Carbonation Drops vs. Sugar?

I have been using regular supermarket sugar cubes ( Domino Dots ) in 12 oz bottles. They are 198 to a lb which is 2.3g per cube. Which is 2.5 volumes of CO2. I ferment in my bottling bucket so my choice is cubes for about 1¢ each or carb drops for 9¢ each ( 60 for $5 ). Sugar Cubes have worked for me.

I keg most of my beer, but the tabs work great for me because sometimes I like to pull a few bombers before kegging this way I do not have to prime a full batch! If you plan on full batch bottling I think sugar is more consistent and easier to measure carbonation per beer style,

If you're bottling into different-sized bottles, then priming the whole batch with sugar is going to give you more consistentcy from bottle to bottle. If you use 1 drop in your 12-ounce bottles, either choice of using 1 or 2 drops in your 16's will make them differently-carb'd from your 12's. You could come closer with "prime tabs", which had a greater granularity because they were smaller, but those aren't being made any more.

I'd prime with plain old table sugar, and hang onto the carbonation drops. I use mine when I occasionally bottle single bottles (like a preview bottle bottled at racking time -- if I'm sure frementation is done) or small (1 gallon) batches.

There is nothing wrong with using carbonation drops. There are some advantages.

1. They give you a very consistent carbonation from bottle to bottle. Uneven priming sugar mix in the bottling bucket (forgetting to stir it without adding oxygen) can lead to uneven carbonation. Bottle bombs and weak/no carbonation.

2. You never forget to add them, which sometimes happens with priming sugar. Plus, if you do forget to add your priming sugar, you can always pry the caps off, drop in a tablet, and re-cap. (People do forget in their excitement to bottle to add the priming sugar.) Good reason to keep them on-hand as a backup.

3. If you do miss one, you only screw up one bottle.

Downsides:

1. Extra cost.

2. No ability to control specific carbonation for a given beer style or preference. (rarely done, but still)

I think one of the best uses for carbonation drops is diagnosing carbonation issues. People who are getting consistent weak carbonation, over carbonation, or uneven carbonation can eliminate everything but their priming sugar amount/procedure as the issue. It's a nice diagnostic for when you have carbonation issues you have been unable to resolve.

I would also say that carbonation drops are a good tools for new brewers. As you get more experienced, you can graduate to using simple priming sugar. No shame in using them, even some experienced brewers use them regularly.

I usually boil up extra pale dry malt myself, rather than corn or table sugar. I do that because I always have dry malt on hand. There is no other use for corn sugar, and I hate to have a single-purpose ingredient around and table sugar can leave a twang, although I have never experienced that in just priming.

I can't think of a reason the drops would be more consistent than sugar, assuming you prime the whole batch and not each bottle. Personally, I've found the drops less reliable. And sugar is much less expensive. I still have drops I've never used because I was so dissatisfied with the results when I tried them.