Friend noticed apple juice taste in beer...

Well I was actually liking how my latest batch tasted. It was a Fiesta Beer kit, their continental pilsener style. It was also my first kegged beer. So I'm just wondering if the acetaldehyde flavours will go away in the keg? I was also wondering what perhaps I did wrong?

I had it in an open primary fermenter until the krausen went down. I then put it into an airlocked carboy for another 2 weeks before I got my co2 cartridge filled. Did I lose too much yeast from primary to secondary to stop the apple flavour from being produced?

Thanks!

If you google "Brewing TV", they have an excellent episode on open fermentation. They claim it's much safer than most brewers think, as fermenting yeast lays down a protective blanket of co2. One thing they note though is that open fermented yeasts kick out alot more esters than closed fermented conditions. Good choice for Esbs but not for lagers.

Newton said:

If you google "Brewing TV", they have an excellent episode on open fermentation. They claim it's much safer than most brewers think, as fermenting yeast lays down a protective blanket of co2. One thing they note though is that open fermented yeasts kick out alot more esters than closed fermented conditions. Good choice for Esbs but not for lagers.

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So even after the keausen goes down, i could have left longer in the primary to make sure the yeast fully got rid of the aplle tase?

Yes acetaldehyde will dissipate with time on the yeast in primary. Its one of the reasons that some people do diacetyl rests. It probably won't go away on this beer, but may on the next if you ferment in the low 50's, have your buddy sample your beer then to see if you even need a D-rest, and if needed do it. If you pitch at 48 and keep it at 50-53 with a large amount of yeast munching away, you won't need one.

After the first 7-10 days, its okay to warm it up some, transfer to your preferred lagering container and start the process. Its pretty easy, but needs some specialized equipment to do it the proper way.

It should age out in the bottle. They are little 12oz closed, sanitized fermenters.

So, you can chug it down and try a new beer, or scrounge up more bottles and try again while this stuff ages out.

Since you didn't bottle condition you could wait a long time. Crack one open every week or two to see where you are, I'll bet you notice big big differences from week to week early on.