How much priming sugar?

I know the typical amount of priming sugar is 4oz/5 gallons...My recipe for the Nut Brown Ale I'm fermenting is listed below- the brew store gave me a 5oz. bag of Dextrose priming sugar, should I use the entire 5oz. bag, or measure out 4oz.? Also, does the size of the bottle make a difference in priming sugar? I'm going to do 12 oz. bottles, but was wondering if I could get away with 2 or 3 22oz. bottles as well with the same amount of priming sugar.

6.6 lb. Munton's Amber Malt (2- 3.3lb cans)
1/2 lb. Munton&Fison Crystal Malt 60
1/2 lb. Munton&Fison Carapils Malt 20
1/4 lb. Munton&Fison Chocolate Malt 338
1/2 lb. Breiss Victory Malt
1 oz. Phoenix hops plugs
1 oz. Kent Goldings whole leaf
Wyeast # 1098XL British Ale Yeast.

Actually the most typical priming amount I've seen is 1 oz of dextrose per gallon (5 oz for a 5 gallon batch). Some styles you might want more, some less but my first batch was a carefully measured 3/4 cup, which turned out to be about 4 ounces and that beer was undercarbed, at least for it's style. I now use a weighed 5 ounces for most batches and have been happy with the results.

Regardless, if you're priming the whole batch it doesn't matter what size bottles you use, since the ratio will remain the same. I commonly use both 22 oz and 12 oz bottles for the same batch and they both carb up just fine. Just be sure to keep them at 70 for 3 weeks, temperature makes a big difference in how well they carbonate.

I usually use 4-4 1/2 oz. I used the full 5oz that they gave me one time and the beer turned out over carbed.

I've been reading about this a lot lately as I'm about to bottle my first batch. From what I've been reading, the style of beer should determine the co2 volume. For example, Scottish Dark Ales tend to be less carbonated. As such, I plan on only using 3oz of sugar as opposed to the full 4 oz that came from the LHBS and let them condition for 3-4 weeks at about 68-70 degrees. Am I off base?

I find this really helpful (The Beer Recipator - Carbonation).

What is really important is that you get a good distribution of the priming sugar. I've done the swirling action and I gotta tell you its not working for me. I paid close attention, coiled the siphon tube in the bottom of the bucket and watched the swirl mix the wort with the sugar mixture. . . I have two batches that are a mix of no-carb's and bottle bombs. There are plenty here on the board swear by this method but I'm taking to stirring with a paddle from here on out.

iXanadu said:

I find this really helpful (The Beer Recipator - Carbonation).

What is really important is that you get a good distribution of the priming sugar. I've done the swirling action and I gotta tell you its not working for me. I paid close attention, coiled the siphon tube in the bottom of the bucket and watched the swirl mix the wort with the sugar mixture. . . I have two batches that are a mix of no-carb's and bottle bombs. There are plenty here on the board swear by this method but I'm taking to stirring with a paddle from here on out.

Click to expand...

Cool, I'll check that out. Thanks.