Fermentation on a red ale

i'm following a recipe that says fermentation should be done in 4-6 days. is that correct? i'm reading on different websites that it usually takes longer. Should i take a reading on my hydrometer? the airlock is still bubbling...today is the fifth day.
thanks for any help!

Leave it alone for 14 days. Then check the gravity. It'll probably be done.

Gary

Leave it be its still working probably. Take a hydro reading in 2 weeks and then again 3 days later. If its the same you can bottle.

I've never taken a second or third gravity reading after 14 days in the fermenter. If it's been 2 weeks, and the gravity reads what your recipie calls for at FG... it's done. Bottle it or keg it.

Gary

yea, 2 weeks on average. I've waited up a month depending on what kind of beer it is and how high the gravity was. Lately I've been waiting 3 weeks. It lets the yeast clean up after themselves and it clears up the beer a little bit.

GASoline71 said:

I've never taken a second or third gravity reading after 14 days in the fermenter. If it's been 2 weeks, and the gravity reads what your recipie calls for at FG... it's done. Bottle it or keg it.

Gary

Click to expand...

I hadn't been taking more than one gravity reading either, 3 weeks in the fermenter and at the expected FG and I bottled. Then I got a wild yeast started in my fermenter and my beers kept on fermenting really slowly and I got some bottle bombs. The last beer was at the expected FG at two weeks so I dry hopped. Then it started bubbling again so I took another hydrometer reading and it had dropped quite a bit. The FG was supposed to be 1.013 but the last time I checked it the gravity had dropped to 1.001. I'll be checking more than once from now on.

Use Star-san to sanitize your fermenter on brew day and there will be no wild yeast infections.

Gary