Fruit in beer - to pasteurize or not?

[Punkjah007]

There's probably a thread for this but i have some other questions I wanted to throw in there. I'm new to fruit beers and currently I am pasteurizing it on the stove, cooling it, pureeing it, then adding it. I see some people just use one or a couple campden tablets (depending on the amount of fruit). I am wondering of these two which people prefer to use. It seems some people think pasteurizing is a waste of time/energy. Also, if you freeze the fruit do you even need to pasteurize it or does that kill enough micro-organisms to make the fruit ok to use freezer-to-beer?

So the questions are:

1. Is pasteurization a waste of time/energy?
2. Can you use campden tablets in place of pasteurization?
3. Does freezing kill enough micro-organisms to skip pasteurizing or using campden tablets?

 

[Brockness Monster]

I haven't done a lot of fruit beers, but I have done a couple.

1. I would rather spend the time and energy than add sulfites to my beer (seemingly not a popular opinion).
2. Sulfites are very effective at reducing bacterial load, though they can also harm yeast so don't use too much.
3. freezing only puts bacteria to "sleep", it does not kill them.

 

[sourlovestory]

Last year I made a mixed culture saison with peaches we picked from a local orchard. I rinsed the peaches with water, and sloshed them around in a bucket with star san. After that I added them to a brew bag into my co2 purged fermenter and let them naturally ferment before I added my saison on top. Came out so good. Other than that I have used fruit purees that I purchased that say they were pasteurized, or big box store frozen and dried fruits. I'm not really answering your specific questions, but I just wanted to let you know that there are multiple ways that work. Just pick one that gives you the results you like, or the process you enjoy the most.

 

[hottpeper13]

I put my fresh picked fruit(cut to size) in a mesh bag and dip in my starsan bucket for a min. or 2 hang it to mostly drip out, put in a plastic bag and freeze it till brew day. I put the fruit still frozen in the fermenter to thaw, rack the wort or mead on top, add yeast and 02.

 

[Punkjah007]

I haven't done a lot of fruit beers, but I have done a couple.

1. I would rather spend the time and energy than add sulfites to my beer (seemingly not a popular opinion).
2. Sulfites are very effective at reducing bacterial load, though they can also harm yeast so don't use too much.
3. freezing only puts bacteria to "sleep", it does not kill them.

I make beer and wine, so I tend to also have both required ingredients around. I have read that sulfites in wine are a contributor in giving people headaches. I would suspect that's the same reason some people choose to avoid using them?

 

[Snuffy]

I think this may depend to a certain extent on what fruit you are talking about. If you only want the essence of the fruit and are not interested in the funk from additional yeasts and bacteria that come with them, I would boil it gently for at least 10 minutes. Freezing first will help break down cell walls and aid in juice extraction. There may be other methods that work. but boiling takes the guesswork out of it.

 

[Brockness Monster]

I make beer and wine, so I tend to also have both required ingredients around. I have read that sulfites in wine are a contributor in giving people headaches. I would suspect that's the same reason some people choose to avoid using them?

Sulfites are also a huge contributor to developing food allergies even though a person might not react to Sulfite itself. More than once I have asked friends with food allergies to stay away from things like dried fruit, white sandwich bread, wine, and shrimp to see if their food allergies go away. More than once they have gone away. Purely anecdotal, I understand, but having a Food Science degree gives me confidence in the choices I make.

 

[Zadkiel]

Why Boil? surely a lower temp like 80C will do just fine, and not add in risks related to evaporation, burning etc.