Pale Ale Comparison help

[Fair Drinkum Brews]

So Attached is an image of my first 2 pale ale brews. 

Both were made using the Basic 1.7L Coopers Pale Ale Extract Kit. 

1 I used the provided yeast, BE 2, and no hops, 
the other I used US-05 Yeast, BE 2 and 12.5g of Citra, 12.5g of mosaic and 12.5g of galaxy dry hopped. 

the hopped one has less head as its only been carbonating for 3 days, but used it for colour comparison. 

SURELY those subtle difference, dont make that huge colour difference? 

Cheers.

[ChairmanDrew]

Although I don't have any first hand experience of it, from what I've read the age of the extract can have an effect on the colour of the final product. Do you know if there was a difference in the BB of the Pale Ale cans?

As a side, why do you always use x2 yeast?

[Herbal Alchemy.]

I agree with chairmandrew, as kits age the malt extract darkens as it approaches its "best before" date, its still perfectly okay to brew it but, prehaps discard the yeast & use a fresh one.

I've heard of brewers making kits up that are 5+ years past best before date & the brewers being reasonably satisfied too. At that point a lager might resemble an amber ale.

[Fair Drinkum Brews]

@ChairmanDrewand @Herbal Alchemy. both had expiry dates late in 2026, one was August 2026 the other was December 2026. 

Also I use yeast x2 as I was told by someone it helps with the fermentation, if it has little to no effect, I will just run 1 packet from now on. 

as for the yeast in use, the us-05 was bought on the day of starting the brew (of the paler one), 
and the other had the DIY Coopers yeast that came with the kit. 

again any help or advice is handy, just very intrigued as to how it occured. 

Edited July 12 by Horatio_FrothBlower

[Classic Brewing Co]

9 hours ago, Horatio_FrothBlower said:

So Attached is an image of my first 2 pale ale brews. 

Both were made using the Basic 1.7L Coopers Pale Ale Extract Kit. 

1 I used the provided yeast, BE 2, and no hops, 
the other I used US-05 Yeast, BE 2 and 12.5g of Citra, 12.5g of mosaic and 12.5g of galaxy dry hopped. 

the hopped one has less head as its only been carbonating for 3 days, but used it for colour comparison. 

SURELY those subtle difference, dont make that huge colour difference? 

Cheers.

My experience is different yeasts & various hops can have significant variations in colour of the Pale Ale cans brewed.

Extra yeast is only necessary if you have a large grain bill, or you have added lots of fermentables etc. e.g. Malts - liquid or dry.

[Aussiekraut]

48 minutes ago, Horatio_FrothBlower said:

@ChairmanDrewand @Herbal Alchemy. both had expiry dates late in 2026, one was August 2026 the other was December 2026. 

Also I use yeast x2 as I was told by someone it helps with the fermentation, if it has little to no effect, I will just run 1 packet from now on. 

as for the yeast in use, the us-05 was bought on the day of starting the brew (of the paler one), 
and the other had the DIY Coopers yeast that came with the kit. 

again any help or advice is handy, just very intrigued as to how it occured. 

2x is better than 1x in terms of yeast. The kit yeasts are only 5g or 7g, depending on the "make and model" and represent the bare minimum to do a simple k&k. If you add more fermentable sugars, the sachet may not be enough. So if you have two you can use, then do so. 

It is hard to tell what happened to the cans during their life. They're obviously well within date but we don't know about anything else, like how they have been stored. Exposure to more heat than normal will impact the content of the can to some extent, although I'd be more worried about the yeast than the kit in that scenario tbh. 

Yeast can apparently also affect the colour of beer but I cannot tell you to what extent.

[Fair Drinkum Brews]

@Aussiekraut and @Classic Brewing Co, wonderful insights, thank you heaps for your contributions, 
it's all very fascinating isn't it?  

[Herbal Alchemy.]

Maybe Frank & the boyz at Coopers accidentally put to much crystal grain in the mash of last quarter's pale ale batch ()

i guess all that matters is it tastes great, it sure does look great!

[Shamus O'Sean]

16 hours ago, Horatio_FrothBlower said:

So Attached is an image of my first 2 pale ale brews. 

Both were made using the Basic 1.7L Coopers Pale Ale Extract Kit. 

1 I used the provided yeast, BE 2, and no hops, 
the other I used US-05 Yeast, BE 2 and 12.5g of Citra, 12.5g of mosaic and 12.5g of galaxy dry hopped. 

the hopped one has less head as its only been carbonating for 3 days, but used it for colour comparison. 

SURELY those subtle difference, dont make that huge colour difference? 

Cheers.

Fascinating.  All of the things mentioned by others can cause colour differences: Yeast, extract age, grain make up, etc. However, the difference in your photos is quite stark and looks more than what I would expect from those factors.

The dry hops do seem to have introduced a slight haze to that brew.  The haze can capture and reflect light a bit, making the brew seem lighter coloured.  Again, I do not think that would cause the significant difference in your brews.  You also see the haze phenomenon in the fermenter.  A brew is usually paler when it is originally stirred up.  Once fermentation is slowing, you can see the upper layer of the beer darkening as the haze from the yeast begins to settle.

[Oldbloke]

Don't know why you use two yeast sachets.  Once you pitch it the yeast starts to multiply.  Another sachet might speed it up the process, not sure.

As mentioned  perhaps there is an advantage if your going for a very high ABV. I recently brewed a stout, 6.6% IIRC. Only used 1 sachet. 

Been brewing since '88, always 1 sachet.  Perhaps 5-6 time had to pitch a second because first was a dud.

I always have a couple of spares that I rotate for that reason.

 

95% of the time i just do kits.

Edited July 17 by Oldbloke

[ChairmanDrew]

1 hour ago, Oldbloke said:

Don't know why you use two yeast sachets.  Once you pitch it the yeast starts to multiply.  Another sachet might speed it up the process, not sure.

As mentioned  perhaps there is an advantage if your going for a very high ABV. I recently brewed a stout, 6.6% IIRC. Only used 1 sachet. 

Been brewing since '88, always 1 sachet.  Perhaps 5-6 time had to pitch a second because first was a dud.

I always have a couple of spares that I rotate for that reason.

 

95% of the time i just do kits.

I just put on a Lion kit and kilo brew. They only come with 5g of generic ale yeast, and it's happily bubbling away in the fermenter right now.

Maybe having more/different yeast adds to the flavour, but I've never been able to tell. For me, it's an expensive addition for not much gain.