Fruit Juice vs. fresh fruit in Beer

Was browsing over at Trader Joe's yesterday, and saw a few juices (pomegranite and cherry) that were 100% juice not from concentrate not blends, and IIRC organic. They were pasturized. Has anybody tried using that type of juice instead of crushed fruit? I assume it would be much neater, and cheaper. They were 1 quart bottles for 3.99. Based on nutrition label, each bottle would add about .25-.3 lb of sugar, so not a huge impact on OG. I was thinking 1-2 bottles would do nicely. Being 100% varietal juice, they should provide the full fruit characteristic, as opposesd to extract flavorings. And a few extra vitamins and antioxidants for good health to go with all the natural B-vits from the yeast.

That sounds good, and like a useful idea. I think some of the reasons for whole fruit is to obtain some of the colors, tannins and flavanoids from the flesh and skin. I would think that some juice would add a nice fruit like essence to the beer without being so in-your-face about it.

One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the high end Juices, Odwalla, Naked, Nantucket Nectar, etc. have only just been brought to pasteurization. There are no active organisms in there, but there are still spores ready to spring into actions. These include dormant fungus and molds, also to a lesser degree some bacteria and yeast strains have a spore like state.

I would treat the juice like a must and use a campden tab per instructions, usually 1 tab per gallon of juice (one quarter tab per quart of juice) and set over night loosely covered, then poor into fermenter.

Could you just put the juice, if it is in a jar, into a pot of boiling water and ultra pasturize it?

Schnitzengiggle said:

Could you just put the juice, if it is in a jar, into a pot of boiling water and ultra pasturize it?

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I'm considering adding a fruity touch to my next brew. I simply came to the conclusion that I should simmer (or 'nearly boil') my 'juice' in a saucepan for a while to kill off any nasties.

I'm not sure how applying heat to the juice will affect the amount of fermentable sugars it will add to the wort.

Boiling juice will just set pectins. Add it straight to secondary, or figure out how much sugar it has and use it for bottling.