Best growler filling methods?

[noisebloom]

Just made my first beer and have been super thrilled with how it looks and tastes out of the keg: pours with a nice, pretty head.

Was going to share with a friend and this was my growler filling method:

Purged my keg's air, set my reg on 5 PSI, and poured a sample to make sure it looked good. Then I attached my growler filling attachment tube and proceeded to fill a 32 ozer.

There was a lot more foam than I expected, so I tried to "trickle in" the liquid to see if I could fill it more slowly. I ended up with like 1/3 foam when I was done, and then I sealed it with the foam overflowing.

My friend poured a beer from it a couple hours later, and the pour was really flat.

What did I do wrong here? I'm definitely a noob to filling growlers (and to all things homebrew, frankly).

 

[VikeMan]

Did you reset your CO2 pressure after you poured the first one at 5 PSI? If not, how full is your keg?

If "no" and "not very full," you lost a bunch of CO2 to the headspace.

 

[noisebloom]

By reset, do you mean did I re-purge the air? No. Do I need to do this after each pour?

It was half full... And since it poured mostly foam, I would think that there was a lot of CO2/pressure in there?

 

[VikeMan]

By reset, do you mean did I re-purge the air? No. Do I need to do this after each pour?

I mean did you put the pressure back up to the steady state pressure for the beer's CO2 level, i.e. didn't leave it at 5 PSI.

If you didn't, the headspace in the keg (which was at a much lower pressure after you set it to 5 PSI, off-gassed it, and filled your growler) would have taken CO2 away from the beer as it sought equilibrium. And the more headspace (half empty keg in this case), the more CO2 is lost from the beer.

 

[Tom R]

Did you chill the growler?

 

[noisebloom]

I mean did you put the pressure back up to the steady state pressure for the beer's CO2 level, i.e. didn't leave it at 5 PSI.

If you didn't, the headspace in the keg (which was at a much lower pressure after you set it to 5 PSI, off-gassed it, and filled your growler) would have taken CO2 away from the beer as it sought equilibrium. And the more headspace (half empty keg in this case), the more CO2 is lost from the beer.

Oh - that makes sense... My beer was under higher pressure but I effectively added lower pressure to the air above the beer, so the CO2 moves from high to low pressure... Would that cause the excessive foaming I saw?

 

[noisebloom]

Did you chill the growler?

Nope... I may have incorrectly assumed that this wasn't mandatory for filling growlers. Does this need to be done?

If an anything, the growler was warm because I rinsed it with hot Star San.

 

[brewdude88]

Make sure the growler is very clean and stick the growler in the freezer to get it cold, keg pressure needs to be low as you did and keg temp should be as cold as possible.

Also, start with the growler at a 45 degree angle and the filler tube at the very bottom corner. If you start with the growler upright, it takes longer to get the tip of the filler fully submerged and you end up with a bunch of foam.

Make sure to go full open on the tap, let the pressure control the flow. Attempts to slow the flow by adding restriction will start the foam forming as well.

I guess it can all be summed up as
1. Cold is your friend
2. Control flow with pressure, not restriction (either wide open or fully closed on the tap, no in-between)
3. A clean growler has no nucleation sites (dust particles etc)
4. Position grower so that tip of filler is submerged as quickly as possible and make sure the tip stays submerged during the entire fill.

 

[noisebloom]

Make sure the growler is very clean and stick the growler in the freezer to get it cold, keg pressure needs to be low as you did and keg temp should be as cold as possible.

Also, start with the growler at a 45 degree angle and the filler tube at the very bottom corner. If you start with the growler upright, it takes longer to get the tip of the filler fully submerged and you end up with a bunch of foam.

Make sure to go full open on the tap, let the pressure control the flow. Attempts to slow the flow by adding restriction will start the foam forming as well.

I guess it can all be summed up as
1. Cold is your friend
2. Control flow with pressure, not restriction (either wide open or fully closed on the tap, no in-between)
3. A clean growler has no nucleation sites (dust particles etc)
4. Position grower so that tip of filler is submerged as quickly as possible and make sure the tip stays submerged during the entire fill.

Thanks! Been watching some videos on growler filling and this is a good summation of what I see as the process... I'll definitely do this for my next batch.

 

[tld6008]

Just watch how they do it a a typical brewpub