Carb Drops

[keef12345]

Wondering about using Carb Drops for bottling

Is there a major difference

or not?

What I m asking is do they work and work well....
better than conventional sweetners addeitives etc...

Thankyou brew lords

:beerbang:

 

[pokolbinguy]

I have had OK results using carb drops.

In bottles it seems to be very hit and miss, due to each drop not being exactly the same as the last.... so not really recommended, but I have not used any other method, changed to kegs very fast. However have to bottle my HAG case swap so will give bulk priming a go.

In kegs has worked perfectly... i think because its one batch there is no variation. And if it is over carbonated you can bleed the pressure off. I will eventually start to use DME or something along that line but bought a bundle of bags of carb drops when they were on special one day so well stocked up.

I'm sure others will be able to comment.

Pok. :beer:


EDIT.....I am referring to using the coopers ones.

 

[mika]

Carb drops are just sugar, nothing special about them. Ease of use gets my vote. Have a search, try "carb drops site:aussiehomebrewer.com" in google, think you'll find most of your answers there.

 

[hoganknowbest]

hi keef

I have only done about 6 k&K's and every time i have used the coopers carb drops, they are just so easy.
I'll be trying dextrose with my next batch which will take a bit more time.

Good to see a few more Newy boys getting into HBing.
I moved out of newy around 18 months ago. Can't wait to get back!

Also, Mark's home brew shop at islington is very helpful source as well, i picked a few things up from there before i moved to VIC.

Good luck!!

 

[Bongchitis]

Hi keef,

I have used nothing but carb drops so far in my 15 or so brews and they are dead easy. I have tried coopers, where the weight of the drop varied from 2.3g to 3.6g when i decided to sus out my carb variation problems, I have never used coopers after that. Now I use brewcraft brand and they seem to be much more uniform and a little larger than the coopers, but I haven't weighed them to clarify as the results have been good for me. Perhaps I was just unlucky to get 5 bad batches of coopers in a row!

Cheers.

 

[turto77]

I've used carb drops for the last couple of years and it just makes the bottling process that little bit easier. my LHBS make their own drops and they seem to be a lot more consistent than the coopers ones.

 

[brettprevans]

as far as carb drops go, i actually prefer brewcraft's version of carb drops over coopers. they are a differant base ingredient and I find that they have better results than coopers. which suprises me. they also tend to be more consistent with size.

bulk priming is the way to go if you have the time.

 

[matt white]

here, here citymorgue, bulk priming is definitely the way to go for a number of reasons.
1. To clear the muck at the bottom of the primary or secondary ferment
2. To achieve consistent mixing and dosing of wort
3. Cos its really easy and foolproof

But carb drops are fine for the above reasons as well (except 1)

 

[Kleiny]

Carb drops work theres no doubt ive used them but then one or two of brews where over carbed (didn't blow up) but hard to drink.
I find more control by bulk priming and you can keg the first 19l and bottle the left over

 

[65bellett]

I thought carb drops were a brilliant idea (I like it when it's easy), but I have never gotten consistent results from them. At first I was a bit frightened to bulk priming because of oxidation and infection but now I wouldn't do any thing else. Get into bulk priming you wont regret it.

 

[Kleiny]

yep inconsistant thats for sure

 

[mika]

Weird, don't know how many beers I've bottled with carb drops and never had consistency issues. Seen more inconsistency with people's Bulk Primed efforts as the sugar never seems to mix in properly and you get big gushers and beers as flat as a tack.

 

[Daawl]

Why spend the money on carbonation drops and get inconsistensy. I have bulk primed now for the last 1/2 Doz brews and wont look back at drops or measured scoops. Every Bottle comes out the same, that includes the batch I forgot to stir after racking into the secondary.

I started to Bulk prime due too the area i moved into and the excesive heat, I was worried about bombs! I have found that it is easy to adjust the carbonation level to taste.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I used carb drops for a while, then moved to measured doses of table sugar.

For various reasons, I have recently done a couple of bulk priming things. I boil the sugar in water for 15minutes and am comfortable that I am potentially removing one avenue for infection - albeit at the risk of infection from somewhere else.

Dunno if it is easier than not, but I think it might work for me again in future.

I can't see any benefit in carb drops now - knowing what I do now, but I would probably recommend them to someone for their first batch.

 

[ausdb]

This is going to sound really dumb but has anyone had any problems with carb drops losing their effectiveness or going stale? I know it does not sound right as they still taste sweet if you eat one but the last lot of beer I bottled using some coopers carb drops that were about a year old has completely bombed carbonation wise. I added them at the standard rate of 2 drops per bottle and the comments I have received on my Christmas case beer have all noted low carbonation, this beer was fermented with nottigham yeast. I also bottled a few bottles of an english mild that was fermented with S-05 and have had the same result which is why I think the drops are no good, most of beers are kegged so I don't do a lot of bottling.

 

[Uncle Fester]

This is going to sound really dumb but has anyone had any problems with carb drops losing their effectiveness or going stale? I know it does not sound right as they still taste sweet if you eat one but the last lot of beer I bottled using some coopers carb drops that were about a year old has completely bombed carbonation wise. I added them at the standard rate of 2 drops per bottle and the comments I have received on my Christmas case beer have all noted low carbonation, this beer was fermented with nottigham yeast. I also bottled a few bottles of an english mild that was fermented with S-05 and have had the same result which is why I think the drops are no good, most of beers are kegged so I don't do a lot of bottling.

I can't imagine them losing any potency, as they are only sugar and glucose. As far as I am aware, neither of those are volatile in air.

If they were, I would expect the sugar bowl to diminish in volume by itself over time. The only warning on the packaging is to store in a cool place. Again, I can't really see what temperature has to do with it either.

Happy for one of the boffins to enlighten me.

Festa.

 

[Adamt]

Only temperature issue would be the drops melting and fusing together into a toffee-like block.

I also bottled a few bottles of an english mild that was fermented with S-05 and have had the same result which is why I think the drops are no good,

The dodgy carb drops did you a favour on that occasion!

 

[mika]

Never seen it as an issue here either Darryn, but I do tend to turn them over fairly quickly. Have noticed it's a lot harder to get carbonation into a beer with a thin body (low mash temp).
I've noticed the latest carb drops are looking a bit smaller than previous ones, think they may have been resized for 330ml bottles ?

 

[randyrob]

speak to GL, he doesn't have any problems getting high carbonation into beers :lol:

 

[SJW]

This is going to sound really dumb but has anyone had any problems with carb drops losing their effectiveness or going stale? I know it does not sound right as they still taste sweet if you eat one but the last lot of beer I bottled using some coopers carb drops that were about a year old has completely bombed carbonation wise. I added them at the standard rate of 2 drops per bottle and the comments I have received on my Christmas case beer have all noted low carbonation, this beer was fermented with nottigham yeast. I also bottled a few bottles of an english mild that was fermented with S-05 and have had the same result which is why I think the drops are no good, most of beers are kegged so I don't do a lot of bottling.

DONT USE CARBONATION DROPS. I bought them once when I first started and even the dog next door would not eat them. Do yourself a favour and buy another fermenter and use dextrose to bulk prime.

Steve