From Keg to Growler?

I just recently picked up some kegs and am still new to the process. I am going on a weekend trip and want to fill a couple growlers from my carbonated keg brew. What considerations and problems do I need to be aware of?

I have read something about chilling the bottles to cut down on foaming?

How long will growlers stay carbonated?

If it will be drank in 3-4 days is sanitizing really necessary if they are clean?

Chilling the growler is good, I've done it with ambient temp growlers to0 though, so it works either way. When you fill it, fill it as full as you can, let the foam come over the top and bring the liquid level way up. Cap the growler on foam, less exposure to oxy that way.

Growlers will stay carb'd for at least a week if the lids are in real good shape and put on tight. However... as soon as you open the growler it'll start losing it's carb pretty quick, you'll need to drink it within a couple days for sure at that point.

I've never made a point of sanitizing my growlers, as long as they are clean and odor free I feel fine about filling mine. Heck that's how they fill em at the microbrewery! : )
Cheers!

Hi

Typical fill technique is to just run a hose from the tap into the growler. Rinse the hose off if it falls on the floor..

Ultimate premium technique is to use a counter pressure filling device. One example is a Blichmann beer gun. There are a lot of others.

The only advantage to the CO2 based fill is that the beer will keep longer *before* you pop open the growler. Who takes one home and then doesn't open it??????

Bob

So will a simple picnic dispenser do the trick?

av8er79 said:

So will a simple picnic dispenser do the trick?

Click to expand...

Sure will

Like carlisle bob mentioned, if you can run a hose to the bottom of the growler and fill from the bottom up.. it's a good thing.

av8er79 said:

So will a simple picnic dispenser do the trick?

Click to expand...

You can shove a racking cane in picnic tape and with a stopper you can make a ghetto bottle filler. Instructions are on this site somewhere. If you plan on drinking them quickly, you can purge the co2 from keg, and give it like 1 psi and slowly fill the Growler

I do this once or twice a week to bring beer for all is guys after work.

I bleed the pressure off the keg and pour right out of the tap. Let the beer run slowly down the side off the growler. No splashing. If its forming up its pouring to fast. I've never chilled my growler. Just rinse out with cool water.

As long as the lid on and it's sealed I've had it hold the carb for up to 5 days. As soon as you open it the you need to drink it or you will lose carb fast. We had half of one left one day and capped it for the next day and it went flat.