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NortheasternPJ

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So I was planning on bottling my next 5 gallon batch with 8 growlers and 12 bottles to reduce on bottling and when we break out the home brew, 4 pints is usually the minimum that we drink.

I've read several threads here, quite old, saying that screw on tops are not good for homebrew and meant for pre-carbonated beers taken to go.

I bought the caps, seen in the following pic, should these be fine for bottling if I bottle them as I would a normal bottle?

nwdky9.jpg
 
They work great- until they don't. Nostalgia simply filled a growler for a friend and the bottom exploded out, and some people have reported that the growlers exploded after a week or two after bottling in them.

Remember that they are not designed to handle pressure, simply to store already carbonated beer for a very short time period, like overnight.

I know some have done it, but I would NEVER recommend doing it. You can use a 2 liter soda pop bottle without any worries, although growlers look cooler. Any soda bottle would work, as they are designed to hold pressure.
 
Growlers hold pre-carbonated beer for 4-days max. It's not a replacement for bottling or bottle conditioning. I would go to 2 liter pop bottles instead they do hold pressure and you can bottle condition in them. They handle many times the pressure of a glass bottle.
 
They are not fine to bottle in. I wonder if the LHBS meant that they are fine to fill with carbed beer? I would not use a growler for storing beer longer than a few days, and then only if full. Once you let the air in, the beer can start to get oxidized pretty quick.

But I have started a sort of collection of growlers. I find them handy for a few things in the brewing process, like blow-off container, yeast starters, etc.
 
Well that sucks. I did buy 5 "half gallon bottles" from the LHBS that they said were fine to bottle in. I'll have to follow up with them. Thanks for the help.

Edit: These are the ones:
http://www.beer-wine.com/products/glass-jug-12-gallon-amber

Looks like I may need to get rubber stoppers apparently.

They are fine to ferment in, not bottle.....you would want a rubber stopper for fermentation. Bottling with a rubber stopper would only result in the stopper being pushed out as the beer carbonated. Not all that bad considering the alternative if you used caps and bottled in them (i.e. potential bottle bombs).

I think this should go over in the lousy LHBS advice thread!
 
there are two types of growlers: twist on caps and the fancier flip type grolsch [sic] style tops. I was thinking of bottling in my growler with the flip top. Anyone have experience with the flip top style growlers??
 
Bought a case of 22 oz bottles and have been trying to only purchase beer in 22 oz bottle. Since I usually consume 2 12oz bottles on any given night (unless its a party), damn they come in handy when it comes time to bottle.
 
I have two fliptops at my house as that's what they sell at Troegs for $16 with a cheap first fill. They're WAY heavier than the screw top bottle I have I'm interested in bottling in one actually.
 
hmm, this all sounds more like airing on the side of caution to me. Ive bottled about 10 times with both screw on top growlers and screw on top clear gallon wine jugs. All have bottle conditioned for about 3-4weeks before consumption. No bombs, no problems. The wine jugs are much thicker glass so I don't worry at all about them blowing, the growler maybe (and yes I use the exact same cap as shown in OP).

I do not see any difference in why a swing top growler is a-ok to bottle in and a screw on top not. Perhaps I need enlightenment, but my experience with the average 3/4cup dextrose priming sugar per batch has done me no harm. IF I didnt rely on my plus size growlers for bottling, it would really cut into my enjoyment of multiple batches on the go and the consumption of them.

Bottling in plastic jugs is out of the question.
 
I think it's not the glass but the pressure capability of the screw on cap. The flip top will hold the pressure in making the weak point the glass I think but the screw caps have very little thread engagement compared to say a soda bottle that is carbonated.
 
Bought a case of 22 oz bottles and have been trying to only purchase beer in 22 oz bottle. Since I usually consume 2 12oz bottles on any given night (unless its a party), damn they come in handy when it comes time to bottle.

I love the 22 oz bottles (640ml for us Canadians). My local homebrew store sells these and I've built up an inventory of 10 dozen that are in constant circulation. Each bottle is enough for a couple nice glasses of beer and a 5 gallon brew yields 3 dozen bottles.
 
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