Carbonation drops
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stratslinger
Well-Known Member
None!
Seriously though, I'd recommend that if you want to naturally prime a keg, use priming sugar or DME - they're WAY cheaper and more easily measured.
And simply hooking up to CO2 and waiting for it to carbonate will be even cheaper and usually slightly faster.
But if you absolutely must use the carb drops (I'm assuming you're using Cooper's), I'd figure about 48 should do it. I typically bottle a sixer out of ever batch, and one drop per bottle has worked well enough for me. Since a typical 5 gallon batch is about 2 cases, I'd figure 2 cases worth of drops should do the trick.
Seriously though, I'd recommend that if you want to naturally prime a keg, use priming sugar or DME - they're WAY cheaper and more easily measured.
And simply hooking up to CO2 and waiting for it to carbonate will be even cheaper and usually slightly faster.
But if you absolutely must use the carb drops (I'm assuming you're using Cooper's), I'd figure about 48 should do it. I typically bottle a sixer out of ever batch, and one drop per bottle has worked well enough for me. Since a typical 5 gallon batch is about 2 cases, I'd figure 2 cases worth of drops should do the trick.
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
That makes things tougher, to be honest - at least if I assume you're kegging in a 5 gallon corny?
If you do the math, it would suggest that:
16 pints x 16oz per pint = 256 total oz
256 oz / 12 oz per bottle = 21.3 bottles, equivalent
Which would suggest that you might get away with 21.3 (call it 22, just to be safe) drops.
BUT - you're talking 2 gallons of fluid in 5 gallons of space. All that headspace is going to kill you - maybe if you can purge the keg with 20 or 30psi of CO2 you'd have a better chance... But if you had the CO2 any way, it'd be easier and quicker to just use the gas directly.
So I'll ask: why do you want to carb a partially filled keg with carb drops instead of CO2?
If you do the math, it would suggest that:
16 pints x 16oz per pint = 256 total oz
256 oz / 12 oz per bottle = 21.3 bottles, equivalent
Which would suggest that you might get away with 21.3 (call it 22, just to be safe) drops.
BUT - you're talking 2 gallons of fluid in 5 gallons of space. All that headspace is going to kill you - maybe if you can purge the keg with 20 or 30psi of CO2 you'd have a better chance... But if you had the CO2 any way, it'd be easier and quicker to just use the gas directly.
So I'll ask: why do you want to carb a partially filled keg with carb drops instead of CO2?
