Missed my numbers, how will this affect the final beer?

So did my 2nd BIAB today. The first BIAB, I hit all of my numbers perfectly at 75% efficiency.

Today, I was much lower. Here is the recipe:

Red Wheat
8 gals, 155 dough in, 150 mash temp, 60 mins
60 min boil
.75 Victory Malt
.25 Crystal 90
4.5 2-row
4.5 White Wheat

60 mins 10z Hallertau
5 mins 1oz Hallertau


My pre-boil reading was 1.030-1.033, which should be about 65-70% efficiency. My OG before adding the yeast was 1.042. Beersmith estimated an OG of 1.051, and austin homebrew recipe suggested a 1.052 OG.

So obviously, my OG is lower. What effect will this have on the final beer? Every beer I've made so far has been with 1 or 2 pts, so this is new ground for me. If my FG still ends up at the estimated 1.011, I'll end up with a 4% abv beer, which is just fine, I don't mind something closer to a session. But I imagine the yeast will attenuate lower than estimated (because lower og). I'm using White Labs Hefeweizen Ale 300 w/ a 1L starter. If it attenuated the full 75%, I will end at 1.003 FG. 5% abv.

How will this super low FG effect the taste of the beer? Am I in for a much hoppier, waterier beer than I was anticipating? What should I expect if the beer finishes at the estimated FG, aside from lower ABV?


As far as my effiency goes, I've already figured out some changes that should help, between insulating the pot better to preserve temps, mixing the grain more often, asking for a finer mill when ordering grain, as well as a 1 gallon sparge. I'm hoping these improvements will get me closer to the "magical" 80%.

The effect on your final beer...a great homebrewed beer. Everyone is worried about efficiency, but in the end, if youre not going to produce mass quantities of the same brew to be distributed across the US...75%-80% is fine. Most people homebrew for the tastes of malts, hops, etc...not high ABV. Hint...always plan on 90 min boils. You can adjust your OG if need be from that...IMHO

I bet in a month or so, you will think this is the best tasting beer yet!

Cheers!

MisterClean said:

If it attenuated the full 75%, I will end at 1.003 FG. 5% abv.

Click to expand...

75% attenuation would put this at 1.0105, not 1.003.

At 1.042 OG and 75% AA you'll end up at 1.0105 and that should be somewhere around 4.5% ABV maybe 4.8% depending on the equation you use

Yeah, guess I mathed wrong. Thanks for correcting me. That pretty much changes everything. It looks like my FG will be pretty close to expected, even with the OG being 10 points off.

Also, the style of beer you look like you are brewing, to me, would nearly seem to be better at a lower gravity. I happen to appreciate wheat beers in general in a more quaffable, light presentation. Especially at this time of year.