Carb Drops Or Sugar

[seanokil]

Just a general question .
What is the difference between carb drops and sugar for priming ?
Is one better than the other?
Im a noob to brewing.I have just bottled my first brew a pale ale ,using sugar as a primer.
My next batch of wheat beer will be ready to bottle next week so i was just wondering what should I use?
Thanks in advance
Seano

 

[Pennywise]

Makes bugger all difference when priming, AFAIK carb drops are glucose & sugar, sugar is just, well, sugar.

 

[bignath]

Sugar weighed out is more accurate and repeatable than carb drops. Used to use the drops years and years ago, but often found them to be very irregular and inconsistent in their size.

Either go sugar individually to each bottle, or even better (from an accuracy point of view), bulk priming.

 

[Bribie G]

If you are using PET bottles then these are perfect - one per bottle and a quarter of the cost of drops, and are completely uniform


in size.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

If you are using PET bottles then these are perfect - one per bottle and a quarter of the cost of drops, and are completely uniform


in size.


View attachment 47580

Not good for 500/750ml glass ?
Nev
GB

 

[Tanga]

Fine for 750 mL glass, but are sometimes too big to fit in the smaller neck. 500mL will be over-carbed.

 

[matt white]

Could also use dextrose, easily soluble.

I also recommend bulk priming. No brainer

 

[Clutch]

If you are using PET bottles then these are perfect - one per bottle and a quarter of the cost of drops, and are completely uniform


in size.


View attachment 47580

Really? Full on?

 

[ASYLUM_SPIRIT]

If you are using PET bottles then these are perfect - one per bottle and a quarter of the cost of drops, and are completely uniform


in size.


View attachment 47580

Really, so I can use one cube of these per 750ml PET bottle?

I think I'm using 2 carb drops per bottle atm.

 

[big78sam]

I also recommend bulk priming. No brainer

I agree with this. I know this wasn't your questions but I individually primed bottles for years then tried bulk priming and never looked back. It's easy! I wish I had started sooner.

As an addition to the other posts, you can find sachets of white sugar of varying sizes in supermarkets. With a quick calculation you can find which size is right for the bottles you are using. They are a bit more expensive than using a big packet of white sugar but when individually priming I found this worked well.

:icon_offtopic: We also had a mouse in our house for the first time recently. the only thing it ate was the coopers carb drops I hadn't touched in years! :lol: This has no relevance to the question but I found this humorous...

 

[Feldon]

:icon_offtopic: We also had a mouse in our house for the first time recently. the only thing it ate was the coopers carb drops I hadn't touched in years! :lol: This has no relevance to the question but I found this humorous...

Was that one or two carb drops per mouse?

 

[big78sam]

Was that one or two carb drops per mouse?

As the mouse did not explode when caught in the mouse trap I can only assume I got my priming rates correct and it was only one drop

 

[bignath]

As the mouse did not explode when caught in the mouse trap I can only assume I got my priming rates correct and it was only one drop

Yeah but what temp did you store your mouse at?
I've found this time of year, mice tend to need an extra week to properly carb up.

It might not be fully carbed yet. Give it a squeeze to see if it's tight.

Either way for safety sake, i'd probably store your mouse somewhere safe away from children. You don't want mouse bombs going off all over the house...

 

[DU99]

Sugar is my go..when i need to bottle a few spares

 

[Blackapple]

Was that one or two carb drops per mouse?

One for a mouse, 2 for a rat.

 

[Strutter]

Yeah but what temp did you store your mouse at?
I've found this time of year, mice tend to need an extra week to properly carb up.

It might not be fully carbed yet. Give it a squeeze to see if it's tight.

Either way for safety sake, i'd probably store your mouse somewhere safe away from children. You don't want mouse bombs going off all over the house...

Gold!!

 

[bcp]

Just a general question .
What is the difference between carb drops and sugar for priming ?
Is one better than the other?
Im a noob to brewing.I have just bottled my first brew a pale ale ,using sugar as a primer.
My next batch of wheat beer will be ready to bottle next week so i was just wondering what should I use?
Thanks in advance
Seano

Starting out, the carb drops are fine, nice and simple.

I changed to bulk priming (mixing the sugar into the whole batch) for two main reasons:
1. If you have different size bottles, it means you have the right amount in every bottle.
2. Different levels of carbing. Some don't need a high carbonation to accentuate mouthfeel, like an english bitter. Others, you wanna ramp up.

 

[Weatherby]

I used one of those brown scoops from big w for measuring sugar ( brigalow maybe) and primed some stubbies with white sugar and they were rediculously over carbed. I won't be doing that again, might try a couple of samples with less white sugar to see how they go. Never had any trouble with carb drops.

 

[Bribie G]

Really, so I can use one cube of these per 750ml PET bottle?

I think I'm using 2 carb drops per bottle atm.

I use one for each 750 bottle. Actually I've just bottle up some ales for a competition and used the sugar cubes. They seem to provide a good "midrange" fizzyness for most styles and if it is a bit fizzy for some styles like UK bitters I just let the beer "steam off" in a jug for a few minutes and pour into glasses from the jug.