Crowler Question

Have gone about a month a some Pizza Boy Crowlers with no issues.

 

If they're CO2 purging the cans before filling, that will certainly help extend the shelf life. I have a crowler that was filled almost three weeks ago I will be opening soon. It was CO2 purged so I expect it to be just fine. Certainly not the same as a counter-pressure fill but it's better than no purge at all.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend keeping more than a few days...even if kept cold. The wide mouth on cans and the relatively slow speed of filling / seaming does not make for a happy air free container.
We have crowler fillers in Berkeley (and will soon in Mills River) we DO purge with CO2 and seam on foam, and our rule-of-thumb is 48 hours for best quality.

-Bill

 

Thanks for the answer Bill! One follow up...how would you compare crowlers "shelf" lifeto that of a growler filled under similar circumstances (CO2 purged but not counter pressure filled)

 

First off , thanks for the term. Sounds much better than quart can. I bought a crowler when I was in Chicago from dry hop brewery and it traveled in my backpack for 10 - 12 days to Arizona and after a day in the fridge to settle it was fine , but I'd listen to Bill's advice as he knows a lot more about the science of beer than I do.

 

Where are you finding these in Texas?

 

Never seen a crowler I do like the idea and would like to see it sometime anyone know of anyone in PA using this yet?

 

My question is....Why wait? Buy beer, drink beer.

 

Where are you in PA? Pizza Boy has a machine (Enola) and The Barley Mow does too (West Reading).

 

I got some crowlers from Willoughby Brewing back in mid-November and I opened the last one at a tasting in mid-January and there was no noticeable fall off in quality. I bought 4 crowlers and drank them all and had the same beer on tap. Other than driving across PA, they were refrigerated the entire time.

 

There are a lot of breweries in Texas that don't can/bottle. So you have to try and catch their stuff on tap somewhere. So Growler/Crowler's can come in handy if you want to take it home.

 

Because of the narrow neck on a glass growler the headspace is inherently less of an issue than with cans. That said, the gaskets in the glass growler caps are not ideal (less so than a seemed can) it's a toss-up, but we find the glass growlers have a little better shelf-life. We give growlers 5 days and cans two days for best quality (if kept dark and cold.)

Bill

 

I clicked on this thread thinking it was a typo about growlers but learned something new as i wasn't even aware of this format. Thanks!

 

Just about every bar and store I go to in Houston

 

Not counting the beers in my fridge I have 312 in my "cellar." Can't drink them all at once. #goodproblems

It's a great question as to whether a crowler stout is going to age/degrade at the same rate as the same beer bottled. If I ever do get a crowler though I will drink it fresh based on what Sierranevadabill stated.

 

I opened a DC Brau crowler tonight that was at least a week old, and was still very fresh with nice carbonation. The only drawback to the format is not having the option to re-seal it...

 

Or to re-use the crowler...