when to bottle?

[Taterbug]

Hello. I just brewed my first batch of Muntons American light,and thought it had stopped bubbling and was ready to bottle.Now it is bubbling again,but only like every thirty seconds or so a bubble pops up. I have a hydrometer,but I dont know if I trust it or not. I didnt take a reading before I added the yeast because I had a few Busch ices under my belt,but it does say the gravity should be 08,I think, when finished. can I put the sanitized hydrometer directly into the fermenter to test? I really dont want to ruin my first batch because I have a Dunkelweizen kit Im gonna do next,and definatly dont want to mess it up. Also,How much alcohol can I expect from the American light? any answers would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[unionrdr]

Always trust your hydrometer before your airlock. It's just a one way valve to let excess CO2 out,& not let O2 in. If the directions say it should finish at 1.008,than it may even give you an FG of 1.012. When You get the same final gravity reading 2-3 days apart,give it at least one more week to clean up after itself. The yeast,etc will settle out more as well,giving you clearer,better tasting beer. It's pretty hard to screw up beer at this point of fermentation. By the by,what was your OG?

 

[mrk305]

Hard to guess the alcohol without an OG. I like to leave mine inth the bucket for four weeks. It's probably ready at three weeks, but I have four full pretty much all the time. In a couple hours i will have four full kegs and four full fermentors.

Patience is easy if you have more than you can drink.