Suger, Tabs, or Drops?

I am ordering some new extract kits (I am still waiting on my first batch to finish fermenting), I was just curious as to what the general consensus is on which means of carbonating is best.

I am going to bottle next weekend and I have priming sugar for it, but I could order some drops or tabs if that would be better. What do you guys think?

drops and tabs have been reported to take a while to dissolve in your beer. but you can control the amount of carbonation to within a fairly small margin of error.

with corn sugar (priming sugar) you have to boil it in a couple cups of water and add it to the bottling bucket. then siphon your beer onto that. i've heard of people reporting uneven mixture of the sugar. but this can be accounted for by letting the sugar cool all the way and to set your siphon hose so it is coiled a little on the bottom of your bucket and generate a slight swirling motion.

i prefer using corn sugar.

I've only brewed one batch so take this for what it's worth.

I used priming sugar. I also used a priming sugar calculator and used about 4oz instead of all 5. Turned out great. Perfect carbonation. Nice, thick, creamy head. Stays around and leaves nice rings in the glass. Drops and tabs seem like they would be an extra hassle putting them in the bottles.

Bulk priming is by FAR the easiest way. Boil a little water, stir in your sugar, cool and dump in your bottling bucket. Way easier than having to drop carb tabs in each and every bottle you use. Plus, you can adjust your carbonation to style by using a little more or less sugar. With carb tabs or drops, you're locked into increments of how ever much sugar is in each one.

But, if you're going to go with individual priming, Coopers carb drops are the way to go. Muntons tabs can leave floaties in your beer.

Where can I find out how much sugar to use for each specific type of beer? Not an exact, but a general guideline. More for Wheat beers? Less for Pale ales?

Thanks again guys.

GMoney said:

Where can I find out how much sugar to use for each specific type of beer? Not an exact, but a general guideline. More for Wheat beers? Less for Pale ales?

Thanks again guys.

Click to expand...

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

You pretty much rule. Thanks.

I only bottle what doesn't fit into my kegs, which is anywhere between .5 and 1.5 gallons. The drops are the easiest way to go but you have to be patient. They seem to take at least a week longer than when I used to use corn sugar batch-style...

Only used sugar and haven't noticed to much of a problem the key is to stir the beer in bottling bucket every 12 or so beers.

drat said:

I only bottle what doesn't fit into my kegs, which is anywhere between .5 and 1.5 gallons. The drops are the easiest way to go but you have to be patient. They seem to take at least a week longer than when I used to use corn sugar batch-style...

Click to expand...

They're great for that. I have a bag of coopers I keep around to carb up a few bottles of apfelwein and things like that when I only want to do a few bottles.

hmmmmm.....


I was under the impression that you didn't have to boil the sugar to prime with. I didn't for my last batch, but I used dextrose instead of regular table sugar (it's easier for the yeast to break it down)

I don't boil mine. I just get the water up to boiling, take off heat and mix in my sugar. Figured it's hot enough to kill anything in the sugar at that point so a sustained boil after adding sugar isn't necessary.