Campden tablets to sanitize fruit?

anyone use Campden tablets to sanitize fruit?
how is it done?

Going to heat pasteurize 1st 5lbs (15 min steep at end of boil will take care of any nasty things), second 5lbs is going into secondary... this will need some kind of sanitizing (i'm assuming Campden tablets), correct?

How many tablets per pound? should these berries be sanitized before freezing? should I make a puree for secondary? might need to "sanitize" blender with some tequila first.

thanks!

When I add fruit to my secondary all I do is heat them in a pan with a little water to about 130 degrees then cool and add.

would really like to keep fruit as fresh as possible for secondary as (from waht i've been told) strawberries lose a bunch of impact when heat pastuerized. got my berries going to heat pasteurize first 5lb get the goodness infused in the wort. looking to campden (orded 50 tabs) any experience with campdens? really want to keep a strong sencondary berry flavor. no cooked taste.

yhanks in advance

What I've read is that you mash the fruit up, put it in your bucket, crush the campden tablet(s), sprinkle it over and give it a stir then leave it 24 hours before using. At least that's what I read in a wine book.

But if I were adding in secondary for a beer, I would probably just wash the fruit before I do anything with it and not worry about it. Others may be more paranoid than I would be.

Thnks ChshreCat never done wine or added fruit to secendary. I'm of the paranoid school lol! I've sanitized oak in the microwave before adding to secondary... wont work for berries if I want to keep them as fresh as possible.

if i make blender strawberry mush with campden do you put it in the fridge for 24 hrs? seems like room temp might get more nastys...

You can probably just pasturize them gently by heating them to 160F for a few before putting them in. That shouldn't be warm enough to drive off too much of what you want to keep. I'd freeze them first though. Breaks down cell walls and makes the juice release easier.

planned on freezing first for both additions work well on raspberry ale with adding 1 step fruit to primary. might try bringing berry mush to 160°

How about a quick soak in a very mild bleach solution, or even no rinse sanitizer?

Used it for wine........but in the juice. I don't think it would really do a whole lot for whole fruit.

The few times I did fruit in secondary.......I made a bleach solution of 1 teaspoon of bleach for a gallon of water. Dropped the whole uncrushed/unpealed fruit into that for 30 seconds, then dried it.


For berries, after sanitizing them...........I freeze 'em for 24 hrs, then thaw. Put the thawed berries in a nylon bag and lightly crush in a sanitized bowl. Then pour the juice into the secondary, and then stuff the entire nylon bag into secondary as well.

I'm ready 2 secondary. going to puree 4-5lbs of fresh picked then frozen berries. add campden accordingly 1 tab/per gallon (or parts of) let sit in fridge 24 hours and add to batch in glass carboy. not too worried about mess. don't use secondary often... can let sit sealed for months in strong bleach solution before using again!