Stupid question about bottle conditioning

[ak-71]

My first attempt at fermenting - "Brew House" Red Ale kit is 16 days old in the fermenter and went from 1.06 to 1.016 (OG was higher than it should by my poor judgment).
The beer tastes and looks great, but I worry a bit - it looks like I have ~>73% attenuation which is in the range for wyeast 1272. It fermented at 64F and now I raised it to 70-72F and SG is stable, I think it's done fermenting and the yeast is in a dense layer at the bottom

So if my yeast reached it's degree of attenuation (stopped consuming fermentable sugars), will it still decide to ferment the priming sugar to carbonate my beer?

Second question - if beer tastes really clean, looks very clear (nice color too :cross: ) and has stable SG, is it better to bottle it now? Or should I try to be good and wait for 5 more days in hope that it will get even better?

 

[SIXFOOTER]

16 days should be fine and from the numbers you posted you should be fine. Keep in mind that although you have a nice thick layer on the bottom and your fermentation seems to be done, there are still yeasties floating around in there. Once you prime it and put it in the bottles they will take off and do their thing

 

[solbes]

You could bottle it now if you wish. With that gravity, I would leave it in primary for another week or two. The fermentation is probably complete, but yeast continue to re-process byproducts and clean up after themselves.

The yeast will be plenty active to bottle carbonate your beer when you add the sugar priming solution at bottling. Even if you waited another 2 months in secondary, there would be enough to carbonate. Cheers!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Its impossible to rack to the bottling bucket without disturbing *some* of the yeast at the bottom of the fermenter. They will wake back up and carb your beer.

 

[unionrdr]

2 weeks after FG is a little long ime. I've kept an eye on my batches & found that 3-7 days is plenty to clean up & settle out more. I used to do 4 weeks,but payed closer attention & used a shot glass for samples to learn that 3-5 days was plenty,7 days needed on some ocassions.

 

[ak-71]

OK, thank you for reassurance. I will try to wait till Friday, this will keep me a little < 2 weeks after FG and it seems like some yeast should wake up to make bubbles.
Waiting gets harder as samples get better taste to them

 

[unionrdr]

Being microscopic fungi,even if the beer looks clear,there's still plenty in suspension to carbonate with. And yeah,the waiting is the hardest part.

 

[ak-71]

I know there is yeast left there... It just seems strange to me that yeast stops fermenting at some attenuation point and I think there are still fermentable sugars in the wort (otherwise diff. yeasts wouldn't have diff. attenuation ranges), but then yeast knows when to start carbonating my beer if I add more sugars....
Maybe because the priming sugar is easier to ferment.. (?) But, anyway, if it works for everybody I will just let yeast do its job I guess

 

[BrewMU]

That just means they ran out of food, which you're about to give them. They'll eat it.