Yet another growler question...

Maybe someone else has a little more knowledge, but if they were counter pressure filled, it seems like they could be stored the same as regular bottles.

 

Depends. Rogue for example sells their growlers on the shelf here in the Philly area, and under optimal conditions they're supposed to have a shelf-life of about 6 months according to the brewery.

 

growlers are generally meant for carrying keg beer. keg beer is (almost always) not pasteurized and should be kept cold.that is what makes keg beer fresh, the fact it has not been pasteurized.

unless the brewery is filling the growler on their bottling line, which is done by some brewers, then no. it is not OK to store a growler on a warm shelf. if the growler is just a jug filled by the store, then no way is it ok to fill the growler prior to sale.

if it is just a half gallon bottle from the breweries bottling line you are likely paying more than if it were just in 12 ounce bottles. you have to pay for the jug. and the beer inside is no different.
Cheers.

 

What? Almost all craft beer, whether bottled or kegged, is unpasteurized. Don't know where you heard this, but the reason keg beer is kept cold from the point it is tapped (doesn't really matter before then) is to reduce foaming.

 

Unpasteurized beer can be kept (relatively) warm and kept for fairly long periods of time if the growler was counter pressure filled. I had a Czar Jack in my cellar (which I assume was unpasteurized) for months before opening it and it tasted non-oxidized, carbonated, and delicious. I also age some of my homebrew which is unpasteurized, though it is bottle conditioned. The key is to minimize the amount of oxygen that the beer sees and to keep enough CO2 pressure to keep the beer carbonated.

 

right. almost all keg beer is unpasteurized. import kegs are pasteurized. Anchor is pasteurized in keg.

bottles are not kegs, and we dont really want to get into the very long explanation of how bottling works with filtering or aseptic lines. that is another post, and usually results in convincing people of a fact, not an opinion.

foaming has nothing to do with pasteurization. unpasteurized beer from a keg must be kept cold. unpasteurized beer in a bottle if it is filtered or asepticly bottled is different.

warm beer will foam. true. irrelevant however.
Cheers.

 

don't confuse homebrew with commercial brew. different. also, big beers, barley wines for example can be aged, but these are a small percent of beers, so important to note. but it does not mean the other 99.9% of commercial unpasteurized beer can be held in warm storage.

un pasteurized bottle beer is filtered or aseptic bottled. unpasteurized keg beer is much more delicate than bottle conditioned or pasteurized beer.
Cheers.

 

Hey thanks Billandsuz , I was wondering why you need to keep a keg of hi abv stout so cold 36-38 degrees while you can Celler same kind bottle beer at much higher temps .

Cheers

 

This is aimed more at brewers than bars, but still lots of good info: http://www.probrewer.com/resources/refrigeration/

 

The basics here are that (1) most American craft beer kegs are unpasteurized, but there are major exceptions. (2) pasteurization and keeping beer cold from brewery to dispense are each methods of slowing down development of spoilage organisms. Keeping beer cold has nothing to do with foaming, except at the point of dispense. (3) Avoiding spoilage organisms in bottling is generally far easier than avoiding them in kegging. The keg is a reusable package. Guaranteeing the absolute sterility of an opaque re-used package is close to impossible. In the U.S., bottles are not re-used. Also, draft systems can harbor spoilage organisms if not properly maintained. (4) American craft brewers use different methods to safeguard the shelf-life of bottled beer, including (a) nothing, except for keeping things clean, (b) pasteurization, and (c) sterile filtration, which strips out all microrganisms, usually along with flavor, aroma, and even body. (5) Pasteurization does not necessarily kill all spoilage organisms. It is a careful balance between possible damage to the beer, and hoped-for damage to the spoilers. Done correctly, it can reduce viability of micro-organisms to acceptable levels. In this regard, think of milk. (6) keeping beer cold is generally good, as it also slows down other processes such as oxidation and other degradations. (7) The growler is a "buyer-beware" package. Beer fans tend to like them, brewers tend to hate them, as they are usually quickly ruinous beyond a few hours. The exception, of course is the sterilized, pre-evacuated (low oxygen), counterpressure-filled growler, rarely seen in captivity. I hope that's what you saw. Kinda doubt it, though.

 

welcome back G.O.
good to have you.

 

A lot of knowledge bombs being dropped in this thread. I've seen rogue growlers in stores, and a local brewery climax in NJ, I've seen their growlers on the shelfs as well. I also did not enjoy an IPA by climax I bought in growler off the shelf so maybe this explains it and I deserve to give it another shot.

 

....and to throw all conventional wisdom out the window, at the Marshall Wharf barrel aged release event last month, I asked the owner about shelf life of growlers. They had a couple of the stronger stouts in growlers that day, and I wanted them for a party 3 weeks later.

He said they've kept growlers for YEARS and had good results. Stronger beers, of course, the ones that cellar well in general. And MW does use really tight, well-sealed caps; tighter than any I've seen on other growlers.

 

When did you buy the Climax growler? They are still on some shelves, but the brewery stopped using them back last spring. I would only buy the Climax growlers from stores that was supplied by the brewery (they self-distribute in their immediate area) and also asked how fresh they were and for a cold bottle from the cooler. Too many retailers kept them warm.

IIRC, Climax recommended a 2 month shelf life --- but the bottles weren't dated (doesn't look like their 12 oz'ers are either, tho, nor is the case).

 

Old Burnside is what I am assuming you saw on shelf since it's from Conn.. I tried Ten Penny Ale, it was well carbonated, but still sucked. No reason a growler can't be good on shelf if cp filled, but what is the point of it other than to stand out next to smaller bottles?