bottling with champagne yeast

So I am curious about how some people go about bottling a beer with champagne yeast. I brewed a big belgian beer and have to bottle it. so how long do you leave the yeast in after pitch but before bottling? do you usually pitch with the priming sugar and then bottle or pitch yeast wait for the yeast to take off and then add the priming sugar at bottling time?

I pitch the yeast re-hydrated at the time of bottling. You shouldn't be bottling if there is still sugar for the yeast to 'take off' eating, so adding early doesn't make sense. I only do this with really big beers and/or beers that have been aging for a while (original yeast has mostly dropped out and may be stressed anyway).

If you're only at 8-9% abv and haven't left it in a fermenter for a few months, I'd not bother. If you're there or higher and have aged it a while, you might as well re-hydrate half a packet of yeast while you are waiting for priming sugar to cool. I (sanitize everything, then) dump sugar in bottling bucket, start siphon with hose angled to stir beer in with priming solution, then add the re-hydrated yeast once the beer has mixed in just a little (so the priming solution's temp is brought down by the beer temp). You can also add a sprinkle of yeast nutrient to the priming solution to ensure you get good carbonation.

Okay. that was what I had in mind. I guess "take off" was a bad term I didn't know if it maybe be helpful to let the yeast acclimate and mix in to the beer for a while to help it survive the pitch and do it what it is supposed to. Oh and this beer is sitting at about 11% abv and has been aging for a while now.

The only good thing waiting might do is allow some of the yeast to settle out, if you added too much. You probably don't need it at all, but if you decide to go this route, an eighth of a package will be plenty.

If you are going to buy new yeast for bottling, why not go with CBC-1? It's designed for this purpose and has excellent floculation and compaction properties.

http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/cbc-1-cask-and-bottle-conditioned-beer-yeast

Champagne yeast is cheaper. That's probably the only reason. The compaction might be worth an extra $3, though.