Issues with buying beer in a growler

How soon after filling the growlers are you drinking them? They are not intended for long term storage, and oxidation is exactly what you should expect, unless the store has a special growler filling machine, like this one...


But there are only a small handful of these on the planet.

If your growlers are undercarbonated, it's because CO2 is being released to the air while filling and/or because of a bad seal on the growler.

 

Then my guess is you're not getting very good growlers, or the lids suck, or they're not putting the lids on tightly enough, or the beer is flatter than it should be when it's being put into the growlers, or they're not filling them all the way to the top. I must have had 50 growlers filled up at Schlafly brewery in STL, without a single one that was under-carbonated or oxidized (no special equipment either). Their growlers were solid, and the lid was put on very tightly, and it was always filled all the way to the top. I never opened them until I was ready to drink them, and they got drank all in one sitting every time. I did NOT necessarily drink them within eight hours either (usually it was a day or two).

 

I would guess it's in how it's filled.
I have growlers I've kept for months, with no discernable change in carbonation or oxidation.
The breweries I go to have them filled first make sure they're clean and sanitized, then purge with CO2.
Fill it to the top, and cap on foam.
I then give the cap a twist to make sure it's solid when I get it back.
Never a problem.

 

wow fancy and frees up staff and or reduces them, lol

 

Yes, and it checks out customers and gives food recommendations! No, I know this Austrian made machine and it's expensive, but very effective at producing the best possible product. That looks like Victory in Pa. Top of the line machine for sure.

 

Yep. It’s the Victory machine.

 

Alpine Beer Co. fills slowly, straight from the tap, no tube, all the way to the top of the growler. Hand-tightened caps, works like a charm. Good for 1-2 weeks unopened.

Societe bottom fills with a tube. They prefer SS growlers with swing tops. Stays carbonated unopened for months.

A local bar in Milwaukee has a filling machine, but hasn't trained their staff on how to use it properly. I get the feeling that the only reason they got it was so they wouldn't have to fill to the top.

 

yea i read that, fancy!

 

I could see a production facility that ships growlers to grocery stores wanting to use a machine like this. But for your local bar, a clean tube from the tap handle to bottom fill all the way to the rim, along with a quality hand-tightened cap should work just fine.

 

I think its great, its a consist way to fill lots of growlers and I see nothing wrong with it. I bet at some really popular micro or larger brew pubs it would save yea lots of trouble.
I be the first to tell yea I had some bad growler files over the years. it happens.

 

I subscribe to the fewer tubes your beer goes through before it gets into your mouth, the better. Breweries tend to take really good care of their bottling/kegging lines, because they want to ensure the product is as close to perfect as possible. But once that beer hits the bars, who knows what kind of maintenance schedule is being kept on lines/growler fill machines, etc. I had a fill of Breakfast Stout once that consisted of a transparent brown, sour liquid when I opened it the next day. They were using a machine, my best guess is that there was beer left in the lines from a growler fill the night before, or that they hadn't rinsed out the cleaning solution that morning. Either way, I make that place fill mine by hand now.

 

Hmm. Sounds sort of like the beer is not getting handled right on its way into the growler.
i.e. how clean are those lines? I'd surmise they might not be as clean as they should be.
Also. Is there any kind of counter pressure system in place or is co2 being introduced into the growler?
If it's already flat. Is the seal on the flip top in good condition? But also.
Is the beer actually carbed up appropriately in the first place? I somehow don't think so.
sounds to me like you should complain to the department and ask them some of these very questions we are asking here.

 

this thread comes up every week. literally.

i'd say 80% or more of the people here love growlers and think they are infallible unless of course, the buyer or the seller "did it wrong."

i am in the minority so i like to weigh in .

growlers might keep for a day or two IF they are filled in the pefect way, so as to not expose the beer to oxygen/the air AND, you do not open it. even then, it is simply NOT THE SAME as kegged beer. it is kegged beer that has been poured. no matter what, there IS air in the bottle and as it is being filled the beer is exposed to the air.

personally i only buy one if it is #1 a brewery that only sells growlers (no bottles) and/or #2 it is something i cannot get in a bottle outside the brewery. most importantly, i usually buy one in the afternoon to be consumed later in the evening. i have held a growler for a day or two unopened and it had noticeably flattened after two days. hence, i just drink it right away.

and now i say goodbye to the growler threads. i will never learn anything new about growlers from these threads nor be convinced they are anything more than what they are: a bottle to take home from the brewery to be consumed within 24 hours.

 

Any discussion on the process of bars/filling stations keeping their equipment clean and in working order and delivering beer to their patrons as efficiently as possible is a good one.

 

I don't like growlers much either. The only way they really make sense is to fill them late in the day for THAT night consumtion- perfect for a group/and/or game with a crew. I've had more good experiences than bad, but everything depends on the beer handling end, just like keg lines for that matter. Beer is a live food product and deserves TLC. The Austrian machine shown above is easy to clean, and with a good regimen of cleaning and general maintainence, provides the best possible growler fill. Only very serious beer folks would entertain investing in this particular dispensary. People just like a big ol' jug o' beer!

 

Fill your growler over at Bed-Stuy Beer Works.

 

Anyone's thoughts on swing-top closures versus screw-on caps?