Hi all, I'm making a Pale Ale for my first batch. My starting gravity was 1.048, right where it should have been. I brewed on Monday afternoon. When I checked early Tuesday morning I had bubbles so I knew fermenting was taking place. By the same time Wednesday the bubbles had almost entirely stopped. It's not Friday and I haven't seen a bubble since. I know from reading that fermenting can happen without bubbles in the airlock, so I checked my gravity yesterday and sure enough it was 1.010, right where it needs to be to be done.

So even though it's really been only four days, should I go ahead and bottle? Or should I keep it in the fermenter until Monday so it's been the minimum 7 days I keep reading everywhere?

Thanks (and Merry Christmas).

Check your gravity again over the next couple days, if its the same (.010) you can bottle. If its still droping wait until it levels out for 2-3 days then bottle.

My advice would be to let it sit there for a total of 2 weeks at least before bottling. Even though fermentation is done, the yeast is probably not done doing it's job. Letting it sit on the yeast cake for a little longer will help clean-up the flavor, and help some with clarity as well. If you bottle now, you'll have decent beer, but it'll most likely end up with a sort of "green" or "yeasty" flavor.

My process is usually to let it sit in the primary at fermentation temps for about 3 weeks, then cool it below 40F for a few days and then keg/bottle.