Growler mouth problem...

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regulatedhobbyist

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So, I went to the LHBS and purchased a glass 1 gallon growler a couple weeks ago. I found out last night that the mouth on this particular growler is about 1/8th of an inch too small for both my wine thief and my auto siphon. The bottom piece of both tools are soft(ish) plastic. I was thinking maybe I could sand them down. The guy at another LHBS suggested using a heat gun and stretching the mouth of the growler, but I don't have one.

Racking of one batch is due, any suggestions?
 
Sanding would be invitation for infection. I would just get another gallon jug.
 
I have a mini auto siphon that in theory will fit into my 1 gallon jugs, have yet to even open it. Hopefully it works, but my back up plan is to just use a siphon hose and prime it with water and do that.
 
*disclaimer* This makes sense in my head, and I know this is how people without the autosiphon who use a racking cane do it, but test this first to make sure you're not going to dilute your mead with hot water!!!
*/disclaimer*

Why not just prime the autosiphon with a bowl of boiled water, then pinch your tube, take the inner portion of the auto-siphon out (super skinny tube) and stick in your growler, release the end of your tube to start the siphon. Let the water drain into the sink and as soon as mead comes down the tube pinch off and put your tube in your secondary.

That should do it. Like I said, try it first with another glass of water just to get your technique down...
 
thatjonguy said:
Sanding would be invitation for infection. I would just get another gallon jug.
Click to expand...

Then use this 'small mouth glass' as a wine jug or somethin', I could do that maybe. What about the heat thing?


fastenova said:
*disclaimer* This makes sense in my head, and I know this is how people without the autosiphon who use a racking cane do it, but test this first to make sure you're not going to dilute your mead with hot water!!!
*/disclaimer*

Why not just prime the autosiphon with a bowl of boiled water, then pinch your tube, take the inner portion of the auto-siphon out (super skinny tube) and stick in your growler, release the end of your tube to start the siphon. Let the water drain into the sink and as soon as mead comes down the tube pinch off and put your tube in your secondary.

That should do it. Like I said, try it first with another glass of water just to get your technique down...
Click to expand...
I don't have anything in it yet. (phew) But I am trying to figure out just how to make it work if I need it. This might just work...
 
I bought an auto-siphon "mini" for gallon and 1/2 gallon fermenters. But if you don't want to spend the money, use just the tubing and the racking cane and siphon by filling the tubing with water, covering it with your thumb and then sticking the racking cane into the jug. That's the way I always started siphons when I was only making wine, and it's pretty easy to become proficient at it. I have only had an autosiphon a couple of years.
 
thatjonguy said:
Sanding would be invitation for infection. I would just get another gallon jug.
Click to expand...

The only problem wiht that is that you mostly lose out on the clearing that's happened. Certainly not the end of the world, and it may be the only option if you can't get something else to work, but not 'optimal'.
 
fastenova said:
The only problem wiht that is that you mostly lose out on the clearing that's happened. Certainly not the end of the world, and it may be the only option if you can't get something else to work, but not 'optimal'.
Click to expand...

I was suggesting a new jug for the future. My small mouthed jug now contains my special aged egg nogs.
 
thatjonguy said:
I was suggesting a new jug for the future. My small mouthed jug now contains my special aged egg nogs.
Click to expand...

Aha, I was thinking he had fermented something already and was now needing to rack it out.

Aged egg nogs? Could you elaborate? I love eggnog and aging/conditioning sounds like a great idea but I thought all the commercial stuff had a bunch of preservatives in it to make refrigeration unnecessary and/or make it not spoil. How are you keeping it from going bad? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, I've only made it fresh and had the Pennsylvania Dutch & Evan Williams stuff in a bottle from the liquor store, and that is nowhere near as good as homemade.

As far as the heating the growler and stretching it, this doesn't seem like a good idea to me, I'd probably end up hurting myself or ruining the growler. :D
 
Buy a mini-siphon, and a turkey baster to use instead of the wine thief. Instead of the mini-siphon you could theoretically use the racking cane from your auto-siphon and use a turkey baster to provide some vacuum to start it.
 
fastenova said:
Aged egg nogs? Could you elaborate? I love eggnog and aging/conditioning sounds like a great idea but I thought all the commercial stuff had a bunch of preservatives in it to make refrigeration unnecessary and/or make it not spoil. How are you keeping it from going bad? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, I've only made it fresh and had the Pennsylvania Dutch & Evan Williams stuff in a bottle from the liquor store, and that is nowhere near as good as homemade.
Click to expand...

I will message you the recipe. It has to be aged in a refrigerator for at least 3 weeks but some go up to a year. But it is damn delicious.
 
fastenova said:
Aha, I was thinking he had fermented something already and was now needing to rack it out.

Aged egg nogs? Could you elaborate? I love eggnog and aging/conditioning sounds like a great idea but I thought all the commercial stuff had a bunch of preservatives in it to make refrigeration unnecessary and/or make it not spoil. How are you keeping it from going bad? Sorry if I sound like an idiot, I've only made it fresh and had the Pennsylvania Dutch & Evan Williams stuff in a bottle from the liquor store, and that is nowhere near as good as homemade.

As far as the heating the growler and stretching it, this doesn't seem like a good idea to me, I'd probably end up hurting myself or ruining the growler. :D
Click to expand...

That's my luck.
 

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