How do i know its time to put my beer in bottles?

I've read you wait till the airlock doesnt bubble much, and i've read that you gotta wait for the FG to be consistent. What do you do?

I always ferment for three weeks, take a hydrometer reading. Bubbles can be deceiving.

Since I've yet to take a reading with my hydrometer (I'm too scared to touch the beer) I am waiting three weeks before bottling the first beer.

How to do you get the beer out to check the reading? i know it would be easy if you had a bucket with a spout on it, but what if you're using a carboy?

hippy_joe_cool said:

How to do you get the beer out to check the reading? i know it would be easy if you had a bucket with a spout on it, but what if you're using a carboy?

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You use a "wine thief". Or a long turkey baster. As long as it's sanitized, and you do it gently with no splashing!

I use the outer tube of my auto siphon. I can also float the hydrometer inside the tube as well.

hippy_joe_cool said:

I've read you wait till the airlock doesnt bubble much, and i've read that you gotta wait for the FG to be consistent. What do you do?

Click to expand...

Don't get too wrapped around the axle about counting bubbles. If you have the same gravity reading for two days in a row you can bottle with worrying about bottle bombs. Many folks advise that three weeks (for a normal gravity beer) is a good rule of thumb, though, to allow the yeasties time to make your beer delicious- the kit instructions always tell you to go more quickly than necessary.