I am a rookie and need help with the end of fermentation

[garyhood]

So i am on night 4. I have been constantly looking over my new baby (1st time pale ale) and have been wondering when it is time to bottle it up. I am doing the bucket approach and tonight i see no more bubbles in the airlock. Should i wait a couple more days to see if any more activity happens? Also how would i take a reading with the bucket approach?
cheers

 

[cdburg]

This thread might help you:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/when-go-primary-secondary-if-all-43014/

 

[DeathBrewer]

leave it in primary TWO WEEKS, even if fermentation is finished. if it's your baby, let it live in the best conditions possible. you don't want to drink thick, flat mess.

 

[HOOTER]

Since your a n00b I'd recommend the 1-2-3 rule for now. One week primary, two weeks secondary, three weeks bottles. It's a bit early to be thinking about bottling right now.

 

[garyhood]

So back to newbie stuff. To take a reading would I take off the top and do a reading or do i take off the airlock? I saw someone mentioning a method called "thiefing" would i just stick that in the airlock hole?
Thanks for the quick responses!

 

[json2001]

So back to newbie stuff. To take a reading would I take off the top and do a reading or do i take off the airlock? I saw someone mentioning a method called "thiefing" would i just stick that in the airlock hole?
Thanks for the quick responses!

A thief would definitely not fit in the airlock hole. You would have to take off the top and use a sanitized thief, autosiphon, or turkey baster to take a sample.

 

[sirsloop]

So i am on night 4. I have been constantly looking over my new baby (1st time pale ale) and have been wondering when it is time to bottle it up. I am doing the bucket approach and tonight i see no more bubbles in the airlock. Should i wait a couple more days to see if any more activity happens? Also how would i take a reading with the bucket approach?
cheers

Don't mess with it. The more you mess, the more it gets wrecked. Yeast like their private time while they make your beer for you. Once they have had their fun for three weeks you can steal the nectar from the colony. What am I saying????

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

So i am on night 4. I have been constantly looking over my new baby (1st time pale ale) and have been wondering when it is time to bottle it up. I am doing the bucket approach and tonight i see no more bubbles in the airlock. Should i wait a couple more days to see if any more activity happens? Also how would i take a reading with the bucket approach?
cheers

STEP BACK FROM THE BUCKET!
IGNORE IT. (Really, if you want to be a yeast voyeur, get a glass carboy.)
If you are not doing a secondary, leave it at least for three weeks in the bucket.
I just did a light Ed's House ale, and the yeast was a little/lot slow. It did not finish fermentation for 2+ weeks with WLP001. (I have seen a lot of post on it being slower lately.)
In short, the yeast are the workers, they will be done with the job when they are done.
Your job is to make them as happy as possible with oxygen to start with, nutrients to grow and multiply, and then ideal temperatures to do what they do sooo well. ( I can't turn water into wine but they can ).
To finalize, if your not doing a secondary, wait at least 3 weeks, then take a hydrometer sample. Do not put it back in, taste it. If your happy with the final gravity, FG. And you thing you have a great, but green and flat beer. Your ready to bottle.
If not wait another three weeks.
Best of luck, there are so many threads here on this topic, please review them to make yourself feel better and learn to wait.

 

[ifishsum]

I'll echo what others have said. There's no good reason to check the gravity until you're preparing to do something with it, like move to secondary or bottle - neither of which I would consider much before 2 weeks. Then you check the gravity, and if it's okay you can move to the next step. If you're not planning a secondary and going straight to bottle, give it 3 weeks, check it and bottle if it has reached final gravity.

 

[CBBaron]

Leave it in the bucket for atleast 2 weeks. If you can stand it 3 weeks.
Then you can bottle it with the priming sugar and give it a few more weeks to carbonate.

Being that this is your first batch I don't expect you will wait the 3 weeks (fermenter) plus 3 weeks (bottle) before sampling but give it atleast 2 weeks + 2 weeks before drinking too many bottles. It really does get better.

Just because it stops bubbling does not mean it is done fermenting and even if the gravity is stable it does not mean that the beer does not continue to improve.

Craig