Bottle Carbonation

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Dissolution
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Bottle Carbonation

Post by Dissolution »

Has anybody tried Cooper's carbonation drops? Do they work well?
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cozrulz
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Post by cozrulz »

you could always go buy a bag and test them out in 3 or 4 of your bottles
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billvelek
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Never tried them, but I'm sure they work ...

Post by billvelek »

I don't recall the brand name, but I presume you are speaking about the 'pills' that you drop one in each bottle, right? If so, I know I've read posts on other forums about them, so I'm sure they work just fine if that is exactly the carbonation you want. They seem convenient enough, although I have a fetish about not putting anything in my bottles that hasn't been sanitized first, e.g., I wouldn't dream of priming my beer with sugar or DME that hasn't been boiled first. although I guess much of the reason for that is to ensure it is dissolved and well mixed with the beer before bottling. I seem to recall that there were more concerns expressed -- regarding those pills -- about things like different bottle sizes and styles of beer that require slightly different carbonation; there is no way to accurate split the pills. I don't know what they cost, but I'm sure it is much more than other priming methods; but different strokes for different folks.

Cheers.

Bill Velek
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Bob57702
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I'm going to try some this weekend

Post by Bob57702 »

I'm going to be kegging my second keg this weekend and there'll likely be some left over to bottle. So I'm picking up some of the Cooper's Carb Drops to try. I'm also going to order some of the Munton's Carbtabs to try later. The Munton's seem to have a better control of the carbonation levels. They use 2 to 3 for a 12 oz. and 4-6 for a 22 oz. bottle.

I'll let you know in a few weeks how it went with the Coopers.

Later,
Bob
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CarbTabs and Carbonation drops...

Post by apology »

I have used both of these products exclusively for the last year and they both work well... however.. I am going to more traditional methods. What I really like about the CarbTabs is you can dial in the amount of carbonation you want, but these tabs leave a lot of "stuff" floating in the bottle (If I recall they are composed of DME, priming sugar and heading powder). They definitely work great... almost too good. Powerful carbonation! but I don't like the particles... my beer is very clear until I add the tabs. Bummer. The Carb Drops are really nice, too. They don't leave as much residuals floating about but they also do not carbonate as fast or as powerful. The last few weeks seems to have taken much longer.. I would guess the cooler, winter months are affecting the timeline. In the summer, two weeks for the CarbTabs to get rockin'... about three weeks for the Carb Drops. In the winter (my brew is conditioning at about 66 degrees) you can add another week, maybe two. I almost keg all my beer in mini kegs now and use the Tabs and Drops very successfully. Don't have to worry about floaters so much in the keg... unless you take the keg with you, then stuff is floating everywhere. Takes a few hours for things to settle down again. Nonetheless, I have thoroughly enjoyed using them and have never had an issue with sanitation.
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