Bottling in Growlers

Some people say they do it with no issues, but growlers are made to hold the pressure of bottle conditioning. It seems like Russian roulette to me.

 

Growlers are meant to hold carbonated beers, not carbonating beer. Carbonating beer needs a vessel sturdy enough to hold the releasing CO2 and force it back into solution. A growler just needs to not lose the carbonation already in the beer.

I've heard enough bad stories not to see a good reason to risk it. I have way too many bottles at home to need to worry about a growler blowing up or not carbing well. A 64oz growler is three 22oz bottles if you are trying to package in a larger format. Sanitizing and capping three bombers is not much more work than sanitizing a growler.

 

If you use them, keep them in a plastic container in case they explode. I've used them about four times without issue when I was short on bottles and couldn't get any on short notice. However, I try not to use them. Save bombers, they're big and sturdy and work great for bottle conditioning.

 

I never had an issue with conditioning my beer in a growler. The brewery where I worked had them in great abundance. I used to use their plastic caps as well.

- Joe

 

What would this extra pressure forcing CO2 back into solution be?

The way I think about it, Henry's Law goes to work as soon as CO2 starts to be produced. It will (gradually) reach the same volumes at equilibrium at the end of carbonation as if the growller had been filled with already carbonated beer (of the same temperature). There's no new pressure forcing anything back into solution, because on a net basis, no more CO2 left solution than will ultimately be out of solution.

Someone with chem/physics chops fresher than mine please check me on this. And is there some other bottle conditioning pressure I'm not thinking about?

 

I am trying a growler with my next batch. I bought a few of those reusable growler caps. Its a brown ale so I am using less sugar for carbonation so no worries perhaps.

 

I'm no expert on the subject, but that's my take on it, as well. There's no need to force anything back into solution -- the ever increasing pressure in the bottle as CO2 is produced prevents it from coming out of solution in the first place. It's in a constant state of equilibrium. The highest pressure the bottle is likely to see is when the beer is fully carbonated - exactly the state of the beer when it's traditionally put into a growler. Prior that, it's slowly ramping up to that pressure.

 

I think part of the issue is that not all growlers are made equal and some are cheap and thin-walled. I remember even Cigar City had an issue with growlers of AB Hunahpu breaking this past year. Since I don't know who made my growlers I don't want to run the risk of having one explode. On a side note, I believe Northern Brewer sells a growler that is rated for 2.5 volumes of CO2 or something similar so you can carbonate in it.

 

I am not sure of the physics, but I can tell you that I heard more gasses being released from bottle conditioned growlers than I did from bar filled growlers. Not that this constitutes evidence, it's just anecdotal observation.

If you're going to use growlers, use sturdy ones with metal caps that you can screw on tight. Store them in a plastic container while conditioning. A growler-bomb would make a HUGE mess and someone might get hurt on broken glass. If you take these precautions, you should be fine. If they blow up, please let us know.

 

I have not had a single issue in many dozens of bottle conditioned growlers. Including hefeweizen and saison.

...I'd better go downstairs with a mop as I've no doubt jinxed myself with that statement.

cheers--
--Michael

 

Volumes of CO2 is not useful for this purpose. 2.5 volumes of CO2 can range from 7psi at 30F to maybe 45psi or higher at room temperature. If the bottle can hold fully carbonated beer, then it can hold partially carbonated beer. The only danger is if too much priming sugar was used, in which case you'll simply make a bigger mess than you would with 12 oz bottles. Conditioning in a spill catching container is a good idea no matter what sort of bottle you're using (not counting kegs, of course). If a cheap, thin-walled growler can't stand up to the pressure of conditioning, then it can't be trusted to stand up to a fully carbonated beer. It shouldn't be sold as a growler.

 

I agree with Mike and others, you should have no problem carbonating in growlers, assuming you don't overcarbonate. Furthering this point, growlers were meant for multiple fills, as opposed to the single use 12 ounce bottles that most breweries use. Refillable bottles are thicker glass, so I would assume that growlers must be made this way as well. They're pretty common here in Canada, there is a standard bottle that most big brewers and some craft brewers use that is refillable (I think they fill them 10 times or so but I can't remember).

 

Ha. I actually have 2 growlers from Publican House in Peterborough. They seem identical in weight to my Growlers from Revolution in Chicago. FWIW

 

Sorry, I was referring to reusable bottles, not growlers. My reasoning is that growlers should be designed for multiple uses, like refillable bottles.