American Wheat Kit

I just finished an american wheat extract kit I got at my LHBS. It tastes great, but not at all what I would expect a wheat beer to taste like. It is darker in color and tastes closer to a American brown ale/amber ale. The aftertaste is nutty and not mild like say a shocktop. Did I mess something up or does this seem normal to yall? Thanks for the help.

There are a variety of American wheat beer styles. The example you raise, Shocktop, along with Blue Moon, are kind of pseudo-Belgian witbiers. Gumball Head by Three Floyds , on the other hand, is closer to a pale ale or even an ipa than a Belgian witbier.

As for the darkness, this is a common issue for extract brewers. One solution is to use the lightest possible extract and the late addition method to reduce carmelization. You can search for threads on this, but in short, you add a small amount of extract at the beginning of the boil and the rest at the end, with around 5 mins to go. And remember to take the pot off the heat when you are adding the extract.

Cheers!

Jim

Thanks for the response. It's good beer, so I'm just gonna relax and enjoy my handiwork. This is my third batch and I am still paranoid about off flavors and infections.