Bottle conditioning

[FatTireFryer]

I'm bottling my first two batches of beer tomorrow and I need help with a few things.
1. Does the amount of priming sugar vary per type of beer ot just the amount?
2. Does the priming sugar add alcohol or is it just for carbonation?
3. How long do you typically have to wait for the carbonation to be complete?
Thanks for your help I appreciate it!

 

[RM-MN]

1. Yes to both. You carbonate your beer to the style and more beer obviously takes more sugar to prime too.
2. Yes to both again. When yeast eat sugar they put out alcohol but in this case it is such a small amount as to be unnoticeable so it's really just for the carbonation.
3. It depends on the beer, the amount of alcohol, and the temperature. With a 5% alcohol beer at room temperature in a 12 oz glass bottle you should wait 3 weeks. I don't but I should. Beers with higher amounts of alcohol will take longer and beer in cool locations will too.

 

[scottkct]

1-Yes but unless you're trying to be spot-on to the style of beer, I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure fermentation is complete and you use the proper amount for the type of sugar.
2-Its does add a very small amount of alcohol but primary purpose is to produce CO2 that gets trapped in the bottle and force carbonates the liquid.
3-It mostly depends on the temperature. Cooler temps will take longer. Generally a minimum of 1 week. Don't overfill your bottles. Leave some headroom. Overfilling takes longer to carbonate. It needs the air gap for pressure to collect as liquid is not compressible. When you refrigerate the bottle, the collected pressure in the bottle actually forces it into the liquid. I read this and experienced this. I used to like to only have 1/2 inch of headroom but always had undercorbonated beer when young.

 

[fbold1]

A nice carbonation calculator-http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?15395348#tag

 

[UnDeadPresident]

Here's another carbonation calculator that seems to be popular.

Typically I've have to wait at bare minimum 1 week for full carbonation, regardless of style. If it's ready then, time to distribute to the critics (i.e. fellow beer geek friends). If not, I can usually tell about how long it's take from there to get where I want - Half carbonated will usually take about another week.

 

[Cyclman]

Carbonation may be complete in 2-3 weeks, but if you keep your bottle conditioned beers > 40 degrees, the yeast will continue to make the beer better, smoother, more integrated. Aging beer, once you have an adequate inventory to drink, is one of the most fun things in brewing, for me. It is like watching your children grow up, and get better as they grow.

 

[unionrdr]

You can't carb & condition beers at 40F,also a bit cold for storage. That temp is most used for the lagering phase.
Carbonating in bottles at 70F or a bit more gives good carbonation & conditioning in 3-4 weeks for an average gravity beer. Then at least 1 week fridge time to get co2 into solution,& settle any chill haze that may be present.

 

[FatTireFryer]

Thanks everybody for all the help! This is really going to help me with bottling today. (I was going to do it yesterday, but went a little too hard Friday night haha) I'm very excited to see how it turns out.