Low final gravity

[bytor2012]

This is the 2nd time this has happened to me. I've had a hoppy, pale beer finish extremely low in gravity. The first time was 1.004 and this time was 1.005. Both beers are/were astringent. Is there any correlation between low fg's and astringency?


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[duboman]

Is your hydrometer properly calibrated? 1.000 in distilled water at it's calibrated temperature?
Are you brewing all grain and what temperature are you mashing at?
Are you correcting your readings for temperature?
How long are you mashing?

Personally I prefer my pales and IPA's drier and crisper so while you think those are low I would say they are alright for my taste

As for astringency, if you are controlling your mash pH and not over sparging or sparging with too high a temp or using darker specialty grains astringency shouldn't be an issue. somehow you are extracting tannins if it truly is astringency. There are of course other reasons for astringency but this is the main one. Perhaps being overly dry to your taste it is coming off as astringency.

 

[lostcheesehead]

I also have been having surprisingly effective attenuation from my yeasts lately. I haven't noticed the astringency you mention, but the other effects - lighter mouthfeel, dryness, high alcohol content - have been little annoyances rather than flaws.

All the things duboman mentions can cause astringency, but so can excessive hopping. If you're not supporting your hops with a malt backbone, your beer will not be balanced and will taste more like an astringent hop tea. But I don't think your yeast are to blame in this case.

 

[catalanotte]

How long did you let it age? I have noticed most if my higher IBU beers with low FG need a few weeks in the keg to take the edge away from the hop bitterness.