⇒ How to use carbonation drops for brewing beer and cider

Using carbonation drops for secondary fermentation in beer brewing

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 to make bottling quick and error-free.

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 carbonation drops.

Too easy!

You may have heard of Coopers Carbonation Drops?

They are pretty well known and are they are a reliable brand. Mangrove Jacks drops are also pretty popular.

What are the ingredients of carbonation drops?

Sugar.

That's it, sucrose is the only ingredient.

So there is no difference between a carbonation drop and sugar.

The reason for using them is simply for ease of use.

You can try other alternative methods of adding sugar to the beer - such as 'priming' the whole batch of beer or by adding sugar to each bottle using a funnel or spoon.

That can be a bit messy though!

So, you should use carbonation drops if you want an easy bottling process and wish to save some time and keep things nice and clean.

Using drops also allows you to ensure that each bottle is given the same sugar dosage - this will allow for a consistent brew and also will help prevent 'gushers' from occurring (more on avoiding beer gushers later on).

Because the drops are just simple sugar and used at low volumes, they leave no 'off-tastes' in your beer. 

So how do you use carbonation drops? 

It's actually probably the easiest part of making beer!

Once you have added the beer to your sanitized bottles, all you need to do is literally drop a carbonation drop into the bottle.

Instantly, you are done. Easiest instructions you will follow all week!

You then cap the bottle so that carbonation can commence and the CO2 becomes trapped in the bottle.

You might now be thinking:

How many carbonation drops do I add to each bottle? 

It depends on how big the bottles are. 

It's not an exact piece of maths but here are the standard practices:

• 1 drop for a beer bottle that is around 350 to 375 mls or 12 OZ. Even 500 mls will cover you
• 2 drops for a 750 mls bottle (your standard crate size bottle) or 25 OZ but you are probably pushing the limits.
• If you're doing anything bigger like a litre, you may wish to consider 2 and a half drops or possibly 3 but you're risking over sugaring your beer and this may cause beer gushers.
• Another rough rule of thumb is one drop for one pint which is possibly on the light side if an Imperial pint equals 540 mls but prob OK for an American pint of 473 mls.

Once you have added the drops, give them a chance to dissolve. When they've had long enough after capping, give the bottle a firm shake to ensure each drop has dissolved completely.

Actually, you really shouldn't have any problems with drops dissolving so you can feel free to skip this step.

If you have added sugar using a spoon or funnel, you should definitely shake the bottle so any sugar stuck inside the bottleneck gets into the beer.

Do I need to sterilize carbonation drops?

No, you do not need to take such a step.

If you take the drops straight from a freshly opened packet and use clean hands, you should be absolutely fine.

No one ever sterilizes their sugar when brewing so we don't see any reason to do this. 

Not sure how you would either, maybe dissolve them in boiling water? ... and if so you may as well just use ordinary sugar.

The reality is I have a bag of sugar that I keep in my brewing shed. It's in a plastic container but it's manky - I've never had any issues with using sugar that's not sterilsied. You just don't need to do it. 

Do different beer styles affect my use of drops?

Ales generally need less sugar than lagers however we really don't think you should worry too much about it when you are at a beginner stage of home brewing.

When you are more experienced and understand what sugar content suits your beer, you'll probably want to think about batch priming more so you can be more targeted with your sugar content.

Though to stay on target, do not over carbonate - using one drop per bottle is a good way to avoid this issue. Why waste your brewing efforts by spilling beer?

How long do carbonation drops take to work / carbonate?

The same amount of time as simply adding sugar does!

Basically, carbonation will take place fairly quickly, a matter of days.

A good length of time is then needed to let your beer condition properly and we recommend an absolute minimum of 2 weeks for that (we won't begrudge you a taste tester one though eh?).

At three weeks your beer should be beginning to become quite drinkable, but as usual, we suggest you wait till that fifth week if you can be so patient.

A wee bit of advice, when you do you first taste, lower your expectations and secondly, make sure you have chilled your bottle in a fridge over night. The lower temperature can reduce excessive fizz when you open the bottle. 

Don't believe me? Open a warm brew that's had a little too much sugar added...

Can I use carbonation tablets instead of drops? 

You can also use 'carbonation tablets' or (conditioning tablets) for bottling which is a different way to carbonation glory.

The tablets usually contain tablets contain dextrose, dry malt extract and heading powder which is clearly different from using sugar for fermentation.

Carbonation tablets work in the same way as sugar in that the more you use, the more carbonation occurs.

In that sense, they are an equivalent alternative product but given the ingredients, they will add more flavour and body to your beer.

This is important to keep in mind as some beers are better with more bubbles (lager) and others are more enjoyable to drink when they have less (heavy ales, bocks etc). The usage is 3, 4 or 5 tablets per 12 ounce bottle (350 mls) for low, medium or high carbonation.

