Carbonation Drops

[paullys brew]

I am on my 2nd brew. I have just painted my fridge & wired up a fridgemate & all is going well. I currently have in the fermenter a Coopers Pale Ale, K & K using the tin, 1kg of Brew Enhancer 2, & Safale US 05 yeast rehhydrated. I also threw in the kit yeast into the boiling water when making the wort to give the Safeale something to feed off & make its job a little easier.

It has been bubbling away in the fridge nicely at a constant 18 degrees. I'll let it ferment for 2 weeks b4 bottling. Any feedback??

My last brew was a coopers mexican cervesa using plastic pet bottles & carbonation drops, & although the brew turned out ok, it had somewhat of a coke like feel in the mouth,different type of bubbles to what Im used to in a beer. Ive since learned that this is because of the carb. drops.

I will be bottling in glass from now on & have heard that Castor sugar is good for priming bottles & doesnt give you that coke like feel. But Im concerned about over priming & dont want bottles exploding in the fridge. I will be storing bottles back in the fridge @ 18 degrees until carbonated.

I have one of those Brigalow measuring units for tallies & stubbies & was going to use that..

I think as long as I let the brew ferment right out, I should be o.k but am just a tad concerned as its my 1st brew in glass & dont want the mess.

Any advice welcome!!!!!

 

[mika]

Carbonation drops are just sugar bound together, similar to the sugar lumps you could buy years ago. You can use almost any kind of sugar for priming, even dried malt extract. Sounds like you may have had slightly more carbonated beer than you're used to, if you're going to prime with the measure you might want to short fill it by just a bit to lower the carbonation slightly. Or search 'bulk priming', some people swear by it.
Never rely on time periods before bottling, check with a Hydrometer and wait for stable readings.
Beer needs to be more than carbonated before you start drinking, why rule is 4wks in the hotter parts of the year, 6wks in the colder times before cracking even 1 stubbie.

 

[Pennywise]

Yeah those carb drops can be a bit inconsistant with priming, those measuring scoops are the way to go with plain sugar. As long as you let it ferment out you'll have no prob with bottle bombs, unless you get an infection that is. It's a good idea to taste the samples you take for the SG reading, even though it will be flat and warm and pretty ordinary, you can usually tell if it's infected from that. Have you got a bench capper, those hand held ones can be a right c**t, all the bottle I've ever had explode was from the hand helt types trying to bash the caps on

 

[Fourstar]

Shouldnt be an issue. Just dont overprime.

i recommend to bulk prime in the fermenter, boil dex in 200ml of water to a syrup, add to fermenter, stir gently and let settle then bottle away.

 

[paullys brew]

Yeah thanx, I dont plan on cracking 1 till round xmas anyway so itll be sitting atleast till then

Cheers

 

[Bribie G]

According to the packet, carb drops are a blend of sugar and dextrose. FYI sugar cubes are alive and well, and about a third the price of carb drops and come in packets of a hundred for around $2.70. I use them quite often when not bulk priming. They fit nicely through the top of both 2L and 1.25L PET bottles and give perfectly consistent results but of course can't be used for glass.

I use three per 2L PET but some brews have turned out a bit too lively even though three cubes only gives the equivalent of 156 g for a 24 litre brew which should be fine for lagers etc. I think it could have something to do with the volume of CO2 still in the beer, especially when it has been cool in secondary for a while prior to bottling.

Also I am finding that the coca cola bubbles are more a feature of kit beers and the more I get into grains such as Carapils and doing mini mashes, the more 'commercial' the bead, head and mouthfeel of the beers are becoming.

 

[amiddler]

Paully

Seriously look into bulk priming. This is what I do and every bottle comes out a treat.
1. By a 25L cube. $18.50
2. Boil my priming sugar, 110g Stout, 140g Ale and 160g Lager in 250ml of water for round 10mins.
3. While sugar syrup cools sterilise cube.
4. Pore sugar into bottom of cube and using food grade hose ($2.50) run beer from fermenter into cube.
5. Bottle beer in the same manner without having to measure sugar into every singe bottle.

There are better calculators around for estimating priming sugar but this works for me. Give it a go and you will be surprised how easy it is to bulk prime.

Drew

 

[Cocko]

Carbo drops are cool!

Cool AS!

 

[muckey]

no prob with carb drops as far as I'm concerned.

I keg most of my brew but the brew size is big enough to allow some wastage so I bottle the extra 2-3 bottles worth and drop carb drops in them.

The bottles sit for a lot longer than the kegs and no issues. I know some are using sugar cubes and have never tried so I wont comment, I'll leave that to those who have used them but as long as you prime at the correct rate and your ferment has finished you should have no probs.

To be honest though, if I was bottling my entire brew, I would be bulk priming as was suggested in an earlier post. Its quicker and easier than priming each bottle.


edit coz I cant spell

 

[KGB]

My last brew was a coopers mexican cervesa using plastic pet bottles & carbonation drops, & although the brew turned out ok, it had somewhat of a coke like feel in the mouth,different type of bubbles to what Im used to in a beer. Ive since learned that this is because of the carb. drops.

I will be bottling in glass from now on & have heard that Castor sugar is good for priming bottles & doesnt give you that coke like feel. But Im concerned about over priming & dont want bottles exploding in the fridge. I will be storing bottles back in the fridge @ 18 degrees until carbonated.

I've never heard any of that. I'm thinking you didn't leave it long enough in the bottle. In my experience the bubbles will 'feel' different and sort of finer and smoother when a beer is left to age properly in the bottle. Its kind of like the difference drinking coke out of a can vs a glass bottle.

Generally, AFAIK, the relatively small amount of sugar used for priming doesn't do much at all to the flavour. If you really want to try and get no flavour change from priming why not just use dextrose?

Definitely bulk prime. You'll save some time and should end up with much more consistent results.