Coopers Carbonation Drops

I have a bottling bucket, but it is also my sanitation bucket..
..So, I thought I'd use priming tabs, and bottle straight from the carboy.

My LHBS was out of priming tabs but had these:

Designed to make bottling a breeze for all levels of homebrewers. Simply add one drop to each 12 oz bottle (2 drops if using 22 oz bottles) prior to filling. Fill bottle to within 1-2" of the top & cap as normal. Store at fermentation temperature & your beer will be fully carbonated within 3 days. Contains 60 drops.

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They seem really big, and weigh way more than the entire package of priming sugar I have.

I checked out other posts having to do with these, and so I think I'll go ahead and try them anyway.

BUT i'd like to hear some thoughts on the "fully carbonated within 3 days" claim.

I've used the Cooper's drops shown above and the Munton's tablets. Both work the same and I've never had any problems with either.

its much harder than it sounds to bottle without transfer to a bottling bucket. In fact i wouldnt recommend bottling straight from the carboy because you kick up alot of yeast and proteins. Go out and buy a bucket or hit up the local bakery

<bump> what about the "fully carbonated in 3 days" claim?

I use those every time I bottle. But, I often use the bottling bucket as well. The only time I've bottled directly out of the carboy is with one of my better bottle's that has the spigot attachment. However, you beer will be carbed in under a week if you store at 70-75 degrees with the Coopers tabs. I use two in a 22er and one in a 12oz.

never carbed in 3 days. But Ive used them a bunch with good effect

I use them all the time, never carbed in 3 days, but it beats guessing on the sugar amount per bottle.

Is there any affect taste wise when using these drops?

Carbonation in three days is a myth, they're just sugar drops, the yeasties still have to do their job...and it won't do anything about making your beer tasting good...3 day old beer is green...

The Mantra is 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, no matter WHAT you use to prime the beer with.

Read this...and watch the video...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html

Sorry kid, there's no magic bullet about bottle carbing/conditioning...

Even kegging takes SOME time...


(and for god sakes go to a hardware store and buy a 5 dollar bucket for sanitization)

Revvy said:

Carbonation in three days is a myth, they're just sugar drops, the yeasties still have to do their job...and it won't do anything about making your beer tasting good...3 day old beer is green...
The Mantra is 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, 3 weeks @ 70, no matter WHAT you use to prime the beer with.
Read this...and watch the video...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html
Sorry kid, there's no magic bullet about bottle carbing/conditioning...
Even kegging takes SOME time...
(and for god sakes go to a hardware store and buy a 5 dollar bucket for sanitization)

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After reading this, I chilled a beer that I bottled on Saturday with Coopers carb tabs, just for kicks. Almost fully carbed. Also not green as I bulk aged it for two weeks while dryhopping.

I store my bottles in a closet that is always hotter than the rest of the house, it's probably 75 when the heat is on. My beers always carb in a week with these things(Coopers) at this temperature. I used DME once and will never do it again, the beer took a month to carb, even in the warmer room.

blacklab said:

...Also not green as I bulk aged it for two weeks while dryhopping.

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This is the key....It's still about patience...Big difference between you and an impatient brewer that is trying to cut corners...


and I still bet that you batches aren't truly carbed after the first week, that they are "false carbed" (look at the video) and the co2 hasn't absorbed back into the solution...

AND further more I bet that the last few bottles taste remarkable better than the ones that you drink in the first 2 weeks... there's still some things that the co2 still needs to scrub away during that phase.

I have never heard of these before, but sounds like HBT like them more than other priming sugars. I think I may give it a try...

Most folks find them handy if they just want to carb up a few bottles, but find adding priming sugar to the bottling bucket easier for a whole batch.

I picked up a pack of them because I want to carb up a handful of bottles of apfelwein and leave the rest still. So rather than bottle the still ones then try to calculate how much sugar I need for what's left in the bucket, I got carb drops.

Nope, fully carbed. I know the difference. I won't argue with you about the last bottle being better than the first. But then I didn't say that, did I?

ChshreCat said:

Most folks find them handy if they just want to carb up a few bottles, but find adding priming sugar to the bottling bucket easier for a whole batch.

I picked up a pack of them because I want to carb up a handful of bottles of apfelwein and leave the rest still. So rather than bottle the still ones then try to calculate how much sugar I need for what's left in the bucket, I got carb drops.

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Exactly, I keep these around if I want to bottle just one or two and keg the rest. I would never use them for an entire batch, but they are really handy to have around.

I primed a porter with these and drank it one week later and it was not even half way carbed yet.

Just going to post my experience with them, not going to get into any arguments with others hopefully .

I've used them on two batches, and they take just as long as priming the traditional way.

After kegging 2 cornys I alway have about 4 o 8 bombers left. I did use the coopers carb tabs on a few of them and wow, talk about over carbonation.

Not gushers or anything, but an Irish red that is as effervescent as a Belgian Golden Strong may be a bit to carbonated.

Reverend JC said:

Not gushers or anything, but an Irish red that is as effervescent as a Belgian Golden Strong may be a bit to carbonated.

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What exactly did you expect? These are not magic people, they take just as long to carb as any other sugar. They are also the same amount of sugar every time, if you are trying to carb an ESB to style you are going to need less sugar than when carbing a Hefe to style. I suppose you could break them in half to get less carbonation but that of course wouldn't be very convenient.

Tonedef131 said:

What exactly did you expect? These are not magic people

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Wow, sorry bro. company rep?


It was my first time using them and the instructions stated that it takes two for a bomber? well, what i know now im betting maybe 1 and a 1/4 for that style of beer.

be gentle it was my first time

Tonedef131 said:

What exactly did you expect? These are not magic people, they take just as long to carb as any other sugar. They are also the same amount of sugar every time, if you are trying to carb an ESB to style you are going to need less sugar than when carbing a Hefe to style. I suppose you could break them in half to get less carbonation but that of course wouldn't be very convenient.

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+1 to this...it is a fixed amount of sugar, nothing more, it's going to take as long as normal sugar doses to carb fully....and it's the same amount of sugar per dose, so if you are carbing to style you would have to cut them somehow to decrease the amount...but more than likely you wouldn't be able to get an accurate, consistant amount that way.

Remember this is coopers we're talking about here, they aren't exactly the best of products (think of their kit in cans...they tell you to add a pound of sugar as well) they're sort of the least common denominator of brewing ingredients. They tell you the beer will be ready in a week to drink...NOT THAT IT WON'T BE GREEN or BETTER In 3 WEEKS....They care about high turnover, knowing that once homebrewers get a little knowledge in them, they will quickly move on to better ingredients.

The other brand being small tablets, you can adjust the amount of sugar a bit (IIRC you use 4 of the little ones for normal carb, so you have 4 different lesser amounts to fiddle with.)

They are just a simple, relatively problem free product BUT they don't have any magic growth hormone in them to make the yeasties work any faster, they still are sugar pills...the yeast still have to convert them.

They will do the job for most beers, especially for those who keg, but want a few bottles for aging/contests. But you wont get the fidelity you will by playing with the amounts of priming sugar for a particular style...