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One Teaspoon is one Carbonation drop?


Anthony999

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I'm brewing a Deliverance Hoegaarden beer at the moment but the can said that one teaspoon per 750ml bottle.  I looked online but didn't really get a definitive answer if one carbonation drop is a teaspoon of sugar.  Generally it's two drops per 750ml bottle.  Appreciate your help.

Just found something: 1 teaspoon is 4.2 grams, 1 carbonation drop is 3 grams so should i just use sugar or should i just use 2 carbonation drops?

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3 hours ago, Anthony999 said:

Just found something: 1 teaspoon is 4.2 grams, 1 carbonation drop is 3 grams so should i just use sugar or should i just use 2 carbonation drops?

These are the same measurements I use.  Therefore, for a 750ml bottle I go 2 carbonation drops or 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of table sugar (using actual measuring spoons, not whatever teaspoon is in the drawer).  You can also get a measuring scoop from home brew shops and some retailers sized for 375, 500 and 750 ml bottles.

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On that topic:

I'm not a major fan of the 740ml bottles as I find them too big. You pour it into a 500ml glass and you have leftovers and pour it into a litre glass, it's nowhere near full. Pour it into a 375ml glass, you get two glasses out of them, one fresh, the other not so much. 

To get around this, I have a few 500ml bottles and would love to use them, especially for a bavarian style wheat beer, which is traditionally consumed in 500ml glasses. 

My problem is that I'm unsure how many carbonation drops to use. 1 might not be enough for good carbonation and using 2, it might be too much and I had a few bottles explode on me in the past.

Is it safe to use 2 drops in a 500ml bottle? Will 1 do in the end?

 

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22 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I guess it depends on how strong the 500mL bottles are. I don't think one drop in a 500mL bottle would give enough carbonation for a wheat beer though. 

They're former Weihenstephan and Erdinger Hefe Weizen bottles, so they are made for bottle fermentation. I also have some from a local brewery which does sell the odd brew in 500ml bottles, which feel about the same. They appear fairly solid, not flimsy like 375ml twist tops.

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14 hours ago, PB2 said:

Are you finding that your beer is quite flat? 🙃 🤣  

Why do you ask this question?

I have also used these measures in the past few brews with varying results.

I was left with the following questions:

1. Is the double scoop enough for a 740ml PET bottle? Some of my brews have been rather flat

2. Is the single scoop about right for a 330ml bottle?

3. Does using raw sugar rather than white or castor sugar make much difference?

I've had a couple of brews have wonderful creamy heads and others which fizz up like cola and the head dissapates immediately. This despite doing steeps and boils with carapils which is supposed to give better head retention.

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41 minutes ago, DonPolo said:

Why do you ask this question?

I have also used these measures in the past few brews with varying results.

I was left with the following questions:

1. Is the double scoop enough for a 740ml PET bottle? Some of my brews have been rather flat

2. Is the single scoop about right for a 330ml bottle?

3. Does using raw sugar rather than white or castor sugar make much difference?

I've had a couple of brews have wonderful creamy heads and others which fizz up like cola and the head dissapates immediately. This despite doing steeps and boils with carapils which is supposed to give better head retention.

1. That's what I use for a long neck. 750ml

2. Yeap for a stubby. 375ml

3. Been using white sugar only so no comment.

Been consistent across my brews in terms of good carbonation. Always tamper the sugar scoop so it gets a good measure of sugar in the scoop.

Intrigued by PB2 comment too? The Coopers Brew Enhancer Boxes are really for folks that cant or don't want to measure stuff out abit like carb drops. Maybe his Xmas bonus is riding on consistent sales of coopers carb drops?

Cheers

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1 hour ago, DonPolo said:

I've had a couple of brews have wonderful creamy heads and others which fizz up like cola and the head dissapates immediately. This despite doing steeps and boils with carapils which is supposed to give better head retention.

Yeah - it's "supposed" to.  The two of times I've used it in similar situations it seemed to do absolutely nothing positive for head formation or retention.   A personal experience which interestingly was also echoed by a Brulosophy 'exbeeriment'.   Haven't bothered with carapils since.  On a related matter,  I've also seen quite a few brews made with brew enhancers, which contain maltodextrine similarly fail to produce good foam, let alone foam that lasts!   Not sure what the reason is but it has certainly left me wondering about the claims and supposed benefits of dextrine malts and maltodextrin.   

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29 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

Yeah - it's "supposed" to.  The two of times I've used it in similar situations it seemed to do absolutely nothing positive for head formation or retention.   A personal experience which interestingly was also echoed by a Brulosophy 'exbeeriment'.   Haven't bothered with carapils since.  On a related matter,  I've also seen quite a few brews made with brew enhancers, which contain maltodextrine similarly fail to produce good foam, let alone foam that lasts!   Not sure what the reason is but it has certainly left me wondering about the claims and supposed benefits of dextrine malts and maltodextrin.   

Yet I do a sMasH beer with head that laces well all the way down,  stopped using carapils and got better results 

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I find beers with a lot of late and/or dry hops tend to have better head retention and lacing than others. Beers with a fair amount of spec malts like porters and stouts also have decent retention, not always lacing but that could be down to the glass as well; I often have beers with good head retention that don't lace down the glass. 

I don't really use carapils much anymore, it does go into my red ale for a bit of extra body without affecting the flavour but that's about it. I do employ a mash step at 72 which is supposed to improve head retention and it seems to work most times. The lager I've been sampling lately is not one of those times 😂

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19 hours ago, PB2 said:

Are you finding that your beer is quite flat? 🙃 🤣  

No.

I use raw sugar, with plastic bottles I may use a bit extra.  A bit less in those miserly sized bottles i.e. less than 375/750ml.

The internet tells me this (and it has never steered me wrong before).

Quote

The solubility of sugar would be about 180 (a maximum of 180 grams of sugar can dissolve in 100 milliliters of water at room temperature).

Does dissolved sugar increase volume?
No, when you dissolve sugar in water, the molecules of sugar occupy the space between molecules of water and get uniformly distributed in water

 

How about if I take 30x7g=210g of sugar.

Dissolve it in 30x5ml=150ml of boiled water.

Syringe 5ml into each of 30 750ml bottles?

Edited by Marvin
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11 hours ago, Marvin said:

No.

I use raw sugar, with plastic bottles I may use a bit extra.  A bit less in those miserly sized bottles i.e. less than 375/750ml.

The internet tells me this (and it has never steered me wrong before).

How about if I take 30x7g=210g of sugar.

Dissolve it in 30x5ml=150ml of boiled water.

Syringe 5ml into each of 30 750ml bottles?

That will work. They call it pseudo bulk priming. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

So not much difference between Castor sugar, normal white sugar and raw sugar?

I don't buy a lot of sugar normally so I'm likely to go with what is on hand.

Happy to buy anything if there is a noticeable improvement though.

So I haven't seen any difference between the carb drops and normal or raw sugar.

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