2nd brew .. Needing help

Hey guys just reading in and I also have a rookie brewer question... I am currently working on my second brew .. The first was an amber ale which turned out well (private supplier recipe .. not mainstream) well the amber took little time to be ready for drinking (1 week primary, 1 week secondary, bottle, 3 week in bottle) and it is arguably the best beer I have ever had (possibly bias on my part) anyway... I bought a tin kit of "Morgans Iron Bark Dark Ale" which is very popular... I have no idea when this stuff is aged well enough to drink... I can't seem to find it anywhere ... Do I keep it in the secondary for a long time or put it in a keg or bottles to age .. I'm a lite lost .. I knew what to expect with my first brew but am now lacking direction.. anyone have any experience with this kit? Or have some suggestion?

Hi. The only way to know for sure when your beer is done fermenting is to take hydrometer readings on consecutive days. If the readings are consistent then you are done and can move to a secondary for clearning (that's a whole other debate, of course).

Be sure to buy a hydrometer if you don't have one already. Airlock bubbles, average time, etc are not good indicators of whether it's ready or not.

Hope this helps.

I have a pretty good idea of how to tell when fermentation is complete it's just the conditioning of the beer I am wondering about for when it is aged to drink ...

From what I've read it's 6.5 ABV so I would say 3-5 weeks bottle conditioned. Pop up one open after week 3, see how it tastes and go from there.

Yeah, at 6.5% it should take four or five weeks to carb up and be 'ready', but being a darker beer it'll definitely get better with some time.... the question is, how much time? (only your senses will tell you that) And, if it's good once it's conditioned, how long will it last?

Thanks for the input! I was just reading some posts of another site where guys are making the same brand of ale and saying that it's ideal flavor is after 5 months ... WHAT!? .. I mean.. I knew I was getting into a hobby that takes patients but.. I'm a thirsty boy ! ... I will just have to listen to my senses! Thanks again!