Soaking frozen fruit in star san

I am about to make a strawberry addition and transfer to my secondary....would soaking the frozen cut up strawberries in star san hurt?

I don't think it would hurt, but I never do anything like that.

What is your thinking here? Are you trying to sanitize strawberries? If so, cook them. Or maybe canned berries. Strawberries grow mold after just a couple days, and they turn into slimey snot when soaked.

I'm new to brewing, but I'm about to add some strawberries to my blonde in a day or two. I'm going to freeze them first, then mix them with a bit of water, throw it on the stove at about 170F for 15 minutes to pasteurize. I'll add it to secondary after that cools to room temp-ish

I've been freaking out about how to sanitize fruit before adding to a beer, and found from my research (because the Internet is always right!) that this would be the most fool proof in terms of preventing infection..

Frankly, I'm not a fan of the flavor that results from adding pasteurized strawberries. It ends up tasting like tomatoes. I did it a few times and kept trying different techniques until I settled on the method I use now. I clean and halve the fresh strawberries, freeze them, then toss them frozen into the secondary in a paint strainer bag and rack on top of them.

weirdboy said:

Frankly, I'm not a fan of the flavor that results from adding pasteurized strawberries. It ends up tasting like tomatoes. I did it a few times and kept trying different techniques until I settled on the method I use now. I clean and halve the fresh strawberries, freeze them, then toss them frozen into the secondary in a paint strainer bag and rack on top of them.

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I agree with this. I've never heated strawberries, but I don't like the flavor it gives when I did it with blueberries. When I use strawberries now, I quarter them, soak them in the fridge for a few days in a zip lock bag with just enough vodka to cover them. Then freeze them and add them to the keg or secondary. Great flavor and no infections yet.

I don't think I'd soak them in starsan, but if you really want to do it then try this:

Instead of a big bucket of something of starsan, mix up a small amount in a spray bottle. Take some fresh strawberries and put them in a colander and set them in the sink. Then, spray them down with starsan. Toss the strawberries and spray them again. Do this until they're coated. Then rinse them, cut them up and freeze them.

I think that should give you peace of mind against any nasties that might have hitched a ride from the farm.

^^^^^ this. I agree. No need to go crazy.

I have read numerous times about how pointless adding strawberries to a brew is and how little flavor it actually adds in the end. I wouldn't soak them in starsan. that just seems overkill. just wash them in the seak really good and let them dry, perhaps on a sanitized dish or rack. I really can't see an infection coming from fruit, fresh or frozen; especially in secondary.

when I did my blood orange hefeweizen I just bought the blood oranges the day I planned on racking into the secondary and just cut them up fresh and added them straight in. My feeling was that by the time I racked to the secondary the alcohol content should be enough to kill any unwanted nasties. My brew ended up turning out great and got really good reviews from the friends.

Potassium metabisulphite or sodium metabisulphite (Campden) is a better approach. Dissolve one in a gallon of water, add the fruit, let it sit for 30 minutes and drain.

I have read numerous times about how pointless adding strawberries to a brew is and how little flavor it actually adds in the end

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Those people are wrong.

I just had a strawberry wheat at the local restaurant / brewery and it had a great strawberry after taste to it. Talking to the waitress she told me that in each batch they added 200lbs of strawberries and 100lbs of honey to it. So on my next batch of beer I plan on adding some strawberries and honey to it. I'll probably hold it in my primary fermenter for 1.5-2 weeks then rack it on top of strawberries and honey for a few days then bottle. I'm a complete amateur though and playing things by ear so don't take my word as gold.

Why not soak them in some unflavored vodka instead? Starsan was never meant to be ingested beyond a few mLs per 5gal or so from sanitizing.

I agree with the vodka idea. It will work easily and it actually makes sense. The vodka won't affect the flavor of the fruit or the beer.