Is it done?

[brewshki]

The two images I have uploaded are a bottle of beer and cider I am brewing right now. I know it is hard to tell from the photo, but do they look carbonated? Or finished? If you look at the edge of my thumb you can kinda see how much of an indentation I was able to make. The cider finished its third week in bottles on Saturday and the beer its second week on Friday. I would really like to start trying them but I don't just want to sacrifice them if I'm way off. I also know that they will get better with age but I don't know if they should age inside or outside of a refrigerator. If I stick them in the fridge, the carbonation will stop and I don't want to do that unless it is time. Any advice would be appreciated.


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[day_trippr]

I doubt anyone here can give you the answer you seek from those pictures.
I sure as heck can't.

Three weeks is plenty of time for yeast to chew through a priming charge. It takes more time for the beer to absorb the CO2 than it does to produce it, imo. (Think about it. The yeast took a relatively huge OG of mostly fructose down to FG in a few days - why should it take weeks to eat up the easiest sugar to digest?).

I'd stick a few bottles in the fridge, give them plenty of time to chill and absorb the CO2, then give one a try...

Cheers!

 

[brewshki]

can't blame a newbie for the worry haha

 

[day_trippr]

can't blame a newbie for the worry haha

Well, that's the paradigm, so you're hardly on your own there

Cheers!

 

[jahdub]

There is no way for anyone to gauge how much force you are using to squeeze your bottle. My girlfriend can't put a dent in a non-carbonated PET bottle full of water, while I can easily indent fully carbed beers if I am not gentle enough.

Unless they're like 10%+ alcohol or have been fermenting for so long that most of the yeast fell out of suspension, it would probably be done after 3 weeks at room temperature.