carbonating growlers/splitting a batch 10 ways

So I have a 2 part question about something Im about to try.

I have recently been brewing to try as many different things as possible, I do not want to brew a "meh, I can drink it," but want something I look forward to drinking. Problem is Im an IPA guy, and DFH 90/120 Avery Maharaja kind... suffice to say Im picky. So instead of brewing 5 gal batches, I was splitting to 2 2.5's just changing hops. What I have decided to do this time around, is brew 2 2.5 batches, ferment, then instead of moving each to a glass carboy, Im going to split each again 4-5 times in growlers, DH with a different hop each time. I know it will be highly variable, and honestly Im not looking for something to drink, but to try different hop combinations since I have this stupid hop profile in my head that I cant seem to put together.

I was wondering if anyone has tried this, and has some advice for me. Also, if anyone has any experience carbonating growlers I would love some input on the amount of bottling sugar to use for each.

Great idea on trying a bunch of small batches.

I would not recommend carbonating in a growler. While I've not experienced it myself, my understanding is that growlers are not meant to withstand the same amounts of pressure as 12 and 16oz bottles, thus making them far more susceptible to becoming bottle bombs. I've heard stories of people carbonating in swing top style growlers without problems (my lbhs sells them for ~5$, but I'm not positive as to the safety), but the seams on your standard "jug model/screw top" growler are weaker and the glass thinner.

You might consider dry hopping in a growler w/ an airlock in and then transferring to bottles to carb. That might be kind of a pain in the ass given the amount of labor involved to produce a 6er of beer, but you would get the opportunity to tweak and experiment with hop profiles.

Hope this was helpful and good luck!

Growlers are not made to withstand the pressures of carbonation. During bottle conditioning the inside of the bottle is at extremely high pressures until the co2 goes into solution. Growlers are made to handle beer that has already been carbonated. Some people have managed it, but I don't think it's worth the risk of exploding growlers.

they are both right.

I had one of those 1 gallon screw top jugs explode, but a 2 liter swing top growler was fine. I probably won't be trying the growler again since I've got a good bottle collection and don't want to risk it. It's thicker than normal bottles so I feel like it should be safe for lower car bed beers though. I've found one liter swing tops of carbonated apple juice that I'm using now.

I bought a bunch of airlocks and stoppers for the DHing. I was thinking only a teaspoon per, since if you use 2/3 of a cup for 5 gallon, that comes to 3 tsps per 1/2 gallon growler. Then again, Im only really worried about the hop profiles, so if carbonating might cause growler bombs, it might not be worth it

Instead of carbonating in growlers, maybe you could re-use some empty plastic 2 liter bottles. They can withstand a lot of pressure, so your risk of bombs would be minimized or eliminated.