Carbonation Drop Quantity

[talltwits]

Hello, 

 

Quick question for you all. 

 

Previously i have used 1 teaspoon of brewing sugar for my 500ml bottles. This seems to work fine. I haven’t used many carbonation drops before apart from when I first got my kit. I used two drops per the 750 ml bottles. 

 

I have drops sitting needing to be used and no access to brewing sugar. Bottling day is fast approaching. 

 

How many carbonation drops drops would you recommend per 500ml bottle. Don’t want the beer to be flat or the bottles to explode. And surely I can’t cut the drops in half! Can I?

 

any help is appreciated! 

 

Kyle

[Otto Von Blotto]

Usually it'd be 1.5 drops, they can be cut but it's probably a bit of a pain. Others have used one drop in 500mL bottles and been satisfied, but if you like the carbonation level from the standard dosage then it may not be enough.

By the way, you don't have to use brewing sugar for priming bottles, just normal white table sugar is fine.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Otto Von Blotto

[Hairy]

It comes down to personal preference as well as beer style etc.

I found two drops in 750ml bottles to be a little fizzy for me. One drop in a 500ml bottle would be much better for my tastes.

The other option is using sugar in each bottle or bulk priming.

[Shamus O'Sean]

I use a proper 1 teaspoon measure (not just any old teaspoon in the drawer) of plain table sugar in 450-500ml bottles.  I eventually used up my left over carb drops in 330-375ml stubbies (1 in each) and 750ml (2 in each).  Now I do 3x 1/4 teaspoon in stubbies and 1 & 1/2 teaspoons in 750mls.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Shamus O'Sean

[retromaticon]

I have done a few with 500ml bottles and just use a steak knife to cut the carbonation drops in half. 3 slices back and forth usually does the trick and the slice is pretty clean and it doesn't make much of a difference if one half drop is a bit bigger than the other.

[talltwits]

That’s great guys thanks for all the help! 

 

On reading your your advice I think I’ll do a bit of everything, label the bottles and see if I can notice a difference between them all. By the sounds of it I’ll not ruin it by doing different techniques and hopefully I can find my preference. 

 

On a slightly different matter. How long, on average, are you leaving the bottle before you drink? I found a few bottles that I had given family member who hadn’t drank theirs (about 1 year from bottling day) and the improvement was huge. 

 

Thanks. 

[jackgym]

1 hour ago, talltwits said:

On a slightly different matter. How long, on average, are you leaving the bottle before you drink? I found a few bottles that I had given family member who hadn’t drank theirs (about 1 year from bottling day) and the improvement was huge. 

 

Thanks. 

12 months is asking a bit much. 

I usually wait around 1 month which makes the last bottle 2 months old @ 1 PET bottle per night.

The only drawback is it makes the commercial beer taste like piss.

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

When I bottled, usually a month or two except beers like stouts that got 6+ months.

[BlackSands]

Sugar cubes is another option.  They weigh around 4g - around 5.3g/litre I reckon.   Carbonation might be a bit low for some but I'll be trying those in my next batch -  1 per 750ml bottle.   

 

[Hairy]

38 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

Sugar cubes is another option.  They weigh around 4g - around 5.3g/litre I reckon.   Carbonation might be a bit low for some but I'll be trying those in my next batch -  1 per 750ml bottle.   

 

I used sugar cubes for a while when I used the plastic bottles (740mls?). I cube per bottle was perfect for most styles.

[Beerlust]

Seriously, does anyone use these anymore?

If I have carb drops, one per 330ml/375ml stubby or one of the short side of the priming spoon with regular sugar. Longnecks I use one carb drop + half the short side of the priming spoon of sugar or 1½ of the short side of the priming spoon with pure sugar. Works well for me whether drinking early or with beers I wish to age.

Just my 2 cents,

Lusty.

[Beer Baron]

1 hour ago, Beerlust said:

Seriously, does anyone use these anymore?

If I have carb drops, one per 330ml/375ml stubby or one of the short side of the priming spoon with regular sugar. Longnecks I use one carb drop + half the short side of the priming spoon of sugar or 1½ of the short side of the priming spoon with pure sugar. Works well for me whether drinking early or with beers I wish to age.

Just my 2 cents,

Lusty.

I am definitely going to get one of these when I bottle a few of my stouts next week

[Gus96]

You can get three scoop versions of those for 375ml, 500ml and 750ml bottles from good LHBS 

[talltwits]

Thanks guys! 

[beerdeluxe]

I normally use 2 drops for 740ml PET bottles but I just did a batch with 2.5 drops, trying to see if it has more pop like a commercial ale

[talltwits]

16 hours ago, beerdeluxe said:

I normally use 2 drops for 740ml PET bottles but I just did a batch with 2.5 drops, trying to see if it has more pop like a commercial ale

Report back and let us know how you get on! 

