or should i just go ahead and follow the directions provided to me.. a week in primary, 7-10 in secondary and put in the bottle?
Gary, with all due respect, you're asking us for advice based upon our experience as brewers, and then you're saying "okay, well I'll just go with these here instructions." If you want to follow our advice, that's fine. If you want to follow your instructions, that's fine too. Those instructions are designed and quoted for the fastest times possible,
not the best beer possible. At best, I'd say those instructions should be flipped to 7-10 days in the primary, 7 days secondary, then bottle.
But as I said, there's not a single beer I brew that won't sit in the primary for 3 weeks minimum. I've done my own experiments, as have a number of others, and I've determined that there is a notable difference in taste and refinement between 2 weeks (ie: the end of primary fermentation) and 3 weeks. During this time, the yeast begin to consume the esters and other waste products from fermentation, leaving you with a cleaner brew.
If you rush it to secondary, your finished product is not going to be as good as if it were left in the primary for an appropriate amount of time. That's a period, end of sentence type of thing.