Just left my LHBS with a pack of brewers best conditioning tabs which I haven't used before. According to the reviews on Northern Brewer and the fact they were discontinued it looks like that was a bad idea. A lot of reviews state all their beers turned out flat, and I don't want that to happen. Should I just not waste my time and beer with these and just get some corn sugar? Do other places sell corn sugar other than the LHBS?
Just use table sugar. It's cheaper and your results will be the same as corn sugar. I use Coopers carbonations tabs when I have just a couple bottles extra that won't fit in the keg, and I've had no trouble.
This. Keep the tabs around in case you ever need to carbonate a few bottles at a time. Buy the cheapest cane sugar you can get down at the supermarket and use that for priming.
Thanks, I usually use fizz drops and have had good results with those. Will the table sugar make it overly sweet or have any negative effects?
Geez, I cant wait till I have my keg set up lol. Is there a calculator to determine how much cane sugar to prime 5 gallons? EDIT: I think I found the calc. Does 3.05 oz. sound right? I don't want to under carbonate but I definitely don't want any bottle bombs either.
Here's a priming I've used before, its alright: http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/ Depending on what your desired CO2 level is, 3.05 sounds like it could be right Theres a few of them out there. Here's a quick read on priming: http://hbd.org/brewery/library/YPrimerMH.html And, of course, make sure to make sure the beer is done fermenting before bottling I've made that mistake
Thanks for the reply. I don't really know anything about the Co2 level. I saw something about 2.4 Co2 for carbonation? so that is what I put in the calculator. What is a normal/good carbonation level for an IPA? I don't personally care for super carbonated beers.
When in doubt, 2.5 vols CO2 is generally a good 'one size fits all'. And yes, you can't wait till you have your keg set up!
I use this calculator. http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/ You can calculate by either desired CO2 or style.
Except for impurities (I guess), table sugar is 100% sucrose, which is 100% fermentable by brewer's yeast strains. The sugar in Corn Sugar (dextrose) is also 100% fermentable, but you need more corn sugar than table sugar to get the same carbonation level, because about 5% of the weight of corn sugar is water. But anyway, the calculators take all this into account.
Carb drops are a joke. Even the people who sell them know it. Consider fnding another place to buy your supplies b/c the service from your LHBS is BS.
I wish I could but its the only one in charlotte really, its just a lesson learned and I will just have to do some research when I need a new product so im not relying on their expertise or lack of. Thanks for the advice everyone!
