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I have been a few post and i keep reading about using dextrose for priming the bottles. I have always used the coopers carbonation drops and have had some very yummy beers.

How much does the priming sugar a) adjust taste and b) adjust the finished product in the way of carbonation etc?

Just wondering because i like trying new things in my home brew...some are great some not so good!!!!

Hi guys,

I reckon that the amount of sugar you add for priming (180g or less all up) is so negligible in the scheme of things (about 3kg of total sugars, or maybe more) that it won't affect taste.

As far as the amount of priming sugar is concerned, I tend to put less priming sugar (and sometimes even none!) into darker style beers, in which you don't want a lot of carbonation so you can get a nice smooth mouthfeel.

Both Geoff and I prime with white sugar and use about a teaspoon per longneck (750ml), which is actually the amount recommended for a stubby, but carbonation is always superb.

Cheers,

Oliver.

Ive been using the coopers drops since I started about 6 months ago and have had no problems. They have new ones out now that dont stick together, so it makes it a lot easier.

Never heard of carbonation drops until I came here. Thats OK though. We use about 200 g of dex (like them nice and fizzy). Actually, when you buy your dex it comes in a 1.2 kg pouch, with the expectation that you will pull your 200g. This is at all the Home Brew stops I have made along the way.

Dogger

i use 180g dextrose per 22.5L batch and carbonation is just perrfect
i used to use white sugar for priming and i used to get mixed results but due to the lack of a good measuring scoop and not the sugar i think... the massive thing i've noticed with the dextrose priming is that it gives awesomely fine head bubbles. for the dextrose, i mix 180g of it into 500ml water and use a sterile syringe tube purchased from the chemist to measure out the solution. another interesting and very cool thing i've done these days is to use malt powder for a couple of bottles. very cool and gives a very creamy head. i'm going to try a solution version of the malt powder for a few bottles this batch just gone. malt powder has pretty much the same sugar conversion for white sugar and dextrose.
never used carbonation drops but a mate of mine used to use them a fair bit. his beer always had head like coca cola i can't say for sure that the carbonation drops were responsible for it, because i've never used them personally, but i can say that his beer was definately home brew.
-wombat

I tried carbonation drops for the second time round, but again I'm dissapointed in the product. First I used Coopers drops, the old ones that stuck together, broke & stuck together. What a balls up!
Second time I tried the drops, they were the improved type, with a sugary coating so they didnt stick together. They didn't stick to each other, but the size is inconsistent.
I only bottle in the old longneck non-twist top bottles.
40% would fall into the bottle, 40% would need a push to get down the neck & 20% wouldn't go in at all.
I found it very frustrating & not convenient at all.
I'll stick to white sugar for priming.

Anyone else had this problem of inconsistently sized drops?

Cheers - Redsicks

They also don't fit down the neck of Grolsch bottles

Using the double ended plastic scoop & dex

Cheers

Redsicks wrote:I only bottle in the old longneck non-twist top bottles.
40% would fall into the bottle, 40% would need a push to get down the neck & 20% wouldn't go in at all.

Interesting you say this. In my experience, those old bottles (particularly the South Australian Pickaxe bottles) are so different in thickness that some of them won't even fit the little bottler in!

Do you think it's the size of the bottle or the size of the carbonation drop that's causing the problem?

Just a thought ...

Oliver

Oliver,
Interesting thought...
Got my calipers out & did some measuring.
Six random longneck pickaxe type CUB bottles, six random Coopers Carbonation Drops.

The bottleneck internal diameter varied between 16.3mm - 17.4mm(the average was 16.5mm).
The carbonation drops external diameter varied between 14.8mm - 16.8mm( the average was also 16.5mm).

So both drops & bottles vary.

My thoughts would be for Coopers to set tolerances for the drops @ 16mm(-1mm,+0)...

The idea of these drops is to accurately & efficiently prime the bottles.
Make the drops a bit smaller than the smallest bottleneck diameter & they'll all just "drop" in.

Any way, personaly, I'll stick to white sugar for carbonation. Never had a problem with it yet.

Cheers - Redsicks

Redsicks wrote:Got my calipers out & did some measuring ...

Redsticks,

Love your work.

Oliver

It just anoyed crap out of me that I had to hammer lots of these things down the bottles.
I did persist though - they were going in there, whether they wanted to or not!

I'm over it now...

Very calm...


Cheers - Redsicks