Carbonation drops question

[phil74501]

I'm getting ready to use carb drops for the first time ever. It just occurred to me, do I need to sanitize those things before putting them in the bottles?

 

[PADave]

No, just drop them in.

 

[phil74501]

Okay, thanks.

 

[Kent88]

keep your hands clean and you're fine

 

[Brownalemikie]

I used "fizz drops" for carbonation in my first 5 batches of beer and after 3 weeks, carbonation was minimal. Someone here on HBF (Flars I think) suggested using Dominoe sugar cubes so I tried them and the improvement was fantastic. Head retention is amazing now by using cubes. Plus, sugar cubes cost about half as much as fizz drops. JMO

 

[Leezer]

+1 on the Dominoe sugar cubes. I use them too and have had great results.

 

[Radboud]

Used the Cooper ones a few brews ago, dropped 2 in each bottle (45cl Grolsch swing tops), turned out great, very carbed (which was my goal) but no gushers.

 

[violinguy]

I've bottled 2 batches with fizz drops and had almost zero carbonation. I recently bottled a batch and boiled sugar in water and added to bottling bucket. Even though I messed up and put in about a 3rd of the sugar I was supposed to (did tsp instead of tbsp - oops), I had better carbonation than the fizz drops.

I am on board with the domino sugar idea. Way cheaper, and if the results are like I've read, I'll be doing that for a while. Less chance of adding unwanted O2 to beer.

 

[Brownalemikie]

I've bottled 2 batches with fizz drops and had almost zero carbonation. I recently bottled a batch and boiled sugar in water and added to bottling bucket. Even though I messed up and put in about a 3rd of the sugar I was supposed to (did tsp instead of tbsp - oops), I had better carbonation than the fizz drops.

I am on board with the domino sugar idea. Way cheaper, and if the results are like I've read, I'll be doing that for a while. Less chance of adding unwanted O2 to beer.

I forgot to mention that you'll want to buy the Dominos cubes that are "198 count per box. Other cubes are too big to fit in the top of the bottle. One cube per 12 oz bottle works perfect.

 

[phil74501]

Too late...I already bottled using the drops. It's a hard apple cider, I only need it to be a little fizzy, not gushing over with foam.

 

[violinguy]

I forgot to mention that you'll want to buy the Dominos cubes that are "198 count per box. Other cubes are too big to fit in the top of the bottle. One cube per 12 oz bottle works perfect.

Thanks. I saw that in another post and picked up my 198 count box of Domino cubes today. I'm bottling tomorrow and can't wait to see how these work.

 

[MaryB]

I was using fizz drops but got tired of the ring around the bottle neck...