What does gravity/O.G. effect besides ABV?

[user 227424]

Other variables aside I'm wondering what effect the choice of gravity, or total DME/sugar, has on the final result, besides ABV?

I'm brewing Belgian Ales with Briess Pilsen DME(and some candi/cane sugar), and Weizens with Bavarian Wheat DME. Adjusting one variable at a time, yeast, hops, temps, times, etc, to learn what I can.

I'm less sure how gravity effects things(other than ABV) than the others?

 

[dyqik]

My understanding of the situation:

ABV by itself affects taste, and good beers are balances between the taste of malt, hops, alcohol and yeast character. Increasing ABV can change that balance (add a shot or two of vodka to a pint to test this ).

Increased OG by adding more malt to the wort will also generally increase the FG, resulting in a sweeter/heavier beer. The increased alcohol works against this to a degree though. In a Belgian strong, this is undesirable, generally, but in something like a barley wine or porter, it can be desirable. Adding more specialty malt along with base malt will increase the effects of the specialty malts, and generally throw things to the heavy side.

Increased OG by adding simple sugars to the wort will lower FG as there's more alcohol present and alcohol is lighter than water. Generally it will give a thinner, lighter tasting beer (it's why rice or corn is used in light lager), and will also allow the increased ABV to show. For stronger Belgian ales, this is desirable, as "digestible" is an aim of the style. Not so sure for weizens though. In English ales, too much simple sugar can make the taste tend to a "cidery" effect as it thins the beer.

 

[user 227424]

My understanding of the situation:

ABV by itself affects taste, and good beers are balances between the taste of malt, hops, alcohol and yeast character. Increasing ABV can change that balance (add a shot or two of vodka to a pint to test this ).

Increased OG by adding more malt to the wort will also generally increase the FG, resulting in a sweeter/heavier beer. The increased alcohol works against this to a degree though. In a Belgian strong, this is undesirable, generally, but in something like a barley wine or porter, it can be desirable. Adding more specialty malt along with base malt will increase the effects of the specialty malts, and generally throw things to the heavy side.

Increased OG by adding simple sugars to the wort will lower FG as there's more alcohol present and alcohol is lighter than water. Generally it will give a thinner, lighter tasting beer (it's why rice or corn is used in light lager), and will also allow the increased ABV to show. For stronger Belgian ales, this is desirable, as "digestible" is an aim of the style. Not so sure for weizens though. In English ales, too much simple sugar can make the taste tend to a "cidery" effect as it thins the beer.

Thanks, very concise and exactly what I wanted to know.