Gravity an taste

Does the specific gravity affect how a beer tastes?

I had a recipe that projected the OG to be 1.066. And once I brewed it it came to 1.052.

(it was the first time I crushed my own grains, I think that's my reason of poor efficiency)

I know it will affect the alcohol content but will it affect the overall taste of the beer?

It will taste different, but who can say in a bad way? Might be the best brew you ever made. No worries!!

First, RDWHAHB. It will probably be fine. But, the short answer is absolutely OG affects the taste of the beer!

Original gravity is very important to the flavor balance. If your OG is significantly different than what was intended it will be out of balance unless the hops are adjusted. OG is essentially the sum of the alcohol and residual sugar. That is (at least one reason) why it is used in the BU:GU ratio. FG gives you an idea of residual sweetness and mouth feel although depending on the type of sugar remaining it might not have as much sweetness as you may think.

There are two ways to fix this on brew day.
1) add water if your OG is high or add DME if your OG is low.
2) if for some reason you can't do the first suggestion, scale your hops up or down. Simple proportions will work fine.

Here is a table of FG to sweetness:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/12/final-gravity-as-indication-of-sweetness.html

So my beer that started out at 1.052 instead of 1.066 is now at a final gravity of 1.006 instead of the expected 1.020.

Does the final gravity being lower than the original even out? As far as tastes concerns go?

Cajun_Tiger33 said:

So my beer that started out at 1.052 instead of 1.066 is now at a final gravity of 1.006 instead of the expected 1.020.

Does the final gravity being lower than the original even out? As far as tastes concerns go?

Click to expand...

No, it does not even out. This is a much different beer in terms of body, flavor (there is less residual sugar), mouthfeel, and overall experience than the beer you targeted. That said, it could be excellent, just different.

As WoodlandBrew said, OG and FG both affect the taste of the beer, as does their relationship with one another and relationship to other factors such as BU:GU (although I personally find IBU to be a poor indicator of bitterness given how it only takes into account isomerized alpha acids and not other hop compounds that have perceived bitterness characteristics, such as polyphenols.).

Without knowing the actual malts that went into your beer or the style of the beer you were targeting, your original beer was targeted to have more body and quite a bit more sweetness than the beer you ended up with. At 1.006, your beer will be quite dry. That could be to your liking or not, depending on the style and personal preference in taste.