New to brewing

[TomoLager]

Hello
I’m new to brewing, just recently finished my first lager brew using the brew buddy lager kit. The beer is nice and clear and tastes good, but didn’t have a lot of carbonation? I’ve used 500ml glass bottles, I used 1 carbonation drop per 500 ml bottle, little bit of fizz when opening but not much on taste? Should I use 2 next time or would that be too much? Would I be better off using sugar to prime each bottle? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated as I’m very new to brewing!
Cheers
Jim

 

[chrisb8]

Hello and welcome to the forum. There are online calculators which will help you to use the correct amount of priming sugar for the style you are brewing, your personal preference etc. Check out brewers friend here Beer Priming Calculator | Brewer's Friend Whilst carbonation drops may be convenient, using sugar will allow you to measure out a more specific amount.

 

[Drunkula]

little bit of fizz when opening but not much on taste?

Lager kits are utterly tasteless by their very nature. Imagine you wanted to learn to cook, got really excited and then went out and bought some rice cakes. It's like that.

Would I be better off using sugar to prime each bottle?

Yeah. Or you can batch prime where you work out the amount of carbonation you want by using the calculator here :
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/Then you mix the sugar in with some boiling water and put it in a bottling bucket and carefully syphon the beer into it or if you're like me gently swirl the top of the beer in the fermenter and pour the solution over the back of a spoon and wait 15 minutes before bottling.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated

Don't buy lager kits. They're absolute ****.