First time brewer questions

I am into my first batch of home brew now and have some more questions.

My batch (An Amber Ale) was in my primary for 6 days and has been in the secondary for a week. From reading all the posts about bottling vs. kegging, I believe that I will keg next. I took a SG reading this evening and it was 1.004 @ 72 deg F.

1) Am I ready to Keg or should I wait another week in the secondary?

2) Is the SG in the right ball park for an Amber Ale?

Being that it's your first brew, and assuming you are as impatient as I was (am), go ahead and keg it. The gravity looks good.

On the other hand, leaving it another week in the secondary will allow more junk and yeast to drop out, leaving your beer clearer, and less yeasty tasting.

I usually let my beers sit in secondary for 3 - 4 weeks before bottling. No kegs yet for me.

Let me just play Devil's advocate a bit here.

There is a point of diminishing returns on clarification in the secondary. For most beers, I'd say that by the time it's been in there 10-11 days, it's probably done *almost* all of the clarifying it's going to do. The nice thing about carboys, of course, is that you can watch and monitor the process. If it doesn't appear dark and quite clear after a couple weeks, then sure, go ahead and leave it longer.

But you'll also generally get very good results from 1-2 weeks in the secondary.

flingdingo and cweston,

Thank you for the info. Patience is running out, I can see this beer and I am anxious to give it a try.

Upon sight, there is minimal gas going through the airlock. I can't even estimate the frequency of the bubbles since I am not seeing any. The color of the batch looks pretty reasonable for an Ale. When I took the SG the other night I held the tube up the light and did not see much of any sediment in the solution.

Upon your recommendations, I will wait until late weekend to keg. This will have allowed fermentation for roughly 11~12 days.

Cheers