First Fruit Beer Question.....

Hi Guys,
I am making my first fruit beer. The base beer is an American Wheat that has already had two weeks in the primary. I want to add 5 lbs of Pixie tangerines in the secondary but not really sure what the best way is. I figure I have three choices:
1. Peel the fruit, toss it into the secondary, rack the finished beer on top of it and let it do its' thing. A little concerned about this from a sanitation standpoint.
2. Puree the fruit, par boil to pasteurize, cool, add to secondary
3. Puree the fruit, add a Campden tab, wait 24 hours, add to secondary

Any thoughts/comments on what has/hasn't worked well for you and how I should proceed?Thanks. Al

could also slice the fruit and steep in a bit of 150F water for about ten minutes and then add that. Did it with a Hefe recently and it worked out well.

I've always just tossed the fruit in. Then again I may just be pressing my luck. I figured by the time I'm ready to throw the fruit in, there should be enough alcohol to inhibit bacterial growth and other nasties.

Anybody else.?? I am going to put the beer on the fruit tonight.

Just peeling it won't exactly get the the most you can out of it, unless you mean not only peeling the "orange skin", but also all of the clear and white film that citrus has surrounding the wedges. Or, rather than puree, squeeze the juice out of it, and just use the juice... the juice flavor is what you really want anyway right? For some reason the orange "rind" and white/clear membrane portions seem like they would alter the flavor.

I've also heard this, and plan to try since the idea makes perfect sense. Freezing fruit causes the water within it to expand, breaking cell walls, and making it more flexible when it comes to imparting more flavor. I have a blonde ale in primary that I'm going to rack on top of strawberries that have been cut, frozen, and halfway thawed out.

Gregger...I think juicing might be the right call. I was peeling the tangerines and getting a lot of white pith with the fruit. Juicing should solve that problem.

So you know what to expect: the yeast will find the sugar from the tangerines and most likely kick up another short round of fermentation. So don't be surprised if you see krausen or airlock activity for a day or so.