juicing fruit for the secondary?

[JJMEAD]

My mead is just about ready to be racked into the secondary. I am thinking about juicing strawberrys versus putting whole ones into the secondary. Do I run the risk of contaminating or oxidizing the mead? I am thinking about pouring the juice into the carboy first and then begin racking the mead on top of it so it will mix better. I have done searches for this answer but haven't found anything that directly deals with my question. Any advice or tips would be helpful. Thanks!

[wayneb]

You can juice the fruit, but especially with strawberries I've found that just cutting them in quarters and putting the pieces into the carboy before racking the mead over is far better for cleanup later. Juiced strawberries create a pulp slurry that stays in suspension in the mead, making subsequent rackings more tedious, since you then also have to filter the glop out. Not to mention those little black seeds -- a real mess if they're knocked off the strawberry skins.

But I don't think you'll risk infection using juiced strawberries, provided your equipment is fully sanitized. That may be more difficult than you think, given the designs of some juicers that I've seen.