Popular brands are Muntons' 'Carbtabs' and Brewer's Best Conditioning Tablets.

Remember that after carbonating your beer, it's essential that you store the bottles properly so that optimal conditioning can occur.

Is priming sugar the same as brewing sugar?

Yes, they are! Priming sugar and corn sugar are both simply dextrose.

Tips and tricks for when using carbonation drops:

• You can use drops to carbonate apple cider. The measurements are the same. Just as with beer, be wary of over carbonating the cider. 
• Once you have added the drops and bottled the beer, it will take about 7 days to condition. This is the bare minimum before which you can drink your beer. The patient beer brewer should wait about 3 weeks before sampling their brew. Leaving your beer in a dark, cool place will help too.
• Beware of over priming your beer. If you add too much sugar, too much CO2 will be produced by the yeast and it will have nowhere to escape. It will escape in the form of a 'gusher' when you open your beer and it will gush out the next of the bottle like a geyser and go bloody everywhere - and ruin that beer experience you were about to enjoy!
• Different temperatures will affect the carbonation process as well (the yeast generally enjoys a warmer temperature) - so if you are questioning whether the drops didn't produce enough CO2, bear in mind there are other factors at play.
• If you do choose to not use drops and just wish to add granulated sugar to the bottle, we recommend the use of an ordinary kitchen funnel as it speeds things up and helps reduce the mess of sugar going everywhere. Get your measurements correct! You can always try to batch prime - we find this method quite effective.
• We once tried using jelly beans as a substitute for carbonation drops. The results were quite interesting! Basically, you can use any form of sugar lollies for carbonating beer - as long as it fits down the neck of the beer bottle you'll be right! Flavours may vary though...
• We've used Mangrove Jack's drops many times and had no problems so are very happy to recommend their use.
• 60 carbonation drops, will be enough drops for one 23 litre brew (i.e. up to that 'line' on a plastic drum.
• You can use carbonation drops with your ginger beer as well! And though we've never tried it, maybe your hard seltzer. 
• If you are buying drops online, say Coopers Drops from Amazon, we suggest you order at least a couple of packets - that way the cost of delivery becomes more effective by price per unit.
• You can use Soda Stream machine device to carbonate your beer. Just be careful how you go about it. 

What is the science behind carbonation drops for secondary fermentation?

The science behind carbonation drops is based on the concept of priming sugar. During secondary fermentation, yeast consumes the sugar added to the beer, producing carbon dioxide (CO2) as a byproduct. This carbon dioxide is then dissolved in the beer, creating carbonation.

The science behind carbonation drops is relatively simple. Each pellet contains a precise amount of sugar that is carefully calibrated to produce a specific level of carbonation. As the yeast consumes the sugar, it produces a known amount of carbon dioxide, which is then dissolved in the beer. 

The result is a beer that is carbonated to a specific level, which can be adjusted by varying the amount of sugar added.

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Review of Mangrove Jack's New Zealand Brewers Series Beer Kit

Review of Mangrove Jack's New Zealand Brewers Series beer pouch kit

I was in checking out Brewshop the other week and I saw that Mangrove Jack's (an Aussie based company) had a new kit on the market called the "New Zealand Brewer's Series".

This piqued my curiosity as what is uniquely New Zealand about beer kits? 

Other than Black Rock and Williams Warn both being made in the Speights factory, Nothing is the answer - so this means the kit is probably just a rebrand of their existing products for the NZ market.

I spied their Golden Ale, which purports to be "A clear golden ale with subtle malt and fruit undertones, finished with a pleasing bitterness."

At 20 NZ bucks, it was a competitive price so I thought I'd give it a brew and review.

So, what do we do first? I cleaned and sanitized the fermenter drum with boiling water and sodium percarbonate.

I then added the brew enhancer from Brewshop and added a kettle of boiling water.

I then opened the Mangrove Jack's box pack and to my surprise, it was actually a pouch inside the box.

This actually should have been no surprise as Mangrove Jack's are well known for their kits being in pouch form rather than tin can!

I cut open the pouch with my key chain multi-tool and added the contents to the drum. Perhaps the kit's contents were a bit cold as I really had to squeeze it out.

Indeed, I felt there was quite a lot left in the pouch so I added some boiling water to it to help melt the remainder and made sure I got most of it out it and into the wort.

This process was a bit more difficult than doing it with a tin can kit. I venture a complete novice at brewing would have made a huge mess!

I then gave it all a good stir and then added water so that there were about 23 liters in the drum. I then added the yeast that I had set aside in a glass of warm water to help hydrate it.

I noticed when adding the yeast that it all came out pretty easily and there were not many bits of it stuck to the inside of the packet (which happens a lot with Blackrock kits for example).

I then chucked the drum into the shed.

It's currently the start of winter so it will be a bit cold out there so we'll see how the fermentation goes!

