Dried Fruit In The Recipe, But?

[Maynewater]

I'm looking to do a strong beer soon to mature for Christmas.

I've looking at Randy Mosher's book and been inspired by one of his recipes (Fruitcake Old Ale) which feels festive and calls for 3lb of dried fruit into the secondary. Fair enough I thought, let's give that a go! So when I was in Tesco I decided to pick up a mixture of dried fruits, the problem is that when I glanced at the ingredients, all of the raisins and sultanas had cottonseed oil, palm oil or some non specific vegetable oil added. One pack gave the percentage of oil as 1% however considering the weight specified to go in I wondered if that was still an amount of oil which would give issues?

The recipe calls for the dried fruit to have boiling water poured over to rehydrate, If you soaked in hot water and poured away the excess would that help? or would soaking in brandy or in something alcoholic dissolve the oil?

I don't want to go through a long (and expensive process) to find my beer spoiled by having put in ingredients with oil contained.

Any thoughts guys?

[Chicken Dipper]

Just a best guess, but I should think that the boiling water will dissolve the oil and kill bacteria. If you did soak them in brandy as well, it would add a really nice flavour.

You could always try it out on a small batch first to see how it works

[Maynewater]

Thanks Dipper.

I agree that the boiling water will help kill bacteria but I don't think it dissolves oil but fats do dissolve in alcohol, which is why I was thinking of the brandy (and like you I think it will help to give a Christmassy kick!). I was thinking maybe of pouring over plenty of water so the oil might be washed off the fruit, float to the top and then I could discard all the liquid.

Anyone any other thoughts? Plus what bad effects would the presence of oil create? I can only think of loss of head?

[Rookie]

I've stayed away from store bought dried fruit because they all seem to have added sugar and other stuff I wouldn't want in my beer.
If you have, or can get hold of a food dehydrator you could do your own.

[Chicken Dipper]

Are raisins in whole food shops treated the same?

[Dr. Dextrin]

I've been using dried fruit in wine making for years. I generally put it in a sieve and pour boiling water through it to wash out as much oil as I can. The thinking is that the hot water will help release the oil from the sticky surface of the fruit and flush it away. It definitely gets a good deal of it out and it's a lot cheaper than brandy!