I started my first ever homebrew 11 days ago. Irish Red Ale extract kit. On sunday I seen that there was no activity so yesterday and the day before I too samples and did a gravity test. Both days are the same. I plan on doing another sample tonight to see what that says but the water in the air lock has not moved. I tested both samples with 2 different hydrometers and I get different readings from each. (both read 1.000 with regular water). The new plastic one reads 1.006 and the old glass one reads 1.010. Either way they both read different OGs and I get the same ABV readings. Question is, Wait to bottle, put in secondary, or just bottle now? I have been doing a lot of reading and it seems unnecessary to put in a secondary just to risk oxidation and infection. Tasting the samples it is bitter with a tangy after taste. I hope that goes away a little bit. Just looking for some advise on when I should bottle.
If your gravity samples are that low and consistently stable 3 days in a row 11 days from brew day it sounds like you are done. Go ahead and bottle. Also don't worry too much about what your gravity samples taste like. Some additional maturity and carbonation really transform a beer
Do not do anything with it for at least 10 more days. That includes taking samples. Then at the three week mark from brew day, I would give it a tiny sample and bottle (unless the sample does not taste like beer). Edit: Although gravity is not changing, the yeast may still be cleaning up some of the fermentation byproducts. I would give it some time.
Its more of a tang in the aftertaste. More like sucking on a hop LOL. I know that should go away with aging.
Following up on @lic217 advise. Yes, you could age it longer. Most of my low to moderate gravity ales stay in primary for 2 to 3 weeks. But I really don't think it is necessary to wait that long if primary fermentation is done and you have given the yeast a few days to clean up off flavors, especially for a style like IPA where freshness is key. What really matters is total maturation, and this can occur in primary, secondary, bottle, or keg. Assuming you bottle now or keg now and wait for the beer to continue to mature you should be fine.
The only problem i see with this is there are a lot less yeast in bottles, kegs, or secondary to do the clean up work. For making a high quality brew, I see no reason to rush it out of primary. However, if in a hurry to drink or for a party or to free up a fermenter then maybe i would consider it.
