[lazydog79]

I brewed a basic blonde ale that is finishing up in primary.  My plan is to rack 3 gallons of it into a 3 gallon caroby onto 4 pounds of fresh strawberries (bottle the rest) for 5 to 7 days.  I am planning to purree the strawberries, pastuerize on the stove (180 degrees for 20 minutes), and then add to the carboy.  I am thinking I need to pastuerize since it is fresh fruit and the base beer is at 4.8%

Is my thinking straight or am I going to extra work?

[In The Sand]

If you wanted to live up to your name (lazydog) you could buy the purée instead of doing it yourself. Then you wouldn't have to do anything but add it to the carboy. I've never looked for strawberry purée though, but I'm assuming you can get it. I recently made an apricot purée. I added the 3 lbs of purée straight to the primary without any preparation and it turned out fine.

Otherwise, since you're using fresh fruit, your technique sounds like what I would do in this instance. Let us know how it turns out.

[fmader]

I've racked 5 gallons of a stout on 10 pounds of fresh cherries without any prep. I did freeze and thaw the cherries, but that was about it. This beer was about 8% ABV too. I had no ill effects. I did have a great beer though! This being said, doesn't mean that I am in the right.

[lazydog79]

If you wanted to live up to your name (lazydog) you could buy the purée instead of doing it yourself. Then you wouldn't have to do anything but add it to the carboy. I've never looked for strawberry purée though, but I'm assuming you can get it.

Agreed.  When I am busy, the Oregon puree is great - dump and run.  1)It is a little pricey - the local grocery store has fresh strawberries for $1/lb. and 2) Oregon doesn't have a strawberry, or at least NB doesn't carry it.  Oh well, fresh is probably better.  I could probably get away without pasteurizing it, but every time I get lackadaisical on sanitation, I get in trouble.  Better to be a sanitation Nazi and go through an extra step than have to trash a batch.  This is a lesson that has been learned to much sorrow.

Thanks for confirming my head is on straight - sometimes I wonder 

[erockrph]

Add me to the "just freeze & thaw" camp. I've done this in beers under 4% ABV with no ill effect. Strawberries are relatively low pectin, but heating fruit does have to potential to cause a pectin haze in the finished beer.