National Homebrew Club Ireland

Brewing Discussions => All Grain Brewing => Topic started by: irish_goat on February 06, 2014, 02:55:13 PM

Title: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: irish_goat on February 06, 2014, 02:55:13 PM
http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-make-your-own-carb-tabs

Read this article and thought it seemed like a good idea. I'm always mindful of rousing up too much trub when I'm transferring to the bottling bucket plus there's the added risk of oxidation. Might take a bit of tweaking to get the amount of sugar per drop right but I think it could work well. Could make bottling a very quick process anyway.

Mini ice cube tray £4.79 from China.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Random-One-96-Cavities-Ice-Cube-Mold-Tray-Mini-Diamond-Cube-Container-DIY-Food-/181174566291?pt=UK_Babay_Baby_Feeding_Cups_Dishes_Cutlery_LE&hash=item2a2ed87d93
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: DEMPSEY on February 06, 2014, 02:58:23 PM
My son gave me a pack of coopers drops and they are handy for the few bottles I need to fill after filling the corney
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: irish_goat on February 06, 2014, 03:02:46 PM
They are very handy but the problem with the Coopers ones is that they're designed for 345-375ml bottles. So you need 1 and half for 500ml, and that just gets messy. Plus they're expensive for what is essentially just sugar.

I was thinking of making DME ones too.
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: LordEoin on February 06, 2014, 04:14:00 PM
1.5 for a 500ml is indeed messy, but over carbonated anyway.
1 per 500ml = 6grams per liter = fine :)
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: Ciderhead on February 06, 2014, 04:26:25 PM
+1, plus time


Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: Bzfeale80 on February 06, 2014, 04:34:54 PM
Nice find goat! By the way when reading the article it should be noted that the person writing it is using fahrenheit temperature measures! See http://www.food-info.net/uk/colour/caramel.htm & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramelization for more info
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: LordEoin on February 06, 2014, 04:45:11 PM
apple drops work well in cider, but they make it a bit green...
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: TheSumOfAllBeers on February 07, 2014, 12:14:15 PM
A better approach is to use a large (e.g. 100ml ) dispensing syringe.

Make a priming solution with a specific amount of sugar, and at a specific volume, then dispense into bottles 5ml or 10ml at a time.

Works a treat, and because the sugar is already dissolved, it will carb very quickly. (4-5 days for my last batch).

Way more precise than carb drops, faster, priming solution is sterile & O2 free, and you can use any adjunct you like for the priming.
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: johnrm on February 07, 2014, 12:43:07 PM
Syringe is the way to go.
Carb drops are convenient, Period.
Plus you can easily vary the carbonation per bottle.
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: Eoin on February 07, 2014, 02:16:40 PM
Spoons and syringes are just gagging to spread infections...syringe seems like a good idea, but I don't think it is at all personally.

Bulk priming is normally the way to go.
Title: Re: Homemade Carbonation Drops
Post by: TheSumOfAllBeers on February 07, 2014, 03:23:06 PM
Quote from: Eoin on February 07, 2014, 02:16:40 PM
Spoons and syringes are just gagging to spread infections...syringe seems like a good idea, but I don't think it is at all personally.

Bulk priming is normally the way to go.

Store the syringe full of star san. Wait for infections.

I normally use batch priming too, but its just getting a bit too messy for me in my cramped brewhouse, and it does expose it to O2, unless you have a cool setup where you can purge the racking vessel with CO2.