I picked up two stainless steel growlers last winter that I haven't used yet. Any advice on how to fill from a corny keg with a picnic tap? I likely would use to transport to, well, picnics, where I would expect the contents to get consumed at once. Mostly, I want to minimize foaming when fill; oxygen does not seem like it would be too important an issue on the time frames I am thinking (<12 hours from fill to finish). I know chilling the growlers before filling will help. Other thoughts? Thanks.
When I had a picnic tap, I had luck filling growlers the same way I filled bottles. The wand does pretty good to not foam so long as you cut the pressure way down, or even off. No need to counter pressure with a bung or anything, I wouldn't think.
What purpose does the stopper serve? Are there different styles of picnic taps out there? I tried something like this before but couldn't get tubing to stay on the picnic tap. The outlet of his taps seem to run a little longer then mine.
The racking cane found in the regular size autosiphon works great. Cut it to the right length and get yourself a correct sized rubber stopper. Maybe a 7.5 would work for standard growlers. The racking cane should fit snuggly into your picnic tap and away ya go. Make sure you vent your keg and dispense at 2-5 psi. Keeping the growler and racking cane really cold will give you a better pour also.
I fill my various Hydro Flask growlers straight off of the picnic faucet and don't have any issues. I do this maybe 4 times a week to take beer with me while I kayak or climb and don't have any complaints. I have used the racking cane before, but it just made filling more difficult and messy. Just keep the psi a little lower than serving pressure and there will be less foam produced, tilt growler and fill as you would a pint glass.
I have success just putting a piece of tubing over my towers tap (no picnic needed). Run the tubing under hot water for 30 seconds and it should slip on pretty seamlessly. Lower psi to 3ish , vent keg a bit and put the tubing to the bottom of a chilled growler. Very minimal foaming and work
I fill from my tap. It does foam a little bit but I'll let them sit for 5 minutes to settle down then re-fill. Chilling the growlers helps as well.
There are these for faucets. http://www.homebrewing.org/Jug-growler-filler_p_1682.html For a picnic tap i use some racking tube, or your bottling wand should fit into the picnic tap. To minimize foaming, reduce the pressure to 3-5 PSI, and have the growler cold, like freezer cold.
I use one of these, it does help quite a bit, as does the tip of lowering the psi and I also pre chill the growler. Premierpro, I'm not sure what size I have but it fits. I think these come in a couple of sizes for different taps.
I've seen these before and I wonder if there's really a difference between that and putting a rubber hose on the outside of the faucet, like @jlordi12 does. I suppose cutting the ID by 1/4" would do something.
