Coopers Carbonation Drops

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K5MOW

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 2, 2011
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Friendswood TX
I would like to make one gallon of my mead carbonated. Would one Coopers Carbonation Drop be to much to carbonat a 6oz small champain bottle of mead?

thanks Roger
 
It's important to know the recipe, especially the specific gravity that it finished at in cases where carbonation is being considered. What ABV and SG did it finish at, and with what yeast?
 
It's important to know the recipe, especially the specific gravity that it finished at in cases where carbonation is being considered. What ABV and SG did it finish at, and with what yeast?

The OG was 1.085 and the FG is 1.000


Roger
 
That sounds perfect for bottle carbonating, unfortunately I have no idea about what volume of beer those drops are meant for, maybe try google? Or, you could prime with just regular sugar, or honey (I have no clue how much for a bottle that size, but I'm sure someone would).
 
That sounds perfect for bottle carbonating, unfortunately I have no idea about what volume of beer those drops are meant for, maybe try google? Or, you could prime with just regular sugar, or honey (I have no clue how much for a bottle that size, but I'm sure someone would).

Well one drop in beer would be for 12 oz. I was thinking that you need a little more of the mead. I meen more carbantion.

Roger
 
You're using 1/2 the bottle size with the drops. I believe they're designed to give about 2-2.5 CO2 volumes of carbonation. Which means, you'll be hitting at least 4 CO2 volumes with the drops in the bottle size you're looking to use. I would make sure you use champagne stoppers and cage them suckers UP. Otherwise, you'll have projectiles from them...
 
I wouldn't recommend that much carbonation personally, but if it's in proper champagne (not beer) bottles it should be ok.

I'd just use about 1/2 whatever amount of priming sugar is in one of those drops and shoot for a lower carbonation level.
 
I wouldn't recommend that much carbonation personally, but if it's in proper champagne (not beer) bottles it should be ok.

I'd just use about 1/2 whatever amount of priming sugar is in one of those drops and shoot for a lower carbonation level.

Ok thanks. Well I dont think I will use the drops. How much Honey or sugar should I use for 1 gallon?

Roger
 
Ok thanks. Well I dont think I will use the drops. How much Honey or sugar should I use for 1 gallon?

Roger

Here's the calculator I use. I believe the sugar content of honey varies, so I'm not sure how much you'd want.

This calculator has honey, again dunno how accurate it is because honey varies.
 
What I've been using when carbonating meads lately has been 4/5 of a cup of honey per gallon. If you haven't already, try doing a search of the forum on "carbonation", or "sparkling", or even "volumes", that should get you a couple of good hits (and where I got that amount).
 
What I've been using when carbonating meads lately has been 4/5 of a cup of honey per gallon. If you haven't already, try doing a search of the forum on "carbonation", or "sparkling", or even "volumes", that should get you a couple of good hits (and where I got that amount).

That sounds like way way too much honey for priming, did you mean 1/5th? A full cup gives strong carbonation for a 5 gal and pretty strong for a 6 gal as well (even 7), so 4/5ths in a single gallon sounds like KABOOM to me!
 
Folks, the best way to go about priming is using weight. This is why you will always see me doing the calculation by weight. Doing it other ways leaves too much room for error and inconsistency.

Search the term atmosphere* with the star and you'll find some good threads.

The key is that 4 grams/liter of sugar produces 1 volume of CO2. You can use 80% of the weight of honey for the amount of sugar without being far off.

4/5 cup of honey in a gallon would give 212g sugar or about 13.7 volumes of CO2 and bottle bombs.

As a safety measure always weigh priming sugars.
 
That sounds like way way too much honey for priming, did you mean 1/5th? A full cup gives strong carbonation for a 5 gal and pretty strong for a 6 gal as well (even 7), so 4/5ths in a single gallon sounds like KABOOM to me!

:BangHead: OK, no more posting when I'm that tired, I'm not even sure now whether that was a typo or a misremember. Thanks for catching that, Alan. And Medsen. 1 cup for 5 gallons, so 1/5 cup for 1 gallon.

At least I posted suggestions for things to search for, which would have shown my mistake!

And now maybe I'll try to calculate it by weight now that I've got a decent scale. Good thing I always check my brewlog notes before I add anything to a must, better make sure to check them before I post... :eek:
 
I really should be going by weight, but I know for sure that 1 cup of even densly packed table sugar isn't too much for 6 or even 5 gallons, so I also know for sure that honey (being less sugar-ful) is safe in that amount.

If I was adding it to smaller batches I would indeed recommend by weight to be safe though!