rookie question

Have had my beer in the secondary carboy for 2 weeks now and believe I'm ready to bottle. I was told by a friend of a friend that I should condition the beer in bottles for 2 more weeks. Would it be the same thing to just leave it in the carboy for 2 more weeks instead?

No, 3 weeks @ 70* in the bottles gives ample time for carbonation and bottle conditioning.

rhoffmann79 said:

Have had my beer in the secondary carboy for 2 weeks now and believe I'm ready to bottle. I was told by a friend of a friend that I should condition the beer in bottles for 2 more weeks. Would it be the same thing to just leave it in the carboy for 2 more weeks instead?

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No. You have to keep it in the bottles long enough for the yeasties to 1) produce enough CO2 to carbonate the beer, and 2) clean up after themselves so that you don't get nasty flavors.

"Bottle conditioning" is synonymous with "bottle carbonating."

2 weeks is, IMO, a pretty short carb-ing time. That would be a minimum. I'd plan on at least 4 if not 6. The reason is that the longer the beers sit in the bottles, the better they get (up to a certain point) due to residual yeast activity. After two weeks you'll likely have wonderfully carbed beer, but it will taste very young (green). It would be a good thing to try one at that point, just to taste it and gain that knowledge, but plan on drinking the rest around the beginning of March.

When you bottle, you prime with more sugar, so the yeast get going again. It's a different form of conditioning than just secondary fermentation. 2 weeks is pretty much the minimum for carbonation and then time for the yeast to clean up what they've done in the bottle.