New Brewer: Is my beer almost done?

My beer is fermenting now, It has been 7 days since it began fermenting. It has been sitting for 7 days and when I checked yesterday the ABV was around 5.6 and it tasted great. Over the last 2 the yeast began accumulating at the bottom. Here is a picture:


Beersmith said it should get to around 6.8% so it is still a ways away. Is it possible in the next 3 days for the beer to reach that percentage or should I just put it into the secondary? I read online that if the yeast dies at the bottom it can produce some off flavours and I dont want to risk the flavour it has now.

I am a bit confused about when I should transfer it, this is my very first batch.

If the gravity is the same when read three days apart, it is done. Unless it is a style that benefits from bulk aging, I would just cold-crash the beer once you know it is finished and bottle it. Then you can start another batch!

It is going to take around 3-4 weeks in primary before you will get off flavors from dead yeast.

I always give it minimum of 3-4 weeks, longer even depending on the style. No reason to rush beer.

justinstewartiu said:

It is going to take around 3-4 weeks in primary before you will get off flavors from dead yeast.

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That is not true. People leave beers in the primary for a lot longer than that with no worries.

mcgeeman... How are you measuring ABV? Also a week is not enough time. Just let it sit for a while longer. No reason to transfer to a secondary. Just let it sit to finish up and clear up.

justinstewartiu said:

It is going to take around 3-4 weeks in primary before you will get off flavors from dead yeast.

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I brewed a Brown Ale last Year at the end of August, due to a series of scheduling problems it didn't get bottled until early December. Sat in the primary - on the yeast cake - the whole time, no off flavor detected. Now, I don't recommend doing this, but just goes to show you DON'T have to rush the beer out of the primary. RDWHAHB

Lots of great advice here. I get to impatient and move from primary to secondary after a week.

I used a hydrometer and the original grav was 1.062-1.064ish, the current grav is 1.020. I shoved those numbers into a ABV calculator online and it gave me the percentage. I will leave it there for a while longer then. I am just overly careful because I don't want to mess up my first batch. Before I started, I researched and researched, chose all grain BIAB over extract brewing.. but even all of the reading has nothing on actual experience. I'll continue to come to this forum for help; thank you everyone!