Alaskan Amber - Same brew, two yeast strains and two different color beers

I just brewed an 10 gallon all-grain batch of Alaskan Amber from the BYO magazine. The recipe calls for the use of Wyeast German Ale. However, I decided to use Wyeast American Ale in one of the carboy and Wyeast German Ale in the other so that I could see how they each impact the beer. I am 10 days into fermentation and I have noticed that both beers have extremely different colors. The American Ale yeast strain has created a much darker looking beer than the German Ale yeast strain which is much lighter and closer to amber in color. The beer has been fermenting cstently at 62-64 degrees. I guess my question for other people is if other people have had a similar experience in seeing two different strains of yeast producing different colors of beer.

Thanks,
Matt

I'd assume that the american ale yeast is fermenting faster, and starting to settle out.

In a week or two they should both have the same color.

Did you by chance fill one fermenter and then the other? If so you would have likely transfered different density of wort into each one. When I split a batch in 2 fermenters I alternate filling them a gallon or so at a time so they get an equal distribution of wort. I've seen some people put a Tee on the end and fill them both at the same time, that would probably be the best way to get equal distribution.

Although this seems like the best answer to me I am just curious as to why would their be a different density of wort if everything was at a rolling boil for 90 minutes and then went straight through the plate chiller and into the carboys for fermentation in less than 15 minutes. To me it seems like the boil would have kept everything pretty well mixed and the short period of time wouldnt have allowed for their to wort to settle that much and create that much difference in density between the two.

Thanks for all of your input,
Matt

Mrclasen said:

Although this seems like the best answer to me I am just curious as to why would their be a different density of wort if everything was at a rolling boil for 90 minutes and then went straight through the plate chiller and into the carboys for fermentation in less than 15 minutes. To me it seems like the boil would have kept everything pretty well mixed and the short period of time wouldnt have allowed for their to wort to settle that much and create that much difference in density between the two.

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With the plate chiller I wouldn't think there would be much difference, though there could be a little. At a club meeting I recently helped someone with a similar issue but they pitched the same yeast in each. After walking through everything this is what I came up with. They use an immersion chiller though and just let it sit while cleaning up other stuff.

I'd guess different levels of flocculation between the strains. Maybe different total volumes in each that caused yeast to reproduce more, or maybe even different reproduction rates of the yeast.

I'd be interested to see how this turns out. I'd guess in the end after the yeast drops they will be pretty similar