Terrapin
BadBrew
I am preparing for my first adventure in brewing getting my bottles sanitized and prepared and I am just short on my bottles. I have some empty 1 gallon apple juice bottles, what can I do to bottle into one?
Bottles vs Growler
- Thread starter Terrapin
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No. Please do not try to carbonate your beer in growlers of any kind. They're not designed to hold pressure. You can put a carbonated beverage into a growler, but conditioning in a growler is a no-no.
If the lid doesn't give way first then you'll have giant bombs on your hands, glass bombs.
Go buy some craft beer (pry off tops) and get to drinking!
If the lid doesn't give way first then you'll have giant bombs on your hands, glass bombs.
Go buy some craft beer (pry off tops) and get to drinking!
Don't. Juice bottles, growlers, etc are NOT rated to hold pressure. You would be better off getting some 2L soda bottles, or even smaller soda bottles. Those can hold quite a bit of pressure.
I'm assuming you mean glass juice bottles, right?
I'm assuming you mean glass juice bottles, right?
Yeah growlers and glass juice bottles are not designed to hold the pressure of natural carbonation. The CO2 pressure builds from fermenting the priming sugar until it gets forced back into the beer. In a growler or glass juice container or anything else with a screw top, it WILL blow up
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Terrapin
BadBrew
Thank you! I'll stick with bottles, off to the home brew store ...
You know, the beer store sells bottles. Gotta empty them first but I'm sure you can figure out what to do with the beer....
AkTom
Well-Known Member
/\ this. And don't forget, a few in plastic soda bottles, make good test bottles. when they are hard to squeeze, they are ready to drink. Mostly 
Im sure if you brew beer then you drink beer!! start saving the bottles you buy, they are made of the same glass and you already pay for them full of beer(in most states), why buy empty ones when you can enjoy the contents of full ones, clean them and soak in star san good as new
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Terrapin
BadBrew
Its all about how fast you drink, even for me 2 cases is a bit much for 24 hrs. Maybe if I go fishing ...
I've been carbonating beer in growlers for years. Don't know why so many people say its unsafe.
Growlers are designed to hold carbonated beer. Whether its carbonated already (eg. filled at a brewery) or carbonated in the growler (through a sugar addition and secondary fermentation) makes no difference. Its still carbonated beer.
Of course, you can over-carbonate by adding too much sugar. And you need to use less. Don't simply multiply up from what you normally put in a smaller bottle. I use four carbonation drops per growler for most beers. (Edit: for a 2 litre growler)
Also to clarify a perceived misconception posted earlier: the CO2 produced by yeast within the growler doesn't go to the headspace and then into the beer. Its produced in the beer in the first place and is vented to the headspace in equilibrium with the amount of CO2 dissolved in the beer.
Growlers are designed to hold carbonated beer. Whether its carbonated already (eg. filled at a brewery) or carbonated in the growler (through a sugar addition and secondary fermentation) makes no difference. Its still carbonated beer.
Of course, you can over-carbonate by adding too much sugar. And you need to use less. Don't simply multiply up from what you normally put in a smaller bottle. I use four carbonation drops per growler for most beers. (Edit: for a 2 litre growler)
Also to clarify a perceived misconception posted earlier: the CO2 produced by yeast within the growler doesn't go to the headspace and then into the beer. Its produced in the beer in the first place and is vented to the headspace in equilibrium with the amount of CO2 dissolved in the beer.
PlinyTheMiddleAged
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Finally! A voice of reason.
Are growlers designed to hold pressure? Couchy is right! They hold beer. Ever hear the "pffst" when you open the top of the growler - that's pressure. And when a beer is carbing, the pressure in the head space does not exceed the equilibrium of the beer. Folks talk about carbing in growlers as if the head pressure goes way up before the beer itself gets carbed. So, Couchy, thanks for the voice of reason. The myth of a growler not holding pressure is almost as bad as the myth that CO2 will settle in headspace and keep oxygen that gets in away from your beer (that's not how gas works - if it did, people in valleys would all be dead).
d3track
Are you sure about that?
I carbonated my first brew in a couple growlers before I knew better. While I didn't have an explosion, thankfully, pouring from naturally carbed growlers stirs up more trub/gunk than a bottle as you have multiple pours.
Another option is go to some local bars/pubs and ask them to save some empties for you. Those are going to the trash/recycler anyways, so you may be surprised how many bottles you can get that way and more times than not they'll be free.
fantomlord
Well-Known Member
sounds like a good experiment waiting to happen...prime with sugar, and rig something up to read the pressure, and monitor frequently over the course of the next 3 weeks, and see if the pressure does in fact increase, then decrease.
probably this:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/the-carbonator
and a regulator/pressure gauge would do the trick.
I'm just glad it won't be me staring at a regulator for 3 straight weeks :cross:
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
It's been done. See post #5 in this thread. It also links the post with more of the data from the experiment.
I remember that thread, and that's why I err on the side of caution. If it's a bottle quantity issue where it takes more time bottling 12oz bottles than 64oz growlers, then either get a buddy to help you out or go with bigger bottles made for conditioning like bombers or champagne bottles.
Yesterday I helped a friend of mine bottle his Irish red. I filled the bottles while he capped them. That didn't take no where near as long as when I'm bottling batches by myself.
