Hydrometer Reading during fermentation - How?

I'm a boob, I mean a newb and have my first batch (english brown ale) fermenting away in a 6.5 gallon bucket so unfortunately I can't watch the process happening! The smell coming out is delirious though, kind of has a strong pale ale smell.

Anyway, I forgot to take the OG reading after brewing now I am curious how I should take other readings while in the bucket to know when it's done fermenting? What is the easiest way to accomplish this now and in the future? I plan on racking to a better bottle carboy on Sunday evening which will be exactly 7 days in the primary.

I saw one video where a guy puts some of his wort in a beer bottle to ferment then uses that to take readings from rather than his actual batch.

Any help with monitoring and measuring my brew, in a bucket, is appreciated.

Thanks

You can pull out some wort after pitching the yeast, and see how it does. That's called a "satellite" and will sort of tell you what's going on in the fermenter. I say sort of because it's a smaller volume and isn't exact.

The easiest thing to do is wait until signs of activity stop, and then wait some more. Then, check the SG. I say easiest, but it's really not that easy just waiting.

But that's what I'd do. Wait until all signs of activity stop. Then wait until it's been at least a week (or two if you can stand it). Then check the SG. Check it again in three days. If it's the same, it's done. If it's the same, and the beer is pretty clear and tastes good, then it can be bottled. Or you can rack to secondary, if that's what you want to do.

What she said. I generally don't check the gravity until it's been in primary for 2-4 weeks.

When you do want to get a sample out to check the gravity, a wine thief of some sort is very helpful (although many people seem to use turkey basters or other methods). Here's one example among many options: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/fermtech-wine-thief.html. You may already know about them, but when I started out I didn't have a clue (and I don't think even How To Brew mentioned how to get your sample out).