adding dehydrated fruit

I know most people use puree or boil fresh or frozen fruit to add to their beer but has anyone used dehydrated fruit? The only reason I'm thinking this is because I have, and use, a dehydrator and this might be a great way to sanitize the fruit and make life easier as I can just turn on the dehydrator and walk away.

Question: will leaving fruit in the dehydrator set to 235f for 12 hours sanitize it? (I think it will)
Another question: Home dehydrated fruit retains a lot, if not all, of its original flavor but how will these flavors be utilized in the beer? Will more flavor be pulled out? Less?
Observation: I was also thinking that adding dehydrated fruit is pretty much adding the fruit without the water (duh)... this process will allow me to add fruit flavor without affecting the volume of beer I have because I am not adding any water (given that I squeeze out the fruit when I am done).

What do you guys think?

I think the dehydrated fruit will rehydrated in your beer, soaking it up and leaving less beer for you to consume. That right there is a deal-breaker in my book.

broadbill said:

I think the dehydrated fruit will rehydrated in your beer, soaking it up and leaving less beer for you to consume. That right there is a deal-breaker in my book.

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I guess I wasn't very clear about that, I was intending to squeeze the liquid out of them when I was done. I was thinking of using a bag in secondary and then ringing it out before bottling/kegging.

flanneltrees804 said:

I guess I wasn't very clear about that, I was intending to squeeze the liquid out of them when I was done. I was thinking of using a bag in secondary and then ringing it out before bottling/kegging.

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If one of the main goals is keeping the fruit sanitized, can you really wring out the bag and still keep it sanitary? What about aeration?

You make a good point, it will be difficult to squeeze the goodness out of the fruit... but what about adding the fruit fresh or a puree, there is a lot of water in there that is going to go into the beer. I'm thinking about hops; it takes a lot more wet hops (by weight) to get the desired bitterness or flavor than it does to use dry hops and no one worries about the beer the hops soak up. Just a thought.

flanneltrees804 said:

You make a good point, it will be difficult to squeeze the goodness out of the fruit... but what about adding the fruit fresh or a puree, there is a lot of water in there that is going to go into the beer. I'm thinking about hops; it takes a lot more wet hops (by weight) to get the desired bitterness or flavor than it does to use dry hops and no one worries about the beer the hops soak up. Just a thought.

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Why not just use a fruit extract? Its concentrated, its dosable, it doesn't add unwanted extras (bacteria, pectins, etc). add it and done.

Dehydrated fruit is a great option for me because there is a store near me that sells really ripe, "use it today" fruit for next to nothing. I'm talking nice plumbs at 20 for $1 and boxes of berries for $.50. I figured since I buy these and dehydrate them anyway, I might as well use them for making beer.

Anyone have experience with dehydrated fruit in beer?

I'm sure you can add dried fruit. Raisins are not uncommon.
Most dried fruits are very flavorable, however, it may not taste like its fresh version.
ie raisins vs grapes

why not just add the fresh fruit?

buying fresh fruit, dehydrating it and then adding it to beer essentially re-hydrating it sounds like a triple loss.
lost time, lost electricity, and lost beer...

flanneltrees804 said:

Dehydrated fruit is a great option for me because there is a store near me that sells really ripe, "use it today" fruit for next to nothing. I'm talking nice plumbs at 20 for $1 and boxes of berries for $.50. I figured since I buy these and dehydrate them anyway, I might as well use them for making beer.

Anyone have experience with dehydrated fruit in beer?

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I used dehydrated blood oranges in my beer and it tastes great. Dehydrate in the oven/air fryer for a few hours or until dry, then put them in the secondary. Just microwave them for about 30 seconds before adding to sanitize and boom! No off flavors for me.

If I recall correctly from Mike Tonsmeire's book, American Sour Beers, he said it is a decent option.

That being said, I haven't done it yet. But it's worth a shot for fruit at that price, to at least try once or twice.

Found my notes from Tonsmeire's book. Apparently Russian River uses dried cherries in their Supplication, so you'd be in good company.

I added about 20 dehydrated orange slices to my whirlpool once. I kept them in a hop spider and stirred the spider for a few mins. It really came through. The peels were also attached to the slices.

fwiw, I brew a raspberry hibiscus wheat beer and in a 10 gallon batch use 9 pounds of frozen whole raspberries. That is indeed a lot of "water", close to a gallon I reckoned, so I brew a stronger beer shy one gallon to compensate...

Cheers!