Coopers Carbonation Drops

So I used these.

1st brew, bottled 02/02/07, fizzed major when pouring to the glass.
2nd brew, bottled 02/11/07, totally flat when pouring to the glass.

Typically 14 days is enough. Others experienced longer carbonation times with these things?

Is it safe to assume you put these in 12oz bottles? I have used these drops, and found that they WAY over-carbonate your beer. One drop is about right for a 16 oz or 22 oz bottle, depending on the style.

But why the second brew didn't carbonate is a mystery. It probably has less to do with the carb drops and more to do with the beer/fermentation conditions, given that the drops worked on your first batch.

What's different in the second batch? Radically different recipe, fermentation location/temperature, type of bottles, etc.???

I never used them but considered it do to the relative ease.

You can speed up carbing w/ a shake every 3 days especially if there is settling going on during the carb phase. Gets yeast into suspension and helps mix sugar if its not totally dissolved.

All else... go to Coopers. They have good customer service IMHO.

http://www.coopers.com.au

FlyGuy said:

and found that they WAY over-carbonate your beer.

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Have to agree here, I used some and followed the directions on the bottle (3 tabs/ 22 oz. IIRC), and way overcarbed.

Flyin' Lion said:

Have to agree here, I used some and followed the directions on the bottle (3 tabs/ 22 oz. IIRC), and way overcarbed.

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I've always seen 1/12 and 2/22. 3/22 would definitely make it a wee bit fizzy.

I carbed a half-batch with these drops and it's been one month. I use one drop per pint, cuz I like a little softer carb. They are finally well carbed now, but after two weeks they weren't. I think it must have taken them about 3 weeks. I've used em in the past and they generally take longer than straight corn sugar, but not more than 2 weeks. For some reason the results seem to be a bit erratic.

Monk

Well, I opened another bottle of the stuff that wasn't carb'd and it fizzed like crazy. I may have missed a bottle, but I doubt it because I was really careful. Sounds like they do tend to over-carbonate more than under. Must have had an unlucky, isolated experience.

Well, one of the things about it is you can't put 3/4 of a drop in. Your porter will carb up the same as your lager.

I've used these and I too found that they take a little over two weeks to carb. I imagine since they have to dissolve this might extend the carbing period. I've also used the other smaller tabs but found that those don't always dissolve completely and I'm left with undercarbed beer with white floaties...

Ive used the drops in most of my beers up until now and found that almost all of them have been over carbonated. Lately ive been batch priming and find it way easier with less mess. Batch priming also gives me control over the carb level so i can adjust between different styles of beer.

aseelye said:

I've always seen 1/12 and 2/22. 3/22 would definitely make it a wee bit fizzy.

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Yep, I was mistaken as to the brand. I had used Munton's.

MUNTON'S CARBTABS™, Two CarbTabs™ per 12-ounce bottle provides low carbonation, three tablets provides moderate carbonation, four tablets provides typical carbonation and five tablets provides a high carbonation level. Different bottles of beer from the same batch can now have different carbonation levels! Each four ounce package contains 250 tablets and will prime a five to six gallon batch of beer.

Adding sugar is kind of "Old School" but works. As compared to using 5oz of corn sugar boiled with water. I have a very old book that suggests adding dry sugar but all of the more modern brewing books say to boil water and bulk carb with the sugar.

I do it myself with small batches. The secret in my opinion if you add dry sugar, carb tabs, and Cooper Drops is shaking the sugar up after capping. Then shake every three days. It works good for me. By day 6 the PET bottle is rock hard. I usually let them go for 2 weeks before poppin' them in the fridge

Try it - it works for me everytime. I usually use dry granulated sugar.

Edit: My old book has instructions for adding boiled sugar water to each bottle. I considered it once using a turkey marinade injector so you can measure it out in milliliters. If anybody wants the instructions let me know.

Typically, I keg the batch but bottle around 6 or 12. The drops were my idea of a simple solution for carbonating these few bottles.