Pale Ale Fermentation question (be warned, I'm a noob)

My very first batch of beer is in the process of fermenting. It's a pale ale (Sierra Nevada clone) and it's sitting in my basement right now at about 67 F. It's been fermenting nicely for six days, it has a nice color and a think layer of krausen on top. After getting bubbles coming up through the airlock at a rate of one about every three seconds a few days ago, now I'm getting them bubbling up once every 15 seconds.

So...now my question- am I going to hurt my beer by leaving it for another two weeks? I'm going on my honeymoon from Jan 10-20, and I don't want to rush it, but I don't want it to be sitting for too long.

Thanks!

Leave it in the extra two weeks, your beer will thank you for it.

I had a similar situation with my first batch of pale ale. I left it in the bucket for 3 weeks, and it was delicious because of it

I left a Hef in the primary bucket for about 30 days due to similar circumstances and its been one if my best brews. Much longer can create off flavours.

Thanks! That's what I was thinking, but I just wanted a little confirmation.

Rest assured, a good 3 week primary ferment on the yeast cake does more good than bad. Your beer will thank you for it.

The air lock is not away to judge pressure in the fermenting bucket. The bucket is not air tight.

aiptasia said:

Rest assured, a good 3 week primary ferment on the yeast cake does more good than bad. Your beer will thank you for it.

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Thanks. I've been lurking around the forums, and that's kind of what I gathered. But the book I was reading (that came with the kit my wife bought me for Christmas) said it would be ready to bottle in 10 days...

The only critical things in brewing (that I have found) are:
- sanitize (reduce yeast competitor populations)
- feed the yeast well (wort & oxygenate)
- get the yeast to go forth and multiply (krausen)
you seem to have accomplished all three. The rest of the process is remarkably forgiving. For myself, I try for:
- primary (7 days)
- secondary (10 days), I dry hop most everything.
- keg conditioning (10 days),
but I've missed this schedule numerous times by more than several weeks with no ill effect. You wouldn't want to miss your honeymoon by as much Come to think, we have been married for almost 50 years and our honeymoon was three years after we married. I am lucky that my wife is even more forgiving than the brew. I wish you a fantastic celebration.

Bottled today and was pretty happy with the way the beer looked and smelled. The last two bottles picked up some sediment, but the rest looked really clear when I held them up to the light. I'm pretty excited to try my beer in a couple of weeks!