First time brewer at FG

[DirtyBird]

Recently brewed my first batch of beer (Hanks Hefeweizen from Midwest). It has been 10 days since pitching and putting it away. I pulled out the fermentor and checked the gravity and got a reading of 1.012 while the recipe calls it at 1.014. The top of the beer was pretty clear. Very minimal krausen on top. I'm sure it's done, just wandering if anyone has recently brewed this and how long would you let it sit for any "cleanup" before bottling as this is a wheat beer and I hear that it should be consumed as fresh as possible.

 

[davidabcd]

let it sit for any "cleanup" before bottling as this is a wheat beer and I hear that it should be consumed as fresh as possible.

I haven't made that particular wheat beer. You can safely bottle and the beer will taste good. You could also leave it longer with, possibly, some improvement. The exact timing of when to bottle with reference to "clean up" is variable.
I read the below transcripts. It may be of some value to you.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...-palmer-and-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-in.176837/
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/fermentation/secondary-or-conditioning-phase
Good luck with your beer!
PS John and Jamil have proven to be good resources, in my opinion.

 

[DirtyBird]

Awesome. Thanks. I recently purchased Palmers book How to Brew. Chipping away at it

 

[kh54s10]

At 10 days it is probably done. But the recipe calling for an FG of 1.014 is just a prediction. So 1.012 may be FG or maybe not. The presence of krausen leads me to worry that it is not done. I would wait until tomorrow and take another gravity reading to be sure.

My interpretation of drinking a beer like this "fresh" is 2 weeks or so fermenting then 3 weeks bottle conditioning before drinking them (2 weeks conditioning at a minimum). Then I would still consider it fresh for another month or three.

I usually go 14 days. Ten days for fermentation and 4 days to be sure it is done and to clear/clean up.

 

[ncbrewer]

I would wait until tomorrow and take another gravity reading to be sure.

I would also take another reading to be sure it's finished. But if using a standard hydrometer, I'd wait three days. Even though it's probably finished, the possibility of bottle bombs makes me extra cautious.

 

[DirtyBird]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll post back here in a few weeks and let you guys know how it turns out. I've definitely done as much reading as I could over the past month to try and get this right.

 

[Kickass]

I haven't made that particular wheat beer. You can safely bottle and the beer will taste good. You could also leave it longer with, possibly, some improvement. The exact timing of when to bottle with reference to "clean up" is variable.

David is probably right and it's not likely a big deal in this case but you should determine whether a beer is ready to bottle by taking two or three gravity reading over a few days. To make a blind assumption might bite you in the ass.

 

[DirtyBird]

I was planning to bottle in 2 days. I'll take a reading then. If it's the same as previously mentioned I'll move forward with it. If not, restart the clock. This batch maintained a steady 70 through the entire process so far