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badbrew · 12-21-2011, 11:19 PM

I am trying to understand this:

coopers
250g dextrose/ 1 bag/ 60 drops.
250/ 60 = 4.17g dextrose/ 1 drop
5 gallons x 128 oz / 12 oz = 53 beers
53 beers x 4.17g dextrose = 221g dextrose total
221g = 7.8 oz
= to 7.8 oz dextrose to add to the 5 gallon bottling bucket.

tastybrew.com
Light ale (average: 2.45 co2 volumes)
5 gallons
65 F
4.1 oz dextrose to add to the 5 gallon bottling bucket.

What gives?

**HopSong** · 12-21-2011, 11:25 PM

I don't know.. but they work just fine.. 1 drop per 12 oz bottle , 2 for a 22 oz or 750ml size. I have perfect carbonation in my bottles using them. I am going to sugar in a bottling bucket now due to expense of them.

Psych · 12-21-2011, 11:39 PM

This is really interesting and sounds about right. Two of my friends use Coopers carb drops, one per 12oz bottle, and I've always batched primed with corn sugar (or force carbed).

Their beers, within a similar timeframe, wind up with massive carb, a thick foamy head and it seems to happen fast.

My beers come out moderately carbed with very thin head. They're delicious of course, but carb-wise very different. I batch prime using Beersmith calculations, typically 5oz or so of corn sugar per 5.5-6g or so.

**helibrewer** · 12-21-2011, 11:46 PM

It is a glucose/sucrose blend but that shouldn't matter....things that make you go "hmmm"

**daksin** · 12-22-2011, 12:21 AM

I've never used them myself, so grains of salt all around, but I've heard more than a few complaints about the carb drops overcarbing the beer if you let them condition long enough, as well as producing a lot of sediment. This could be mitigated by the fact that most of the people using carb tabs are new brewers, so once they get to a decent carb level (which new brewers want to be fast, hence lots of sugar), all the beers go into the fridge and get drank nice and green. Just a theory, though.

I know another brand of drops (don't know the name) has some maltodextrin in them for body/head so maybe the Coopers do too? Not sure.

badbrew · 12-22-2011, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daksin

I've never used them myself, so grains of salt all around, but I've heard more than a few complaints about the carb drops overcarbing the beer if you let them condition long enough, as well as producing a lot of sediment. This could be mitigated by the fact that most of the people using carb tabs are new brewers, so once they get to a decent carb level (which new brewers want to be fast, hence lots of sugar), all the beers go into the fridge and get drank nice and green. Just a theory, though.

I know another brand of drops (don't know the name) has some maltodextrin in them for body/head so maybe the Coopers do too? Not sure.

I have ~45 lbs dex and ~40 lbs malto (don't ask

). Is there a good balance % for carbing?

BTW, I've decided to mix sugar at bottling for the 5 gal secondary carboy. I have a ~6 gallon primary right now, so I'll just carb drop and bottle the extras when I go to dry hop at secondary. Then when it comes time to taste, I'll compare.

**jonmohno** · 12-22-2011, 12:43 AM

Malto is not for bottle priming but will get some body, Im not shure if its 100% unfermentable but it may be close.If your going to use malto just use it in the boil. And use the dextrose(corn sugar) to bottle prime. Then again there are some unfermentables in dme for priming.

**HopSong** · 12-22-2011, 01:52 AM

I only used the drops cuz they came with the kit.. but, my brew was definitely NOT overcarbed. Compared to the amber ale I carbed using priming sugar in a bottling bucket.. the Coopers carb drops provided a little more carbonation.. but, certainly not much more than the priming sugar using the formulas I've seen here.

Borisbbadd · 12-22-2011, 02:30 AM

I've always been curious about them, but have never used them yet.

plumbob · 12-22-2011, 02:46 AM

Never really saw an advantage to drops. Seems like a lot of room for error.

i.e. you introduce error with every bottle, having to manually measure out the drops or tabs and also trust that the drops or tabs are properly formulated to what the package says.

With dextrose, I can take my scale and make sure what needs to go in is what goes in. And, any error from me or my scale gets spread out over 50 or so bottles which is going to end up being WAY less than adding an extra drop to an individual bottle.

Plus it's cheap and easy to boil a pot of corn sugar by comparison!