Refusing to fill a growler

Growlers aren't just made out of glass you know... I own a stainless steel one, and I've seen a few other hi tech ones as well.

 

True, I own a swingtop double-walled one and a couple of those ones that look like little kegs. Some of my points apply, some don’t. I honestly don’t know what the O2 ingress is on those things. They are probably pretty airtight. Definitely heavier, significantly more expensive. I’ve been told I can’t fill them at a couple of places. They also don’t have the ‘toss them in the blue bin when you’re done’ aspect of crowlers. But they definitely have their place. Great train beer mugs.

 

I was always told that breweries don't fill dirty growlers because it will contaminate their own equipment.

 

My answers are different for Simplicity, Environment, Cleanliness and Stability but as a home brewer I have PBW and star-san on hand at all times. which make Stability and Cleanliness different for me than for others. Growlers are infinitely re-usable ergo in no way is a one-use crowler its equal in "green-ness." To each his own I suppose.

 

It was stated 3 times that they don't deal with dirty glass. Good for them to stick to the policy.
Cleaning growlers is not a hard job but it is time consuming and resources could be spent elsewhere.
@PatrickCT there are plenty of ways to clean a growler that shouldn't ever contaminate any equipment even modified restaurant style washers with heavy wire racks that will wash and sani on a cycle, to the good old manual way of bucket of caustic soda and hot water, rinse bucket, bucket of sani.
I know i wouldn't want some schmuck with dregs (or worse) from their last purchase spoiling their future experience with my product.
Dirty glass only works when you pay a deposit on the growler. If you pay for the growler outright its yours to take care off and that includes cleaning it.
Or just buy a new one if you really really want that beer in a growler format.

 

It would be hard for a crusty growler to "contaminate" the the taps. Maybe, maaaaaybe, the fill hose (which would easily and cheaply replaced) might dirty. I suspect that whoever told you that had other reasons.

 

Aluminum cans/crowlers are made with 30% recycled aluminum, the rest needs to be mined, shipped, and processed. One needs only to look up the history of bauxite mine disasters to know how polluting it is, and the same is true for the processing of bauxite into aluminum oxide and then into aluminum. The idea that crowlers are equally environmentally friendly as reusable growlers is ridiculous.

 

How disgustingly dirty would a growler have to be to actually make a noticible difference in the beer it’s filled with? Probably talking mold or an infection or something. Rinse out your growlers people, maybe even go all out and use some soap. It ain’t hard.

 

Growler stations I've used here sanitize your growler for you before they fill it, and a new cap. I believe they obviously fill their containers and brown unmarked ones, they won't fill vessels that are marked by another vendor. Im not big on Growlers unless I plan to drink them thst day, but I've had Growlers I got from HF that lasted easily two weeks.

 

A local store uses 32oz flip-top grumblers, and will only fill their bottles. That opening is the same size as a typical beer bottle, so I'd need a long skinny brush to get in there, then would have difficulty hitting the sides. About all I can do with that is fill with soapy hot water, shake it, lots of rinsing, then air dry. This bottle really should be steam-clean only. Not a fan of that bottle, so I may not ever use it again - luckily I got that one for $1 including a great beer.

 

One place I go uses a sanitizing rinse, the other uses heat and hot water and puts the growler into what looks like a dishwasher. It looks commercial and I'm assuming it's dedicated to whst it does with growlers. But a sanitizing rinse would work well for a narrow neck without the scrubbing.

 

There isn't a brewery in my city that doesn't do this. Most offer at least a $5 discount on fills if you bring in an old growler (with their logo or name on it). Not only does it save the customer money, but i'd guess that it's worlds cheaper for them not having to order new growlers all of the time.

 

Hey, I’m a homebrewer too. Sure, sometimes I give them a caustic CIP and a heat and chem sani. But most of the time, like most people, I just rinse ‘em out with hot water. It’s a trade-off. If you want cleanliness, you lose simplicity. Stability is just due to the intrinsic superiority of the can seam and it’s light protection.

It’s the other way around. Cans are made with 70% recycled material (bottles only 23%).
Yes bauxite mining is damaging and intrinsically dirtier than silica for bottles. But that, of course, is only part of the green picture...
After that you have transportation. Glass being several times heavier than aluminum results in a 20% larger carbon footprint. They are more prone to breakage, in transport, at the location, or by the customer, which results in more being ordered. And guess which bin broken glass usually goes into?

Then, people are assuming that every person that buys growlers uses them infinitely. That’s a best case scenario. Many will use them once, then recycle, or *gasp!* just throw them out. Many will use them. 2 or 3 times and do the same. Some will save 20 of them up for their wedding reception centerpieces, then the clean up staff will toss them in the dumpster. Out of all the growlers out there, I’d guess that the ones that have seen over 10 refills are the exception, not the norm.

Finally, when it comes to actual recycling, aluminum is recycled almost twice as much as glass and is more energy efficient to recycle.

The glass vs can debate is an ongoing one, but when you take the whole cycle into the equation, it sure looks like a tie...

 

There are two breweries here that have it stated on the growler refill policy. They both have the filling station things. Truthfully, I didn't give it much thought as it seemed as good a reason and any to not fill a growler. Also, my growlers are clean.

 

The need for aluminum from mining goes up, not down, the more beer that previously was bottled is now canned. I will mention that you ought not use the recdycling transportation argument you try to throw up since it assumes facts not in evidence and uses false equivalencies since glass is clean fill, and aluminum is not.. And the amount of recycled aluminum in aluminum products is 30%, the recycling rate for cans is 67% The other points have all been discussed at length in threads devoted to them, and definitely need no further discussion here.

 

True, Glass is inert waste, but on the flip side, aluminum breaks down in like a quarter of the time. Also, my point about transportation was more referring to the fact that there’s only 40 odd glass recycling locations in 20 odd states that all recycled glass has to travel to. Aluminum recycling is much more accessible, probably because it’s significantly more profitable.

Agreed though, the can vs bottle green debate doesn’t need to be rehashed here. For every point, there’s a counterpoint. That’s why I called it a draw.

Environmental issues are something I care a lot about, and I can tell you do too. Cheers!

 

I've been on both ends of growler reality. You really are at the mercy of the one filling it. It can be a big mess, and if the store is busy it can take some time. Some retailers are better at it than others. My suggestion is to drink them with a few folks quickly. Some places know how to finish them off, away from too much oxygen. Growlers seem to be less popular now. Crowlers are a more efficient procedure. After retiring, I worked at a nice store for a good friend and ex customer. My time was always better spent on the floor selling rather filling big bottles of beer.

 

In my county the glass gets brought to local centers in communities in my county, and then goes to clean fill. Total travel mileage for any glass put into recycling in my county is <25 miles. Aluminum in land fills is a sin because it means that more bauxite needs be mined, Glass is great to mix in with clean fill, and in fact the entire recycling facility I managed for 15 years was built upon fill with a large percentage of glass, and drained quite well.

Now back to the theme of this thread which is already in progress. Cheers!