Let's check back in about ten days after primary fermentation.

...and we're back.

It's actually been two whole weeks and tonight I have just bottled the beer. Instead of batch priming, I sugared each bottle individually. This is because I have somehow managed to over prime my last two stouts and those were some wee fizzy buggers which kind of ruined the beer drinking experience.

So, let's check back in another two weeks for a taste test.

...and we're back.

Honestly, this is an 'average' result. Not average in the sense people say that word to not mean good but average in the mathematical sense. It's not an inspiring brew by any means however it feels like a stock standard beer.

Another two weeks conditioning will improve this beer but I've made enough of these brews to know where the beer is headed.

It's flavour would definitely have been improved by the addition of some English or Citrus type hops.

So, what we've got here is a good result in the sense this Mangrove's Jack offering is a stock standard homebrew kit and for the price, you can't complain if that's the kind of beer you want to make!

If you want to try a different kind of brewing experiment, consider brewing with two malt kits at the same time!

1 comment beer kit review, brew and review, golden ale, how to brew with a beer kit, mangrove jack's, New Zealand Brewer's Series

Brewing with a Mangrove Jack's Stout Kit Review

After my relatively successful effort with the Mangrove Jack's Dutch Lager kit (review), I thought I'd have a crack at their Irish Stout.

Brewed in the normal good manner of proper sanitization, careful cleanliness and a half-assed attempt to keep the brew warm during these winter months by wrapping it in several sheets, I am expecting a stock standard stout but I'm quite keen to compare it to Black Rock's Miner's Stout as I've brewed a fair few of those in the past year and found them to be excellent brews.

I'm keen to see how creamy the kit is.

I prepared the kit and added a beer enhancer that was specifically tailored to a stout and then left the unit in my shed outside to ferment.

During fermentation in the shed, we had our first winter frost. Not ideal for an ale but whatever.

I waited 10 days before conditioning at which point I batched primed with 70 mls of sugar that I dissolved in boiling water.

Honestly, batch priming makes it so easy to get a consistent brew across the batch and reduce the chances over an over-sugared bottle doing a gusher. I don't know why I was so reluctant to do so!

-

So it's now been over a week since I bottled condition, so I'm going to have a sneaky sample. I left the beer in the fridge overnight so the ale was nice and cold. It felt like it had a good body and it tasted like an ale but one that clearly needed to condition a fair bit longer.

So we wait.

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Week 2. A wee sample after a nice chicken korma proved to be an odd, but a rewarding combination. The stout has settled somewhat.

Detected a hint of coffee which I expect will be gone in a week or two.

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Week  3. This beer has turned out OK, I've made enough beers to know that if I give this batch another month to the condition it will be fine but nothing to write home about. I suspect I over sugared the batch as the beer gets quite the head when being poured. I'd say 50 to 60 grams probably suits.

The slight coffee notes remain.

Given this was actually the cheapest beer kit I've ever bought, the resulting beer is pretty fair. I do however prefer the Black Rock Miner's Stout over this.

Leave a Comment black rock, mangrove jack's, stout

Mangrove Jacks Dutch Lager Review

I was at my local brew shop looking for my current kit of choice, a good nut brown ale kit and could not find any so I thought I would try something new to me.

Given it's getting cold in my neck of the woods I thought it might be a good time to try a lager.

I found Mangrove Jack's Dutch Lager kit and thought I would give it ago.

In a way, this felt like coming full circle as my wife gave me a Mangrove Jacks Beer Making kit which set this whole shebang off.

Preparation of the kit was pretty standard. I cleaned the plastic fermenting drum with sodium percarbonate and boiling water. I left the kit of the fire top so it would soft. I put the yeast in a glass of warm water so that it could be hydrated.

When I was set up, I added the beer enhancer to the drum and added some boiling water. It's probably just me but I like to ensure the enhancer is properly dissolved before I add the malt.

I then added the malt after it was warmed on the fire. It came out nice and easy. I added a little more boiling water to the can so that I could get all the malt out.

When everything was nicely stirred in, I then filled the drum with the required amount of water.

To give the yeast a good start to fermentation, I let it do its thing in the kitchen for 24 hours, then I moved it out to the shed and wrapped it up in a large pile of old sheets. Classic.

I left it for a week and then bottled.

2 weeks later I can report back.

While it's very early, I can tell I must have got something wrong as it feels very sweet and dry. Maybe I added too much sugar when I batch priming. There's definitely a nice creamy feel which almost seems at odds with what I just described.

It feel's like another couple of weeks conditioning is required which makes perfect sense.

4 weeks later - report back 2.

Things have settled somewhat. I've made a dry lager which seems a bit odd. It's quite drinkable, and especially so when served cold as all good lagers should be! I did accidentally open one that was warm and it gushed up a fair bit so maybe I did add too much sugar. 

1 comment lager, mangrove jack's