Wheat turned dark and smells / tastes weird

[thrasher]

I left my wheat in the primary fermenter for 3 weeks. Decided to do this because we had a vacation planned a week and a half after brewing, and figured I’d just let it sit in primary until returning then rack to secondary to finish out.

When I got home from vacation, the beer turned really dark, and when i went to rack to secondary, I sampled the beer and it just didn’t taste or smell right.

Just curious what could have happened? Is 3 weeks in the primary too long for a wheat? I didn’t think it would be, but it looked / smelled fine before I left.

Is it a gonner?

Thanks for any help / answers / suggestions.

[demus]

If your sanitation is fine, I doubt 3 weeks is long enough for off flavors to result from primary. I do this routinely with my lower gravity ales as I’ve found racking to a secondary to be of no real benefit, especially for a wheat beer. Proper aging fixes many flavor issuses so I’d bottle or keg and see how it is in a few more weeks…

[thrasher]

I’m curious why it would turn dark. It looks like a brown ale. When I left on my vacation (a week and a half after brewing), it looked like a wheat beer should, but after I got back it was really dark…

I’m thinking I may have scorched the LME when I added it to the boil - I didn’t take it off the burner when I added it. Also I think the LME may have been old (was from a kit I’ve had for a year or so - but I did purchase fresh yeast).

[tom_sawyer]

Beer looks darker in a carboy/fermentor. Once the yeast drops it loses that lighter creamy look. I’m guessing it will be fine. If you really want it to be lighter, try adding some of the extract late in the boil.