Gravity reading is off 5 points after 5 weeks

[GrillaRays]

My first go at home brewing, and on January 5th I started with the Black Dog Ale kit. The first 12 hours I could see fermentation activity but then the bubbles stopped. I was told to wait a week and then take a reading. After 2 weeks the gravity read 1.024. I gave the bucket a gentle swirl and a little bubble activity returned.
It's been 5 weeks now and I just transferred the beer to a glass carboy. The hydrometer reading is now at 1.017. The kit instructions show the target should be at least 1.012. What happens when you're off target by 5 points after 5 weeks? Also, the airlock shows a little bubble activity again
Should I continue to wait it out or try something else?

 

[BryceL]

I'd give it a few more days and take one more reading to be sure it's stable. At 1.017 you could very well be done. Was this an extract batch? Extract can be hard to get to a low final gravity sometimes.

 

[TTB-J]

My first go at home brewing, and on January 5th I started with the Black Dog Ale kit. The first 12 hours I could see fermentation activity but then the bubbles stopped. I was told to wait a week and then take a reading. After 2 weeks the gravity read 1.024. I gave the bucket a gentle swirl and a little bubble activity returned.
It's been 5 weeks now and I just transferred the beer to a glass carboy. The hydrometer reading is now at 1.017. The kit instructions show the target should be at least 1.012. What happens when you're off target by 5 points after 5 weeks? Also, the airlock shows a little bubble activity again
Should I continue to wait it out or try something else?

The target FG is an estimation - there are a lot of reasons why you might not get all the way down to the target, none of which should cause you all that much concern. I wouldn't worry so much about how close you got to the target, but whether your gravity has stabilized such that you can be sure that fermentation is indeed done. Take another reading in a couple of days - if it's still 1.017, then you're done fermenting and can bottle that sucker. 5 weeks is plenty of time for your beer to finish fermenting, it's highly likely that it's just done.

The airlock bubbling you're seeing now is most likely CO2 coming out of the liquid due to your transfer (some is absorbed in the beer during the fermentation process). It is not unheard of for yeast to come awake after a transfer, but it's more likely just CO2. You will know for sure if you take a reading in a couple of days and your gravity hasn't changed at all.

 

[BamaRooster]

I agree with TTB-J, your probably done, once you get 2 gravity readings the same, 2-3 days apart it is stable. If you gravity was much higher I would be nervous bottling, but if it is stable at 1.017, I think your OK.