Fruit Beer Question....

I'm making a blackberry wheat and have completed the primary fermentation. I have heard two schools of thought when it comes to adding fruit to your beer. First, to sterilize it by steeping the berries in 150 deg. water for fifteen minutes before introducing it to the secondary. But my local homebrew shop said not to worry about doing that, just rack the beer on top of the berries without steeping them, into the secondary, and any unwanted bacteria or foreign yeast would be killed due to the alcohol already in the beer. Is this true? Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to mess this up.

Are the berries fresh, frozen, canned?

I think you could wash the fruit well and then freeze it in a zip lock bag. Once you're ready to rack the beer take the fruit out and let it thaw. Pour the fruit in the fermenter and rack the beer on it. The freezing should kill most bacteria; the beer should take care of the rest. Another effect of thawing is the fruit becomes mushy, which allows for a greater extraction of flavor.
In the future you might want to buy a can of Oregon fruit puree, the fruit is cleaned, pureed and sterilized, so you just pour it in the fermenter and you're ready to go.

The berries were picked fresh, washed and then frozen. Thanks for the advice, I think I will do as you said and go for it. I'll post the results in a couple weeks.

The berries were picked fresh, washed and then frozen. Thanks for the advice, I think I will do as you said and go for it. I'll post the results in a couple weeks.