Ok, so I had this wild idea occur to me after I finished my keezer build the other day... I recently brewed a coffee stout using some coffee roasted by a friend, and I would like to fill two or so growlers before I host a party this weekend (I am worried the keg will get tapped before I can get him his growler... and I'm saving the other for a tasting the following weekend). I was thinking that if I attached a hose to my manifold and insert it to the bottom of the growler, open the valve for a second or two, then close it >>> remove from gas line >>> insert fill tube and fill with beer >>> place growler under manifold and purge the top & then cap, would this work similarly to the pegasus / beer gun systems? Has anyone tried this method?
Yes, your idea will work as suggested and no, it isn't wild. I do this regularly when transferring split batches to one gallon jugs. It isn't ideal, as you co-mingle the air/CO2 you can't be sure all the air is forced out. But it seems to work. I would say two seconds is not near enough, I tend to error on too much CO2 rather than too little. You could probably accomplish the same thing by filling the growler to the top. I have an extra CO2 line and find it useful for lots of purposes (mostly purging).
How long is the longest you've gone before opening one, and how was it (carbonation, oxidation, etc)? Well, if I can recall from watching the Blichmann Beer gun video, they set the pressure to 5 PSI and purge with about a 1 second push of the button, though, as you noted the method I described isn't ideal because you have to removed one tube and insert another. How long would you say you typically purge and at what pressure?
This can't possibly hurt your beer, only help. I don't understand why more commercial breweries don't do this.
The video is decent, but I'll wager a six-pack of Westy 12 he ain't filling bottles with carbonated beer. In reality, there is about a 99% chance of "lots of foam" at the neck of the growler which solves the air problem (this is CO2 off-gassing which pushes the air out). If foam is not overflowing you might want a second or two of CO2 purge at the neck. Around 4 psi seems to be the sweet spot. Also, this depends on the size of your container. Eliminating air from a half-gallon growler will obviously take more CO2 than a 12 ounce'er. When I purge a gallon jug I let it rip for a good 20 seconds, in this case I'm typically not doing a full fill but around 75%. Then give the headspace another decent burst of gas. Carbon dioxide isn't expensive and you are not wasting it . . . this is the purpose for which intended. You might also want to search some threads for "beer gun" and "growler fill" . . . there are a few techniques (like chilling your growler) that would be helpful to review.
