Hefe low FG - No big deal?

[WhiskeyR]

A week ago I brewed a Hefeweizen with LME, steeping grains and WLP300. I used this recipe. My fermentation temp was a pretty consistent 68-70, using a water bath.

Activity from the blowoff tube stopped by the third day. Today, day 7, I took a gravity reading and moved to an airlock. The OG was 1.047 and the FG is 1.009. I adjusted for temp and checked my hydrometer calibration. The recipe states my FG should be around 1.012.

So far, it tastes fine though with a bit of an aftertaste (but hey, its warm and flat).

My questions are:

1.) Are there any problems from having a low FG? Like does it cause off flavors?

2.) Can I go ahead and keg it early, or should I leave it in the primary for another week?

Thanks everyone!

 

[BeerJorge]

The only problems you can have with low FG is if you have some sort of wild yeast eating up the residual sugars that will give your beer its flavor...

Hefeweizens are better when they are young, so you can go ahead and keg...

If your FG keeps dropping, then you may indeed have a wild yeast. That would be the only thing to watch out for...

 

[vitrael]

Was your measured OG the same as the recipe OG? It's possible, even if you brewed from extract, that you lost some portion of sugars on the way from brewpot to fermenter and you just started lower, and are now finishing lower.

It could also be your yeast--if you used something different from the recipe and it attenuated slightly higher, three points difference would be pretty easily explained.

I really don't think you should worry about wild yeast, but if you are worried you could just wait 2-3 more days and take another gravity reading. If it's still 1.009 you're alright to keg.

 

[logan3825]

That recipe looks like a partial mash. If you steeped at a lower temp it would have been more fermentable and may have fermented further than expected.

 

[WhiskeyR]

My OG was spot on at 1.047. I used the WLP300 yeast. I did get quite a lot out of my steeping grains, I may have sparged a bit too much.

I'm going to keg it tomorrow (have to buy another keg). I've read some threads about people turning a Hefe around from grain to glass in 2 weeks. I'm guessing everything is fine. It tastes fine.