Growler Carbonating

[brokenspork]

Moving to a simple one gallon brew setup to experiment with new recipes as the waste or risk is less than with a 5 gallon setup, I'm considering using stainless steel fliptop growlers for carbonating (2 growlers versus 10 bottles).

Considerations:
Glass growlers seem to be an issue for most people because of the pressure and liability of creating a large bottle bomb. Steel should keep that from happening.
Flip top growler to keep the pressure issue at bay as compared to a screw top.
Gonna consider it as one large bottle for carbonating sugar.
Using corn syrup for the carbonation.
Creating 1 gallon batches as opposed to 5 gallon batches.
Kegs I have available are 5 gallon capacity, so kegging the 1 gallon seems a waste of keg and CO2 when I could be kegging a complete 5 gallon batch as opposed to the 1 gallon.
Using the 1 gallon as a small batch for experimentation with recipes to then scale up to the 5 gallon batches.

Any comments or considerations as per using steel growlers for conditioning?

Cheers,

 

[chickypad]

One down side I see to your plan is that you'll need to drink your batch in essentially 2 sittings. I've never been happy with the shelf life of an opened growler much past 24 hrs, and unless you pour all 5-6 glasses at once I would think the yeast cake would get pretty stirred up. That second pour from bottle conditioned bombers sometimes gets murky so I assume it would be even worse. Maybe if you let it condition really well cold you could avoid that somewhat.

 

[brokenspork]

Since I'm using the growlers to condition test batches I figure I'd organize 3-4 people for a tasting and use the growler for that purpose; so pouring it all at once and drinking the growler isn't that big an issue.

 

[billl]

Should work fine for your purposes, but I'm not sure what you are gaining over kegging. You really don't "waste" much CO2 carbing a smaller batch. I would think that small expense would be outweighed by the ability to turn around test batches more quickly.

 

[wilserbrewer]

How about the liter flip tops, a gallon would still only be 4 bottles and you can pour two beers at once and still get a nice pour without kicking up the yeast. I find that bottle conditioned beer needs to be poured once and the bottle emptied. If you pour a beer, wait an hour and pour another beer, the pour is substandard IMHO.

 

[Zoidberg]

I don't see much of an advantage over carbing about 9 bottles as opposed to be the growlers. I would think the carb is going to be hard to pinpoint and het exact.

That said I don't see a reason this wouldn't work for your purpose

 

[w0732400]

I tried to bottle condition growlers for groomsmens gift in a wedding. The pressure has pushed the seal out and it is foaming and leaking. Now I'm worried I have 6, 1/2 gallon flat growlers. Any thoughts?


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[m1k3]

I've had some flip top growlers that looked like that, but they were fully carb'd. They just had to puke a little.

 

[JINKS]

Palla growlers can handle the pressure.
The sites that sell them say they can be used to condition.

 

[m1k3]

That is exactly what mine look like. I have 16 of them. But now that I keg they don't get used as much.

 

[w0732400]

Did u carb a lot in them? I'm not experienced in bottle conditioning. I went strait to kegs and then bottled off the keg. So this is new to me.


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[m1k3]

Yes, for a year or two I bottle carb'd in that same type of growler.

I primed with corn sugar.

I did have on bottle crack but I blame that on using table sugar and not mixing well.

 

[dstranger99]

After a day or 2 after opening my growler, it's never as fresh as the first time, I'd rather just fill mine for a family picnic and finish it off ..........

 

[WWJPD]

I have 2 Growler Saver caps that I use to re-carb opened 64oz growlers. Are the tops the same for the 1gal ones?

The Growler Saver has a pressure relief valve that'll open up before the growler might break. I believe it puts on about 10-12lb CO2 pressure and allows you to purge. You can use it to recarb flat beer(bad idea as it's probably been oxidized) but I don't see why you couldn't carb a homebrew with it. The only thing is your growler must be less than 2/3rds full or it'll blow beer out the pressure relief valve all over you and anyone else close by-whoops. Also, it was a bit expensive, something like $100 for 2 caps and the CO2 dispenser. I got mine from Nikobrew(great, fast shipping.) http://www.nikobrew.com/growler-saver/

Growler Saver Review

 

[mbruneaux]

I stopped conditioning in Growlers because they were always flat, I used metal caps and plastic caps with the same result. I did have a couple break on me but they were old and could have been weakened some how. I would love to condition in growlers again but don't want flat beer! I may have to try again.

I brew heavy ales and tend to use less priming sugar now anyways maybe that will make a difference.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I bottle in growlers w metal caps off my kegs, the metal caps leak no doubt, so I only do this for beer that will be consumed almost immediately. I do have a heavy flip top growler, that seems to work fine for priming and bottle conditioning.

I lost all faith in the metal caps when I witnessed foam passing out from under the cap on a freshly bottled pour off the keezer. Bought a couple plastic caps but haven't used them much, but would guess they seal a bit better.

 

[govner1]

I'd be more concerned with large bottle bombs since the pressure limits on "growlers" is an unknown vs bottles intended for pressure.
Why not get a carbonator cap that you can use w/ 2L plastic soda bottles and a ball lock CO2 connection?
Much safer!

 

[chiefsbrew1]

Conditioned beer in glass growlers forever never once a problem....get the carbonation right. Most of the time when I do it's because I'm taking it to a party or something it will go flat if you keep it to long after you open it(it all started when I ran out of bottles once during bottling in an emergency) been doing it ever since.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440710141.950416.jpg

 

[paperairplane]

I would not use the "juice jar" style that most pubs use for growler fills, but I have been looking for a deal on 32oz flip top amber bottles for a very similar purpose.