Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Carbonation Drops

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Carbonation Drops

    Hello I'm Brian.
    I have only recently become interested in home brewed beers and lagers. I have a basic question and hope someone can give me a bit of advice.

    I've given the ball a kick for want of a better phrase in the home brew shop. I got a Coopers Australian lager kit and a Woodfordes Wherry pale ale kit.
    Also a heater belt for my fermenting container.
    At the same time I bought three boxes of PET bottles (Coopers 500ml)
    So with the bits I already have I'm ready to start.

    My question is that whilst in the shop I talked myself into buying a packet if coopers carbonation drops. And to be fair to the shop owners they did point out that whilst a convenient way of adding primer the drops worked out much dearer than using normal brewing sugar.

    Having got home and read the dosage detail on the back of the packet which says
    One for a 375 ml bottle
    Two for a 750 ml bottle.

    Of course the PET bottles I've bought are 500ml.

    So what does anyone think should I use two per bottle or could I get away with one?

    I've tried breaking one in half but finished up with a thousand bits.
    (So much for convenience)

    I will stick to brewing sugar next time.

    Thanks in anticipation and best regards to all.
    Brian

  • #2
    Hello Brian.
    I'm Brian. Welcome aboard.

    If you have the details of the brewing drops, post them here & I am sure we will be able to find them on the Internet - find the ingredients - and translate it.

    This doesn't answer your question specifically, but I have a couple of comments which might also help.

    Gave up on brewing sugar. It is an expensive alternative (in my opinion) to ordinary white table sugar and I have never been able to taste the difference. HOWEVER Tate & Lyle is massively better IMO than golden spoon because it comes from carrying and not sugar beet.

    Instead I prime my bottles with Tate & Lyle Castor sugar. Dose @ half a teaspoon if you want it fizzy or quarter of a teaspoon if you want it to taste like real ale (lightly carbonated). Once the cap is on, the caster sugar dissolves quickly if you shake it and by doing so you also know if you have a pressure leak from a loose cap.

    As a rule of thumb. The average teaspoon is about 5grams - so the back of the box might give you the information to work it back. At a guess, I would say 1 drop will contain about 1.25 g.

    I have to say it does seem an odd choice - most beer bottles, I would have thought, are about 500 ml.
    Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Cellar_Rat View Post
      Hello Brian.
      I'm Brian. Welcome aboard.

      If you have the details of the brewing drops, post them here & I am sure we will be able to find them on the Internet - find the ingredients - and translate it.

      This doesn't answer your question specifically, but I have a couple of comments which might also help.

      Gave up on brewing sugar. It is an expensive alternative (in my opinion) to ordinary white table sugar and I have never been able to taste the difference. HOWEVER Tate & Lyle is massively better IMO than golden spoon because it comes from carrying and not sugar beet.

      Instead I prime my bottles with Tate & Lyle Castor sugar. Dose @ half a teaspoon if you want it fizzy or quarter of a teaspoon if you want it to taste like real ale (lightly carbonated). Once the cap is on, the caster sugar dissolves quickly if you shake it and by doing so you also know if you have a pressure leak from a loose cap.

      As a rule of thumb. The average teaspoon is about 5grams - so the back of the box might give you the information to work it back. At a guess, I would say 1 drop will contain about 1.25 g.

      I have to say it does seem an odd choice - most beer bottles, I would have thought, are about 500 ml.
      Thank you Brian for your reply. The description on the packet simply says. Ingredients:- Sugar, Glucose.

      The weight of the pack is 250 gm and contains 80 though I've not counted them. That works out at 3 gm each.

      Based on your explanation I think I will just use one per bottle.
      They are an Australian product so their beer bottles may be different sizes. Hence 375ml. And. 750ml.

      I've just put Coopers Carbonation Drops into Google and it comes up with pictures of the packets.
      I'm going to take on your advice regarding the caster sugar. I spotted these whilst spending like a man out of control in the home brew shop.
      I'm looking forwards to getting the larger going hopefully this week some time.
      Again thank you for your reply.
      Regards Brian.

      Comment


      • #4
        Good call Brian.
        You could always split the batch and do a few of each.
        Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

        Comment

        Working...
        X