Adding frozen strawberries

[myerstyson]

(Yes, I know there are many fruit threads, but I didn't want to hijack anyone else's.)

I've seen lots of threads on adding fruit. I've seen various ways of adding fruit, everything from heating it to adding it to the end of the boil, to making a tincture.

Here's my question: Can I just add my 8lbs of frozen strawberries to my beer in primary?

I picked these strawberries weeks ago. Washed them well (with water, not with any sort of cleaner), removed the green parts and any parts of the fruit that didn't look so good. Dried them on paper towels, then put them in ziplocs and froze them. They've been in the freezer about 4 weeks now.

Can I just add them into the primary? Did the freezing kill all the bad stuff?

I'm trying to make it as simple as possible and would prefer to not have to heat them up or do anything elaborate.

 

[aryoung1980]

Personally I just thaw the fruit and rack the beer on top in secondary. A little pectic enzyme will help reduce haze and release a bit more of the juice.

 

[Toga]

You don't even have to thaw them. Just add them to secondary and rack right on top of them. I prefer to pasteurize berries and puree them then add straight to primary near the end of fermentation or when fermentation is done. Adding to primary saves a step. If you are worried about oxidation add a couple ounces of sugar so the yeast can rebuild the co2 blanket.

 

[Mexibilly]

I racked a 5 gallon blonde onto 5lbs of blackberries in the secondary, 7 days I think. It turned out great.
Thawed them first, sanitized the bags and scissors and dumped them in a 5 gallon big mouth

 

[Kent88]

8 pounds? How big of a batch are you making?

If you already have a beer in primary past krausen I'd advise against dumping the strawberries on that, as it may oxygenate the fermenting beer. If you're just going to add the strawberries to a fermenter and dump fresh wort on it, then I hope your fermenter has a higher capacity than you need, and I'd recommend you over-pitch your yeast as the environment will not yet be alcoholic and the pH wont have dropped yet. You want your yeast to quickly become the dominant organism in the wort, but sometimes that isn't even enough.

I'd recommend you put your strawberries in an oven set for 215F and give it enough time to pasteurize but not actually cook.

 

[myerstyson]

Very strange.

Went in to take a gravity of my beer, and when I popped the lid, the "raft" of strawberries were on top. They were still pretty red. But when I inserted the (sanitized) spoon to make some space for the (sanitized) thief, the strawberries on the bottom were quite drained of color. That's what I remember from 20+ years ago when I'd add fruit to a beer.

So I took the sample and then carefully stirred the strawberries.

The sample, wow. So strange. Smells like grapefruit. I had my wife, who has no idea ever what beer I'm making, sampling, bottling, smell the sample. She said "Citrusy." Then she drank it. "Yep, tastes like grapefruit juice."

???