How to handle fresh fruit?

[mfischer2]

I have a bunch of peaches that I'd like to add to a wheat beer. The consensus on this is to puree them and add them to secondary as the flavor will come through better. However, I'm concerned about wild yeast and bacteria being introduced. I planned on pureeing them and heating them to say 150/160 for 15-20 minutes. Is that sufficient? They've already been pitted and have been in my freezer for a couple weeks.

[Ozwald]

Freezing them should take care of potential worries, but I've gone as far as to pasteurize fruit in the oven as well. I don't recall the exact time/temp I used off the top of my head, but keep it low & slow as to not release any more of the peachy-goodness than you have to. I think I was at my lowest oven setting (about the range you're talking about) for about 45 minutes or so, but like I said, I don't recall specifics. I'm pretty sure 15-20 isn't long enough though.

[spiderwrangler]

Freezing isn't a reliable way to go about killing microorganisms, many of them will just be slowed down, but will pick right back up as things warm. If you were dealing with whole fruit, I'd recommend a soak metabisulfite solution, after which you could blanch, skin and pit them. IF they've been blanched, skinned and pitted, you've likely physically removed the majority of surface bacteria already, but potentially could hit them with metabi too, perhaps with a sterile water rinse...

[Ozwald]

I wouldn't recommend it in all cases, but from my experience fruit that was chopped/pureed before a good long solid freeze and then put directly into an alcoholic solution (my fruited wheat is ~6% ABV) has worked every time. Also keeping in mind that a fruited wheat typically doesn't do too well with age. I usually blow the keg in 2-3 weeks max. If I was looking to sit on it for any longer, I would definitely pasteurize.

[spiderwrangler]

Good point... if it's getting finished soon, even if you introduce something to it, it may get finished before it comes out....

[Ozwald]

it may get finished before it comes out....

A confession from the jr. high school days?

[spiderwrangler]

Hey man... to this day I try to finish before it comes out... don't know bout you but doing the deed inside is better than outside in my opinion...

[Ozwald]

Hey man... to this day I try to finish before it comes out... don't know bout you but doing the deed inside is better than outside in my opinion...

Not when it's inside your