1st time brewer

i brewed my first batch last week,amercan wheat. how do i know when its completely done fermenting. A buddy of mine told me recipes that only call for 4 weeks of fermenting you can leave in the primary the whole time, would that be ok.

Actual fermentation is usually done in 5-7 days. But the yeast produce byproducts that they later go back to ‘clean up’.

A wheat beer is normally served cloudy. So a long aging period is not needed to get the beer clear. 2-3 weeks then in the bottle is fine.

The only way to know that fermentation is done is with a hydrometer. The same reading over 2-3 days and it’s done.

When you go to bottle, fill one soda bottle. Squeeze the O2 out and screw the cap on. The bottle will expand as CO2 is formed.

Have you read “How to Brew”?

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

i didnt read that cause my buddy has brewed a few times so he was just showing me, its been a week now and the foam is gone and it bubbles about every 30 to 40 seconds, just didnt know wether to leave it in primary or transfer it to secondary.

Learning by watching is good. But there are things that are not discussed. Reading a book like “how to brew” will fill in some gaps.

Well worth the time to read it 2-3 times. And then refer back to later.

How do you know, that he knows, what he is doing? :shock:

Answer: There are few things that are wrong. Many ways to produce a good product.