not sure