Adding fruit

I'm really interested in making a cherry beer with real fruit for my next batch (more the Sam Adams style than wine cooler). I've read conflicting ideas on when to add/how to sanitize them. I realize that b/c of pectin release, you do not want to "cook" the cherries. However, by adding them to a 150 degree wort, would the flavors/nose be too subtle? I read an alternative is soaking them in Everclear or vodka to sanitize, then adding them to the secondary. This will keep the nose/flavor stronger. Also, I see fruit beer recipes calling for 1-1.5 lbs fruit per gallon. Does that sound right? I'm going to use a simple wheat recipe...once I decide on one.

Thanks for your help.

i have a raspberry chocolate stout recipe that calls for 4.5 lbs of frozen raspberries and you add them at the end of the boil, and step for 20 minutes. a lot of people use Oregon brand fruit puree' in the secondary, and rack the beer on top of that. most HBS carry that brand. i personnaly wouldn't want to add fresh fruit in the secondary (either soaked in booze or not). but, it might work??????

I can't even make a smoothie with real fruit, I wouldn't try beer. Sorry to contribute so little to your cause, though I am interested in how it comes out.

Are you getting good fruit flavor/nose from the 20 min? I would suspect it to be subtle being it's a stout. The fruit going into the secondary would be frozen cherries (already cracked skins being the plus here). Haven't read much about purees.

Thanks for the thoughts, DeRoux's Broux. I'd love to check out that recipe you have for a future batch. Is it posted here anywhere?