[Malter White]

An old thread, I know, but I thought I'd add something to it because it's relevant to me.
I've recently been priming each 750ml PET bottle with 1 carb drop plus 1 sugar cube. The results have been good.
I'm getting that bit of extra fizz that you'd associate with commercial beer. Some might say that's not such a good thing but I like some fizz. It's particularly pleasing when first opening the bottle and getting that "PSSSSST!" sound that doesn't always occur with a lower priming rate.
It's also a little more economical as sugar cubes are a bit cheaper than carb drops but the savings are negligible.
While I'm happy with the results I'd put a disclaimer on it because I only use PETs. I'm not sure it'd be wise to increase the priming sugar if you're using glass bottles.

[MitchellScott]

One of these and buy a 1kg pack of white sugar for a couple of dollars at Woolies.

Lasts ages, is cheap as chips and have always had good carbonation in any bottles I bottle. Although that is a lot less now I keg.

[Malter White]

27 minutes ago, MitchellScott said:

One of these and buy a 1kg pack of white sugar for a couple of dollars at Woolies.

Lasts ages, is cheap as chips and have always had good carbonation in any bottles I bottle. Although that is a lot less now I keg.

I have one of those but I really like the convenience of the drops.

[MitchellScott]

1 minute ago, MUZZY said:

I have one of those but I really like the convenience of the drops.

I see where you're coming from.

When I used to bottle, I'd put all 30 bottles on the bench without the caps, have the sugar in a plastic container and have a funnel in one hand.

I'd scoop the sugar and dump it into the funnel while it was in the bottle, then move to the next one and repeat. Took probably less time then shoving two carb drops into each bottle.

[Malter White]

That's how I used to do it too, Mitchell, but I had an uncanny knack of knocking over bottles through clumsiness. 

[Aussiekraut]

1 minute ago, MitchellScott said:

I see where you're coming from.

When I used to bottle, I'd put all 30 bottles on the bench without the caps, have the sugar in a plastic container and have a funnel in one hand.

I'd scoop the sugar and dump it into the funnel while it was in the bottle, then move to the next one and repeat. Took probably less time then shoving two carb drops into each bottle.

A funnel! I've been struggling priming my 500ml bottles as I never seem to be able to get the whole spoon into the bottle. There is always sugar on the rim and the neck. Why didn't I think of a funnel before? Although I am wanting to bulk prime. What stops me is lifting the full FV onto the bench, syphon into the secondary fermenter, then lifting that one up on the bench. Not being supposed to lift more than 10kg, lifting one FV is bad enough, let alone 2. I need a skateboard with a platform I can rise 1m so I can just push things on the bench instead of lifting. 

[BlackSands]

3 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

.... Although I am wanting to bulk prime. What stops me is lifting the full FV onto the bench, syphon into the secondary fermenter, then lifting that one up on the bench. Not being supposed to lift more than 10kg, lifting one FV is bad enough, let alone 2. I need a skateboard with a platform I can rise 1m so I can just push things on the bench instead of lifting. 

Sounds like bulk-priming directly in the primary is something you could try?   I've done this with the last 5 or 6 brews with good results.   

I mix up my sugar solution and then GENTLY stir it into the FV.  I then let it sit for an hour or more to disperse. 

My brews are cold-crashed and I have been using high-flocc yeasts so any slight risk of disturbing the trub hasn't in practice been an issue.   I can imagine it might be be however if the beer is at room temp and the yeast is something like US-05.   

Anyway, might be worth a shot...  

[Worts and all]

2 hours ago, BlackSands said:

Sounds like bulk-priming directly in the primary is something you could try?   I've done this with the last 5 or 6 brews with good results.   

I mix up my sugar solution and then GENTLY stir it into the FV.  I then let it sit for an hour or more to disperse. 

My brews are cold-crashed and I have been using high-flocc yeasts so any slight risk of disturbing the trub hasn't in practice been an issue.   I can imagine it might be be however if the beer is at room temp and the yeast is something like US-05.   

Anyway, might be worth a shot...  

Your priming method is much like mine except I bottle at ambient temperature .I’m sure you are right about yeast type, but I have never had a problem. I find it a quick, easy and very effective method. Trub disturbance is, as you have noted, not a problem . I do think that in this matter, and others concerning home brewing,some brewers worry too much about what could happen rather than observing what does. Cheers.

[BlackSands]

2 minutes ago, Worts and all said:

I do think that in this matter, and others concerning home brewing,some brewers worry too much about what could happen rather than observing what does. Cheers.

Yup!  I see that all the time.  Brewers think of something that COULD possibly be a problem and subsequently conclude it IS a problem!