Question about yeast activity

[djangel643]

Hello, good day. First timer here with brewing and in the forum. I'm making a hefeweizen beer which has been fermenting for 16 days. I'm fermenting 10 liters (2.5g) in a plastic 20l (5g) carboy. I know it's not the best, but it's what i had at hand.

So far the beer looks fine and through the airlock it smells quite good. My question would be if i should open the container to take readings. Is 16 days enough? There's almost no foam left, just some little bubbles around, but i can still see some specs of yeast rising and falling, so, should i take readings now? or should i wait to see no activity at all to take the readings?

I am growing impatient, but at the same time i don't want to take the risk of oxidizing or polluting the beer. Thanks for reading me.

grains: 4kg (8.8 lbs) of 50/50 wheat and malt
Hops: hallertauer blanc and Saaz (can't remember how much)
Yeast: Lallemand Munich Classic.
OG: 1.066 (should've used more water)
target gravity: 1.012-1.014
fermentation temp: 20 celsius. ( i take the temp of the water i drink, so i figure it must be the same for the beer? )

 

[3 Dawg Night]

At 16 days, it's almost certainly finished, but the only way to be sure is to take a sample.

 

[hotbeer]

I'm new to this also, but I don't take readings or get into the mood to think about bottling until all the activity in the beer is finished and there aren't any tiny bubbles dragging yeast up to cloud the beer. Usually when I bottle it looks pretty dead, but very clean.

If you plan to do things to clarify it like cold crashing and using gelatin then maybe getting a sample SG is worth the risk. Since I don't go to the extra steps of clarifying, I prefer to wait. I don't currently find anything disagreeable about the taste of my beers that sat 4, 5 or even 6 weeks in the primary.

However now that I'm getting more into routine with the basics, I might do some comparisons and see if the difference in taste is enough for me to want to routinely cold crash or use gelatin.