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I brewed an extract kit (best case nrown ale) and the OG was 1.040(ish) and it was in primary for a week and then secondary for 2 weeks. The estimated abv it was supposed to be is around 4.8% but i bottled the other day, before i added the priming sugar i got a reading of 1.012 (by my calculations only around 3.6%). When i racked from primary to secondary i had no activity in the airlock on the bucket, and then no activity in secondary (i use a 6gal fermonster) Im wondering when the brew is conditioning over the next 2 or more weeks if the brew will be closer to the recommended abv on the package or if that just releases co2 to carb the brew?

Pretty much just carbonates. What was the fg supposed to be? And what temp was the wort at while fermenting?

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The wort was steady around 20C to 23C, it didnt say what the fg was supposed to be just that it was supposed to be 4.8% abv, i took the og reading at yeast pitching temp before i pitched the yeast and it was at the og the recipie said it should be but the fg and abv calculations seems off. Seems by some reverse calculations the fg should have been around 1.004 to 1.006 in order to get the 4.8% desired abv. Its not a huge deal (i think) to have a smaller abv in my opinion, I was just wondering what may have gone wrong where i left it the 3 weeks to ferment and it was at the proper og when i pitched the yeast

I think that's a reasonable fg for a Brown ale, they aren't supposed to finish super dry

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So the brown ale should be around 1.012 even with an og of 1.040? Even with such a low abv?

Your OG was too low to hit the ABV you're after. Using either one of the forumulae on Brewersfriend, you'd have to have an apparent attenuation of about 90% to hit 4.8% with a starting gravity of 1.040. No regular English yeast is going to do that... and if it did you'd have a body-less beer. (You'd need a FG of around 1.003, given your starting gravity, to hit 4.8%, according the calculator I used.)

Check out the BJCP style guide lines (not sure what kind of brown you were aiming for), but you should be ending up with around the FG you've got now to have the right body/sweetness.

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style11.php#1b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you want a higher ABV, you've got to start with more fermentables.

Aside: Carbonation shouldn't really affect ABV to any appreciable degree. In the event that you had a beer that still had enough residual sugar to alter ABV in bottle, you'd be looking at gushers at best and bottle bombs more likely!