Too long on the fruit?

[BWRIGHT]

I'm not finding a lot of information about how long to keep a mead on the fruit. The current batch I've got going, I'm looking for a strong fruit flavor. I had 17lbs of strawberries in the primary. I racked that to secondary after 2weeks (it was down to .998 already). I racked onto another 5 lbs of berries into the secondary. I'm wondering at what point is TOO long to keep the fruit in? The fruit has only been in secondary for 2 weeks. As it sits it's at 18% ABV so I'm not concerned about mold or anything. But is there a point at which the fruit will start to cause off flavors?

 

[Bearmaul]

You shouldn't get any off flavors from the fruit itself, most likely what you'll find is that any off flavors come from the seeds in the fruit. If your strawberries are complete with seeds, I wouldn't leave them on there for more than 2 months, but that's me personally, and your mileage may vary.

If you want to deseed your strawberries, either puree them or freeze/thaw them several times, and push them through a sieve or wire mesh strainer.