Refusing to fill a growler

I never reuse caps. They get gross very fast. It has never been an issue and a new cap should be part of the fill.

 

A lot of us have been there done that, I bet .

 

Rinse, PBW or similar, brush if necessary or vigorous shake, rinse, sanitizer. Does take 3-ish minutes as the sanitizer I use has a 90 second contact time.

But hahaha at your reductio ad absurdem.

 

I wasnt the store manager i had to just do as told. And a heads on the manager. So cheap he doesnt own a cell phone. Which is odd these days. Those taps were also gross. I offered a free cleaning multiple times i know how the systems work, they refused.

 

I have had several Cicerone certified bartenders tell me to use white vinegar. Once you can no longer smell vinegar it is clean.
I usually just rinse after emptying with really hot water. Throw it in a stock pot of boiling water for a few minutes if you left it sit (aka getting drunk).

 

Why not just clean the growler for the customer. Maybe a quick sanitizer station for growlers. When you really think about it there is a way to tell that a growler is filthy but it could still appear to be clean when it is not. A few bad growlers could do serious damage the breweries reputation. I never really thought about someone not cleaning a growler properly before going to get it filled.

 

Sanitizing protects the brewery/taproom, but more and more taprooms are opting to fill crowlers instead since they are new and clean, and they don't have to worry about which growlers they can fill.

 

I respect the brewery's decision (and their signage is a good faith effort), but I do think there's a better approach in terms of customer service. Good staff can point out the dirtiness to the customer in an upbeat friendly way, then clean it for her/him as a courtesy and fill it.

The result? The customer's happy and brings the growler in clean the next time to avoid embarrassment/good-natured ribbing, and the brewery makes the sale and keeps the customer's business.

 

QUOTE="bbtkd, post: 5622747, member: 1045082"]Anyone else carry their empty and presumably clean growler bottles in the car, so you're always prepared? Or is that just me?[/QUOTE]
I have a 64 and 32 oz growler in my trunk. Been too many times I wanted them and did not have one.

 

What kind of socialist state is PA?

 

I believe it was the right thing to do but also the brewery could've cleaned it real quick for him or just swapped it out.

 

I've talked to several brewers and all they recommend is hot water after it is emptied

 

Heeheeehee, the fact that you can only buy wine or liquor through a state owned store is one indicator!

 

No to a brush.
No to soap.
Yes to bleach.


From a Short's growler.
When empty, rinse it with hot water, add a drop or two of bleach, cap, shake vigorously, empty, rinse, leave open to air dry. With proper growler care, and maintenance. This investment will last a lifetime. BEWARE: Improper care and negligence will render a scolding by the pub tender and/or a seriously delayed refill.

 

Flip top growlers, don't have to worry about the caps so much. A good hot rinse after use (and right before filling) is plenty clean for me, but I will sanitize or add a drop of soap if it's been a while.

Also, I think requesting a new cap every fill is total BS. Who says the new cap you are getting is actually cleaner anyway? Those caps don't last forever, when I do use capped growlers I replace mine every 8-10 fills, typically because I lose them, break them, etc.

 

Oh . . . it's clean, it just isn't sanitized.

I'm completely happy with my growlers being just "clean", in that when I'm done drinking the beer inside them, I just give them a hot water rinse and shake. I'm not fermenting in the vessel and the beer inside will be consumed shortly after purchase. Never had an issue with this technique.

 

Time and expense. If you would be happy with an extra $2-3 on each fill to cover the cost purchase, installation, and maintenance of the new equipment, plus the additional time away from other paying customers, to do your work for you, then OK. Or, folks could take, literally, 1minute, and do it themselves at home so that it doesn't get to that point.

 

Nor have I! It's what I do when I don't use a Growler that came from Brewery X. There are definitely potential issues with said method if you plan to keep the beer in the growler longterm but like you said, The beer inside will (and should) be consumed shortly after purchase.