Using Carbonation Drops A Guide to Easy Beer & Cider Bottling
A common way to bottle beer or cider is to add sugar to each bottle individually using a spoon or by batch priming. That can be messy or take a bit of time.
For faster bottling times, many brewers use carbonation drops
Once the beers have been sealed with a drop safely inside, the process of secondary fermentation begins as the yeast eats the sugar in the drops. Too easy!
🤔What are Carbonation Drops?
Key Takeaway:Pre-measured Doses of Sugar
At their core, carbonation drops are nothing more than sugar. Usually sucrose or dextrose, sometimes compressed into a hard, candy-like form.
There are no additives, no enzymes, no hidden chemistry. From a brewing standpoint, a carbonation drop is functionally identical to a carefully measured spoon of priming sugar.
The value lies in precision and repeatability. Carbonation drops remove guesswork at bottling, ensuring each bottle receives a consistent sugar dosage. That consistency matters. During bottle conditioning, the remaining yeast consumes the sugar and produces carbon dioxide (CO2). Because the bottle is sealed, that CO2 dissolves back into the beer, creating natural carbonation.
Used correctly, drops dramatically reduce the risk of uneven carbonation, flat bottles, or dangerous over-pressurisation that leads to gushers or bottle bombs. Since the sugar quantity is small and fully fermented, carbonation drops do not introduce off-flavours or sweetness into finished beer.
Trusted options like Coopers Carbonation Drops and Mangrove Jack's simply offer a cleaner, more controlled path to reliable bottle conditioning.
🍾How Do You Use Caronation Drops?
Key Takeaway:The Easiest Step in Brewing
This really is one of the simplest stages in the entire brewing process, provided the groundwork has already been done correctly. Once fermentation is complete and your beer has been transferred into properly sanitized bottles, carbonation drops handle the rest.
Before filling, place a carbonation drop directly into each empty bottle. Fill with beer, leaving appropriate headspace, then immediately cap the bottle.
That sealed environment is critical. It allows the remaining yeast to ferment the sugar and trap the resulting CO2 inside the bottle, where it naturally dissolves into the beer.
There is no stirring, dissolving, or measuring required at this stage. As long as your bottles are clean, your fermentation is finished, and your caps are secure, carbonation drops provide a fast, low-risk path to consistent bottle conditioning.
🔢How Many Drops to add per Bottle?
Key Takeaway:Dosage Depends on Bottle Size & Style
There is no complex calculation required, but there is logic behind the standard guidelines. Carbonation drops are designed to deliver a predictable amount of fermentable sugar per bottle, which translates into a known level of CO2 when fermented by the remaining yeast.
- 1 drop for a standard 330ml to 375ml (12 oz) bottle. This is the most common recommendation and produces a balanced level of carbonation for most ales and lagers. It can also be used safely in bottles up to 500ml if moderate carbonation is the goal.
- 2 drops for a 750ml bottle, often referred to as a long-neck or wine-style bottle. The increased volume requires additional sugar to reach the same carbonation pressure.
- For larger bottles, such as one litre swing-tops, some brewers experiment with 2.5 to 3 drops. This approach carries increased risk. Too much sugar can overwhelm the bottle, leading to excessive foaming or beer gushers, and in extreme cases, bottle failure.
Style matters: Different beer styles target different carbonation levels. Most standard ales are well served by one drop per 375ml.
Highly carbonated styles such as Belgian ales or German Hefeweizens may justify a slightly higher rate, but only if fermentation is complete and bottles are rated for higher pressure.
When in doubt, err on the side of caution.
⏱️How Long Do They Take to Work?
Key Takeaway:Carbonation is Quick, Conditioning Takes Time
Carbonation drops operate on the same timeline as any other form of priming sugar. When bottles are stored warm, typically around 18–22°C, yeast activity usually resumes within a few days. As the yeast consumes the sugar, CO2 is produced and pressure builds inside the sealed bottle.
Carbonation develops relatively quickly, but the beer itself is still rough around the edges at this stage.
Once carbonation is underway, time becomes the most important ingredient. We recommend an absolute minimum of two weeks of warm conditioning to allow carbonation levels to stabilise, followed by further maturation to properly condition your bottled beer. Around three weeks, most beers start to become genuinely drinkable.
By four to five weeks, flavours are usually more settled, bitterness smooths out, and the beer begins to show balance rather than sharp edges.
When you do crack your first bottle, chill it thoroughly, ideally overnight in the fridge. Cold beer keeps CO2 dissolved in solution, reducing excessive foaming and giving a clearer picture of the beer’s true carbonation level.
Opening a warm, freshly carbonated bottle is the quickest way to mistake impatience for a brewing fault.
💊Tablets vs. Drops
Key Takeaway:An Alternative with More Ingredients
Carbonation drops are not the only pre-measured option available. You can also use carbonation tablets
Tablets typically contain a blend of dextrose, dry malt extract, and heading powder. That extra malt content means they can contribute a small amount of body and flavour to the finished beer, which some brewers prefer and others avoid depending on style.
In contrast, carbonation drops are pure sugar and ferment completely, leaving no flavour contribution behind.
Dosage with tablets is usually expressed as 3, 4, or 5 tablets per 12-ounce bottle for low, medium, or high carbonation. This gives flexibility, but also introduces another variable. Well-known options include Muntons’ Carbtabs and Brewer’s Best Conditioning Tablets.
The choice between drops and tablets comes down to whether you prioritise simplicity and neutrality, or minor flavour contribution with added control.
🦠Do I Need to sterilize carbonation drops?
Key Takeaway:No, It’s Not Necessary
No additional sterilisation is required.
Carbonation drops are essentially sugar, and sugar itself is inhospitable to most spoilage organisms when handled dry. If you are taking drops from a freshly opened packet and using reasonably clean hands, the risk of contamination is negligible.
Brewers do not sterilise priming sugar when batch priming, and carbonation drops are no different in that respect. Once inside the bottle, the yeast quickly dominates the environment as fermentation restarts, further reducing the chance of infection.
Focus your sanitation efforts where they matter most, on bottles, caps, and equipment that comes into contact with finished beer.
💡Final Tips & Tricks for using carbonation drops on brewing day
Key Takeaway:Quick Pointers for Success
- Carbonation drops work just as effectively for apple cider. Use the same dosing guidelines, but remain cautious. Cider often ferments drier than beer, which can make over-carbonation more noticeable if too much sugar is added.
- Despite the different names, priming sugar
and corn sugar are both simply dextrose. From a fermentation standpoint, they behave identically and produce the same carbonation results.
- If you choose not to use drops and prefer measuring sugar manually, a sanitized kitchen funnel
makes the process cleaner and more controlled.
- Carbonation drops can also be used for ginger beer, and in principle for beverages like hard seltzer. Just be aware that lower body and fewer flavour compounds can make carbonation levels feel more aggressive.
- Force carbonating with a SodaStream machine is possible, but it bypasses natural conditioning entirely. If you go this route, proceed carefully and understand that it is a very different process from bottle conditioning.
- You can also use a sugar priming calculator to work out how much sugar to batch prime with.