adding frozen strawberries

Can I just add frozen dole strawberries to my secondary and rack on top of them? Or do I need to sanitize them in any way. I have heard they are sanitized if frozen. Is that true?

Yes. You shouldn't have anything to worry about using frozen fruit.

If someone were to use fresh fruit, what sanitation steps would be necessary?

homebrewer_99 said:

Yes. You shouldn't have anything to worry about using frozen fruit.

Click to expand...

How does freezing fruit sanitize it? I though that freezing only slows down the growth of bacteria, it doesn't actually kill it. I always pasteurize my fruit (170 degree for 15 minutes) before adding it to my beer.

I had an infection in a blueberry beer that I'm pretty sure came from the frozen blueberries. Or maybe it was the bag, which I didn't sanitize either. My guess is it's still worth being cautious.

Freezing will, of course, not kill microbes. That has been established.

Most fruit companies do a reasonable job of washing the fruit before they freeze it. This will cut down on the "microbe burden" of the fruit without eliminating said burden. If the fruit is being added in the secondary (or even tertiary or quaternary or... fiver-ary ) phase, then the yeasty-beasties have a good, solid foothold and should be able to kneecap most competitor beasties who catch a ride in courtesy of a sloppy washer robot at the Dole factory.

Soooooo... is frozen fruit sterile? No.
Is it safe to add to secondary (or tertiary, or quat -- NOT THAT AGAIN)... Yes. Should be fine.

Don't do it if you are submitting to a contest, though, or if you are a perfectionist. Boil it like the good man says if it makes you feel good. Or if the voices tell you to. Best not to irritate the voices... they can get sooo cross.... you wouldn't like them when they're cross....

Cheers.