Growler fills in bars

There are growler filling machines that will save you money in the end. Bartenders are notoriously bad at filing growlers and it's your money going down the drain.

A missed issue is that CO2 purge needs time to settle. You need to fill it, and then let it sit to allow the CO2 to drop to the bottom of the growler.

I'm surprised you'd even suggest that though. Most places don't care at all, even about filling it properly.

#1 question to ask yourself - can your bartenders even fill a pint properly? And I say that because although I personally trained dozens of bartenders they almost always fell back on their own predetermined ideas of how to pour a glass of beer: women generally only open the faucet half-way out of fear, causing foaming, and men tend to go too rough straight into the base of the glass rather than down the side.

If they cannot do that they won't be able to learn how to fill a growler.

If I were you this is what I would do. Buy wide-mouthed 32 oz. growlers to sell (they look almost like water bottles) - filling into a bottle that has a restricted entry/exit makes everything harder. But you'll also need the hose.

As you know, the first release will contain foam, so here's the routine using the hose:
1- attach the hose.
2- have the growler ready on its side and release the beer down the drain and quickly and smoothly put it into the growler on its side.
3- steadily raise the growler to a 45˚ position assuring that the tube is under the liquid level.
4- if there is foam it will only come out of the growler at an angle. Fill it until the liquid is at the neck, and upright to complete.

 

Many places just use a tube and fill off the tap which makes the sealed beer stable for a bit under 3 days before oxidation sets in and they go flat. If you want to step up the "game" as it were so that the unopened beer can last up to two months or so, the solution is in counter pressure growler fillers by someone like growler station. Any and nearly all of these shelf stability variables go immediately South to about a day or two the moment the beer is opened.

 

If patrons bring their own growlers, I suggest you clean them before doing anything. Who knows what the funk they have in there, and trust me, any off tastes will be perceived as your fault.

And to Nero, WHAT? Pouring straight to hit the bottom of a glass? Who does that? Have your bartenders never been to a kegger? I think experience taught me in about half a (red plastic) cup to go down the side. Even if they've never been to a kegger, after they pull two or three pints, they'd have to be spaced out to not figure it out. I'm sure it's not your fault. I train people at work too. Some people!

 

What you need is one of these.




Though I imagine they're expensive.

 

Does anyone know i this is legal in Wisconsin?

 

Are growler fills legal in Wisconsin? Yes. There's plenty of info if you google Wisconsin growler law.

Grocery stores can even fill a growler in WI. https://sprbrewcrew.wordpress.com/tag/wisconsin-growler-law/

 

Just saw one of these at a bar for the first time on Monday actually (market garden brewery).
My first thought was also "Holy shit! ...thats probably expensive"

 

I could be wrong (it happens every once in a while) but I believe I asked about the cost of one of these machines pre-site changeover and was told they cost around 25K. First time I saw one was at Victory after they redid the place back in '08. That thing is the shit.

 

Modern Times has an excellent growler fill up, even though I have only filled their about 3 times it is always perfection. I have a Societe stainless steel flip top growler and that will hold your beer fresh for longer than a week. In san diego along as i cover up the Societe logo they wont trip out on me if I go to any other brewery. If you dont want to invest in a big fill station go for the stailess steel flip tops they are great.

 

Victory and sly fox in pa have those machines and they work great. A perfect pour every time and it allows the bartender to walk away and do other things rather then stand there and fill a growler.

 

The girls tending bar at the bowling alley I frequent are notorious for this. They open the taps full blast and keep the glasses completely vertical, letting the stream hit the bottom dead center. They end up with a glass entirely full of foam, at which point they tilt the glass maybe 30 degrees and keep pouring until liquid beer finally displaces all of the foam. They then wipe the beer-soaked glass with a nasty bar towel before handing the wet, now smelly glass to the customer. Plus, for each pint that ends up in a glass, one pint goes straight down the drain. It's mind-bogglingly stupid.

This might be a cheaper option, but is significantly more manual:

http://gsdistributorgroup.com/products/craftap/

 

I forgot. I broke one of my rules. I should never hold people to a higher standard than I hold myself; and as remarkably low as that stand is, people never cease to disappoint me.

 

That visual made me nauseous. But the problem with the cheaper option is that if people can not fill a glass properly, they will screw up filling with that system.

 

The Casanova in Hudson Wisconsin fills growlers. Here is a link to their Growler tap list:

http://www.casanovaliquor.com/nova/index.php?cID=197

Here is their phone number in case someone wants to call them up and ask how they do it: (715) 386-5333

 

Tröegs has one too. Apparently PA brewers know what's up. Those machines are great, though I imagine pricey.

 

Another good option, and one that I LOVE is the "crowler" (I can put several of these in my luggage - I can't trust a screw-on cap; and I don't have to lug the weight of glass). You buy 32 oz. cans and labels, and you just fill the can and use the machine to seam it. It should have less oxygen pick up, keeping the beer fresher, and far less loss in filling. Unfortunately the company that makes the machine is running behind in production.

 

There are swing top growlers. I have two of those. One is basically a huge Grolsch-type bottle. The other is a wide mouth, stainless steel do-hickey.

I've never heard of a crowler.

Learn something new every day.

 

Here's a video of a nice setup.



Although I feel like I have also had growers that weren't purged with CO2 but I could be wrong. I generally take them home and drink them that night or the next so I don't know that it would matter to me.

That growler filler is nice, they seem to be easy to use as well.

The crowlers are awesome!