Conditioning tablets? Thoughts...

So I'm getting ready to bottle my first batch and bought some conditioning tablets at the home brew store. (Brewers Best) But now I'm seeing some posts on line that suggest they don't work all that well. It seems like most of the posts refer to priming solution so it seems like maybe they aren't very poplular and maybe for good reason.

I still have time to get corn sugar and go that route if necessary so what say you, home brewing gurus?

Are the tablets junk? Or do they work ok if you do things right? Any tricks to making them work better? Can you crush them for better results?

I'll take any advice I can get.

Thanks guys.

If you don't have corn sugar, get some cane sugar from the grocery store. Then use this site to figure out how much to use...

I never used the drops since I wanted to carbonate a batch to the level I wanted, not what the drops would do. If you can't get priming via a priming solution right, just move on to kegging. You can still bottle, it just takes different hardware to do it.

i use them - i have the smaller ones that take 2-4 for 12 oz. i like them because i like to bottle a couple when i keg, or at other random moments and they are convenient. i haven't had any problems with them.

i use them - i have the smaller ones that take 2-4 for 12 oz. i like them because i like to bottle a couple when i keg, or at other random moments and they are convenient. i haven't had any problems with them.

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So do you crush them or anything? Do you find it takes longer for them to work than priming solution?

I've used them on different occasions, doing an odd bottle here or an odd bottle there prior to kegging the rest. They work ok, but I don't guess I'd do a whole 5 gallon batch with them. I'm sure it's done though.
I've never crushed them, I've just plopped them in the bottle.

i've used the drops, coopers i believe. 2 per longneck 12 oz bottle. they worked fine. I actually dont like adding DME or dextrose for priming. (I certainly would not add cane sugar). THis is my thought and i might be way off base but - you spend a ton of time fermenting and ageing beers prior to bottleing. you add ferementables and you have to let those flavors mellow out, or develop all over again. I find the drops add very little to change the flavor of a beer once fermented. Just my two cents and opinions (and you know what they say about opinions).

They work fine, but like most things they have some pros and cons. The main pro is that they're easy, especially if you're only priming a few bottles. Cons are that the level of carbonation is fairly fixed, so you can't adjust to your own taste, or adjust for different beers by style. It's also difficult to get proper carbonation levels with some bottle sizes (for the same reason that they're a fixed size). Theoretically they also have a higher chance of infecting your beer since you can't really sanitize them, but it's unlikely and not something to worry about IMO.

kegtoe said:

i've used the drops, coopers i believe. 2 per longneck 12 oz bottle. they worked fine. I actually dont like adding DME or dextrose for priming. (I certainly would not add cane sugar). THis is my thought and i might be way off base but - you spend a ton of time fermenting and ageing beers prior to bottleing. you add ferementables and you have to let those flavors mellow out, or develop all over again. I find the drops add very little to change the flavor of a beer once fermented. Just my two cents and opinions (and you know what they say about opinions).

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What do you think the carb drops are made of? They're just pre-measured amounts of the same simple sugars that you supposedly wouldn't use.

travlinScott said:

So do you crush them or anything? Do you find it takes longer for them to work than priming solution?

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yeah - like was said- i don't crush them either, they seem to dissolve just fine. i usually don't crack a bottle conditioned beer until i see a nice little dusting on the bottom, so if the pills were still there, i would notice and wait anyway, but i haven't noticed any, so i guess they dissolve within a week or so. I use the brewers best because they are smaller than the cooper's so i think i have more flexibility with them (co2 levels and bottle sizes). I also think that the coopers and the brewer's best are different sugars, but i don't think either one of them is sucrose.

I have used them when I used to keg most of my batch and bottle a few. Thy work alright.

If you are bottling an entire batch I would recommend priming sugar miles into the bottling bucket.

Thanks for all the input guys.... This is my first batch, and I had some technical difficulties on brew day so if the priming tabs don't work I suspect that will be the least of my beer's problems and next time I'll try priming sugar solution instead. We'll just see how it goes, and learn from it. Thanks!

be patient, they'll carb.