11-26-2010, 10:22 PM
As soon as the bubbles are no longer rising (usually about 3 days) the beer is ready for the clarification step. The longer waiting time listed on the instructions (7 days) is the "beginner" instructions to take into account the occassional longer fermentation times due to various reasons. Advanced brewers who have made beer before can skip the extra fermentation time and move onto the next step as soon as they know the beer is done fermenting.