Can I bottle....

Fermentation started Friday evening, no bubbles today (Tuesday). If the FG is good, can I bottle it tonight or is it too soon? I just read on www.howtobrew.com that it is 2-3 weeks for ales before they can be bottled. What if the FG is where it should be? You don't want in sitting for too long after fermentation is done, right?

1-2-3 is what I've heard here.
1 week in the primary
2 weeks in the secondary
3 weeks in the bottle.

If it has been less than a week, I'd think you might want to wait at least 7 days.

no, it's way too early to bottle! You not only need to wait until fermentation is complete (and you tell by taking at least 3 daily s.g. tests) and wait until there is no change in the gravity for three days in a row. You also have to wait for the beer to "clean up" after itself, and to clear. If you're not doing a secondary, you should let it sit for at least 10 days to two weeks. Rushing it will lead to bottle bombs, unfinished beer, tons of sediment in the bottles, etc.

I keep it in primary for at least a week (or more, if I'm lazy), at least 2 weeks in secondary, then bottle. I have an IPA in primary that's been in there for 8 days, and I"m going to move it to secondary tomorrow if I can find the time.

Lorena

Thanks for the advice. It can be hard sometimes because you get some many different opinions. I will wait.

I don't actually take the s.g until I rack into secondary- but if you're ever unsure if fermentation is complete, that's the rule of thumb (3 days with no changes).

Don't worry about leaving the beer on the yeast cake too long- it would take a very long time for autolysis. For the amount of time we're talking about, the longer the better.

I do follow the 1-2-3 method pretty much. For a bigger beer, it might change, but for regular beer: 1 week in primary, 2 in secondary, 3 in bottles. Well, I do it more or less because I NEVER wait three weeks before trying it! And the primary is usually 8-10 days. But I do use the 1-2-3 as the guideline.

Lorena