First HomeBrew at Day 11

[bigern26]

I started my first ever homebrew 11 days ago. Irish Red Ale extract kit. On sunday I seen that there was no activity so yesterday and the day before I too samples and did a gravity test. Both days are the same.
I plan on doing another sample tonight to see what that says but the water in the air lock has not moved.
I tested both samples with 2 different hydrometers and I get different readings from each. (both read 1.000 with regular water). The new plastic one reads 1.006 and the old glass one reads 1.010. Either way they both read different OGs and I get the same ABV readings.

Question is, Wait to bottle, put in secondary, or just bottle now?
I have been doing a lot of reading and it seems unnecessary to put in a secondary just to risk oxidation and infection. Tasting the samples it is bitter with a tangy after taste. I hope that goes away a little bit.
Just looking for some advise on when I should bottle.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I started my first ever homebrew 11 days ago. Irish Red Ale extract kit. On sunday I seen that there was no activity so yesterday and the day before I too samples and did a gravity test. Both days are the same.
I plan on doing another sample tonight to see what that says but the water in the air lock has not moved.
I tested both samples with 2 different hydrometers and I get different readings from each. (both read 1.000 with regular water). The new plastic one reads 1.006 and the old glass one reads 1.010. Either way they both read different OGs and I get the same ABV readings.

Question is, Wait to bottle, put in secondary, or just bottle now?
I have been doing a lot of reading and it seems unnecessary to put in a secondary just to risk oxidation and infection. Tasting the samples it is bitter with a tangy after taste. I hope that goes away a little bit.
Just looking for some advise on when I should bottle.

Well, taking all those samples is risking oxidation and infection more than a transfer would. If I were you I would let it chill out for a few more days then bottle. There's no reason to worry if billions of tiny cells are doing the only thing they are on this earth to do. I generally take two samples with each batch. One before the wort goes in the bucket, the second a couple weeks later when beer comes out.

 

[kh54s10]

I would suspect that the readings from each might not be the same. But if you took two readings with the plastic one and they were the same. And two readings from the glass one and they were the same then the fermentation is done.

Now you might have to do some experimentation to find out which one is more accurate.

How are you calculating the ABV. If you have different numbers from your readings your ABV cannot be the same. If you are reading it off the scale on the hydrometers, that is not ABV. That is for "potential alcohol" whatever that is? I think some wine makers use that.

If the readings were the same it is safe to bottle. Some will advise 3 or even 4 weeks. I started off doing 3 weeks. I then went to 2 weeks. I allow an extra 4 days from what most would say is minimum just to make things easier. I only take a second reading if I have any worry that final gravity has not been reached.

Lately my fermentations have gone for a month or more..... The last being 3 months.... Out of laziness about packaging.

 

[Lefou]

My house ambient temperature usually sits around 58F-62F during winter time.
Ale fermentations from primary to bottling (no secondary) usually take approximately two weeks per "My Rule of Thumb" and three to four weeks of bottle conditioning in the house, as well. All the hydrometer checks before bottling have led me to believe this is a fairly reliable means - for me, anyway - to judge whether my particular brews are finished.
I do wheat beers and two weeks plus or minus a couple days in the primary seems to work out fine. Sometimes a "tart" taste can be caused by slight acetaldehyde levels, but with properly bottle conditioned beer that tart perception will usually fade as the yeast do their work.

 

[RM-MN]

I started my first ever homebrew 11 days ago. Irish Red Ale extract kit. On sunday I seen that there was no activity so yesterday and the day before I too samples and did a gravity test. Both days are the same.
I plan on doing another sample tonight to see what that says but the water in the air lock has not moved.
I tested both samples with 2 different hydrometers and I get different readings from each. (both read 1.000 with regular water). The new plastic one reads 1.006 and the old glass one reads 1.010. Either way they both read different OGs and I get the same ABV readings.

Question is, Wait to bottle, put in secondary, or just bottle now?
I have been doing a lot of reading and it seems unnecessary to put in a secondary just to risk oxidation and infection. Tasting the samples it is bitter with a tangy after taste. I hope that goes away a little bit.
Just looking for some advise on when I should bottle.

Good question to be asking. Your beer is at final gravity as you have used your hydrometer to verify. You can bottle now if you want to. You can wait longer if you want to as it will let more yeast settle out in the fermenter so less goes into the bottle. What I would not recommend is a secondary. It doesn't really help your beer unless you are adding fruit or oaking the beer and can be a source of infection. You probably do not want to dump a batch of beer due to infection.

I'm not sure of how long you can leave your beer in the primary fermenter. I've gone as long as 9 weeks and have read that even 6 months isn't too long but I'm usually not that patient and there is a limit to how much yeast will settle anyway.

 

[bigern26]

The Kit had LME and the yeast used was Wyeast 1272.

Readings on each hydrometer have been the same for each one. The OG was 1.038 at 70 degrees with the plastic and the glass reading was 1.040 at 70 degrees.

Calculating them out they come to the same ABV.