Priming Sugar: Beer Carbonation

Typically it takes 7-10 days to ferment at 25 Degree Celsius after which you can start bottling your homebrew beer or wine.

Excessive carbonation aka bottle bombs usually happens due to a rookie mistake of bottling too early. Use a hydrometer before bottling to ensure all fermentable sugar has been converted to alcohol/ethanol by the yeast before you proceed for bottling. Also carefully weighing the priming sugar is what it takes to control the carbonation (about 8gm per liter).

There are two ways to add fizz:

1. Using a CO2 cylinder.
2. Add half a teaspoon of Priming sugar to your homebrew and seal the bottle for 2 days.

For more details refer to this step by step guide

For carbonation 1 teaspoon of priming sugar is considered ideal. For a more accurate dosage, put about 8gm per liter of beer. Add at the time of bottling (once the fermentation is complete) allow it to rest for 3 days before transferring to the refrigerator.

While beer brewers add just 8gm of sugar per liter of beer, sparkling wines, cider, and champagne need 16 to 25gm of sugar to create that loud distinct pop sound when you uncork a fully pressurized bottle.

Note: Be careful to use only stainless steel kegs or extra thick glass bottles. Normal glass bottles and water bottles are not meant to withstand this pressure and tend to burst.