Carb drops or caster sugar?

[noss]

Hey guys just started out and was wondering what was better to carbonate your beer? Carbonation drops or caster sugar? Which gives better head and longer lasting? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Econwatson]

Carb drops are a much easier option for when starting out brewing. How many brews have you done so far? If it was me, and you were brewing first time, I'd just put a carb-drop in each 330ml bottle (2 in a 700ml).

Using sugar gives you a much greater deal of control, allowing you to adjust the carbonation to suit the style. But a bit more faffing as you will need to transfer to another vessel before you add sugar.

 

[wynnum1]

Carbonation drops are very expensive sugar.

 

[pommiebloke]

I'm not aware of any type of priming sugar having an effect on head retention.

That's down to your recipe more than anything I would think.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Through personal experience, i find that LDME works well (albeit more expensive) in giving you smaller and more densely packed bubbles. It isn't 100% fermentable though, so you need to use say 125g of LDME compared to 100g of dex.
I wouldn't say it is the best for any particular style, but i find it does give you 'tighter' head.
As above though, either doesn't help much in head retention.

Better head can mean many things depending on the style of beer. using any type of sugar in granules rather than pre determined measures gives you more control over how much head you want in your beer. So if you want more a bit more head, you can up the sugar to beer ratio more accurately than using carb drops

 

[verysupple]

As far as head formation and retention go they're identical. CO2 is CO2 no matter how it was created. Alex. Tas and others believe different priming agents give different results in terms of head but the science just doesn't back it up. Don't get me wrong, carbonation method definitely makes a difference to the final product, just not it's head characteristics. The size of the particles acting as nucleation points can have an effect on the size of the bubbles formed. Time is the best ingredient for a nice dense head because given time the larger particles settle out and the partices acting as nucleation sites are smaller.

Carb drops are more expensive but much easier to use. Unless you're going to meticulously measure out the mass of caster sugar for each bottle, the drops are probably more consistent too, unless you bulk prime, but then drops are out of the equation ayway. I used to use drops and only stopped due to the lack of control over the carbonation level - you can use either 1 or 2 for a longneck rather than having a continuous scale. I now make a dextrose solution and use a syringe to meaure each bottle's dose. It's a bit of a faff but I don't mind the extra 5 - 10 min on bottling day.

If you do go with caster sugar remember that different types of sugar give different amounts of carbonation due to them being made of different types of sugar molecules. E.g. the same mass of dextrose will give you slightly less CO2 than table sugar. Most decent priming calculators have the option of choosing the type of sugar.

 

[MHB]

As people have mentioned carb drops are just sugar (and a bit of water), if you are using sugar (Sucrose) and a sugar measure just be aware that sugar measures are designed go give the right amount of normal house hold white sugar (called granular sugar), if you use caster in the same scoop it will deliver more mass than it will with the coarser granular sugar, if you used raw sugar with even larger granules you would get even less mass and lower carbonation.

Personally I don't think it matters what you use so long as you use the right amount. Bulk Priming is I believe the best way to control the amount of fizz, you can accurately weigh priming sugar to give the exact amount of carbonation for the style of beer you are making. Believe me there is a big difference in the amount of fizz you want in a German Wheat and an Irish Stout and the beer tastes better for having the right level of carbonation.

If you want to dig a bit deeper into the subject read braukaiser its a great resource for anything relating to carbonation.
Mark

 

[wbosher]

+1 for bulk priming. I used carb drops for over a year and have no complaints at all. Started bulk priming for the last three or four brews and will never go back. So much easier and more control over the carbonation levels, I wish I'd done it a long time ago. For some reason I thought that it would be more work, but it's really not.

 

[JDW81]

I'm not aware of any type of priming sugar having an effect on head retention.

That's down to your recipe more than anything I would think.

I used to think that until I bottled a couple of AG batches, which had shocking carbonation and head retention. I had a suspicion that it was the drops so decided to remake 2 of the batches with exact same recipe, mash schedule and fermentation temperature. Low and behold, the brews that were bulk primed with LME had perfect head retention, next to their identical, but headless cousins.

JD

 

[Hoppers]

sugar, borrowed from places like Work, Cafes, McDonalds, Coffee shops are cheap, and have the benefit of being pre measured

 

[Alex.Tas]

 

[wynnum1]

sugar, borrowed from places like Work, Cafes, McDonalds, Coffee shops are cheap, and have the benefit of being pre measured

CSR are 3 grams and carbonation drops 60= 250 grams

 

[noss]

Thanks guys your experience is very insightful.

 

[berts]

why pay for carb drops, small funnel , tea spoon bag of dex, simple.

 

[HalfWit]

Hey, I have been having trouble with the carb drops. The last two batches I have done I used Coopers carb drop to prime. I have chilled the beer to 4C, and bottled. Unfortunatly, the carbination has come in on the very low side. What could be causing the lack of fizz? I thought bottling cold I would need less suger.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Have you kept the bottles cold or stored them at ambiant to carb up? If you kept them cold the yeast wont be doing their thing to turn the sugar into CO2.

 

[yum beer]

Temp at bottling doesn't matter, the temp that matters is the highest temp your brew achieved after main fermentation is completed.
If you brewed cold you will need a little less sugar than if you brewed warm, use a calculator to work it out.
General rule, 1 carb drop to a stubbie, 2 to a longneck.
I used to use 2/3 - 3/4 a carb drop per 330ml bottle but still found that to be a little highly carbed.
Look into bulk priming if you can, its a bit of messing about but makes a big difference to your final product.
Its much nicer drinking bers with appropriate carb levels and not just a bubbling barrage of gas leaping from the bottom of the glass.

 

[berts]

Have you kept the bottles cold or stored them at ambiant to carb up? If you kept them cold the yeast wont be doing their thing to turn the sugar into CO2.

+1

 

[HalfWit]

Thanks guy's, the max fermentation temp was 19C and the bottles have been stored at room temps. Im at a loss.

 

[berts]

what kind of bottles are you using , If glass is your capper seeling the caps properly, If pets what condition are your lids?