Questions??????

Ok I brewed my beer on 2/7. (IPA) The directions said it would be ready to bottle a week after which is today 2/14. Then ferment for another month in the bottle. I cleaned and sanitized everthing, got everything ready and took a hydrometer reading which had a close final gravity given in brew kit booklet of 1.012-1.014. I then decided that 1 week after cooking the stuff up may be way to soon. It bubbled really well for 2 days then began to stop. I has been at least 4 days since bubbling ceased. So I decided to put the lid back on my fermenter, and re-filled the lock with water.

My Questions?
Is it way too soon to bottle?
Is it bad to take the lid off the fermenter and expose the beer to air then re-lid it and place the lock back on?
Also I noticed like a greenish grainy like substance caked around the rim of the fermenter right above the beer line. Is this normal?

Thanks again guys, you have all been life savers so far.

1) Yes, it's way to soon IMHO, but many others would say go ahead and bottle it...you're certainly not going to hurt any thing by letting it wait another week.

2) It's only a little bad...there's plenty of CO2 sitting on top of the beer, so you won't have a problem unless you actually stick something in there, and even then you won't have a problem if that something is clean and sanitized.

3) That ring just above the wort is what's left of the krauzen...proof positive that your fermentation worked, and not only normal but essential.

I figured that was the krausen, but wasn't that sure. This is my first batch. I only exposed the beer to air for a total of maybe 3 min. while I took 2 seperate reading with a sanitized hydrometer. I then placed the lock back on and put water in it. Thanks for the help man

If you are not going to use a secondary, then go 2 weeks in the primary before you bottle. This is exactly how I went about my first batch. As for your other questions, you got the answers that I would've given. Good Luck!