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Do carbonation drops affect alcohol content?


Belcher

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A friend told me to use just one carbonation drop per 740ml bottle (I’ve already dropped the brew enhancer to 500gm) if I want 3.5% alcohol content. Is this correct?

Also, what can I use instead of the carbonation drop to save money?

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I am only a newbie, so take my words carefully.

I did a TC Amber Ale last brew, whilst bottling ran out of drops (What a D1CK hay). Since I had been drinking a few coldies, my wisdom said use sugar. We only have brown sugar.

So I put approx 1.5 slightly heaped teaspoons in each 740ml bottle. They seemed to prime about a week quicker, and give more carbonation. Taste was IMO more malty as well.

 

So yes can use sugar for priming, how much, no idea. I have read also white sugar will not change characteristics of the beer. Them drops taste like sugar cubes, just extra refined. 

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10 hours ago, Belcher said:

Also, what can I use instead of the carbonation drop to save money?

I've been trialing sugar cubes lately.  Unlike carb drops where you usually add two per 750ml bottle, one sugar cube usually does the trick for me.   The 4.5g cubes I use generally give a decent amount of carbonation but some styles and/or personal preferences may prefer a little more fizz.  100 cubes per box so that's 100 x 750ml bottles primed for around $4.50.  They're much cheaper than carb drops:  for me it costs $5.90 for 60 drops (1 batch - 30 x 750ml bottles).  Cubes are however more expensive than just a bag of plain table sugar which is by far the cheapest option but if you use ordinary sugar you'll need to use a suitable measuring spoon and a small funnel. In contrast, simply dropping a sugar cube into each bottle is much simpler and quicker!  

Also worth noting is carb drops are only good for 330ml (1 drop) or approx multiples thereof: e.g. 740ml (2 drops) and 1.25litre (3 drops).   Sugar cubes are only suitable for 750ml bottles and multiples e.g. I recently used two in a few 1.5litre PET bottles.

😎

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Thanks peeps!

Im really after a 3.5% alcohol content. The brew enhancer says to get this you add 500gm instead of the usual 1000gm. Anyone tried this?

It seems that the carbonation drops only affect the alcohol content slightly, unlike me friend’s advice. 

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The ABV depends on the OG and FG of the beer, plus the 0.4% or so from the priming sugar in the bottles. A kit plus 500g of enhancer or malt or whatever mixed to 23 litres will be around the low 1.030s for the OG and likely finish around 1.008-1.010 depending on what the 500g addition is. This would give an ABV around 3.4-3.6% in the bottles. 

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On 3/18/2019 at 6:48 AM, GingerNuts81 said:

....Since I had been drinking a few coldies, my wisdom said use sugar. We only have brown sugar.

Brown sugar contains molasses but I suppose the small amount in a teaspoon would not affect beer taste.

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