Brewery Growler filling differences.

Being home brewers I am sure most of us keep our growlers clean and safe for filling either at home or a brewery. What I have noticed over the course of many years is that half of the time a brewery will not wash out your growler nor take a second look before filling. What if I was some slob and I gave you my filthy growler full with sediment inside? Then I take said growler home to taste some nasty sediment sludge beer and then take to the internet to complain about it. One would think that natural protocol would be to inspect the growler before filling and a quick shot of no rinse cleaner never hurt anyone. In the end it does not bother me because I have PBW and sanitation skills but its their beer and their problem. What has your experience been like?

side note: I once had a growler filled and then sealed with electrical tape...

 

By me they look to see if its clean and hand it back to you if it isn't. They won't even consider cleaning it themselves. They'll just tell you to buy a new one for $5. They're often even cheaper with the first fill, like $3. Pretty reasonable to me.

 

In the end, it only hurts the brewery if they don't check this.

 

This is only a guess on my part.

Would there be a liability if they cleaned them before filling? Something akin to "it's your fault, you washed it before you filled it" kinda thing?

 

I've seen breweries around here do both. I've never seen anybody hand over a filthy growler though so I don't what they would do about that

 

At most taprooms I've been to they will hold the growler up to the light and eyeball it first. Some rinse with a little water first, then fill. I've see quite a few use electrical tape to seal the lid (so the customer doesn't get dinged with an open-container violation if pulled over). A few use heat-shrink wraps on the neck to seal.

 

The ones I've been to ask if I want it rinsed out like a cup at Starbucks. I keep mine clean so it isn't a concern for me. If people don't want to clean their stuff it is their choice.

 

I keep mine clean and I sanitize before going in. I've had friends go with me who have growlers that they haven't touched in months/years and a simple "haven't touched it in a while... do you mind giving it a rinse for me?" does the job... I haven't heard a single brewery say no yet.

It does seem kind of low that someone would go in with a cruddy growler and then hit the interwebz afterwards for something they were essentially responsible for themselves. While most of the breweries around here seem to have no problem with giving a quick rinse before a fill... I agree that it isn't THEIR job to clean MY growlers. If they stumble upon those who can't/don't clean their own growlers, I wouldn't hold it against them at all if they said "can't fill that but you are more than welcome to purchase one we can fill."

 

I was thinking about this today I just got a 32oz fill that is unbelievably phenolic. Its the second time ive had it happen on two different beers. Starting to wonder if its whatever they squirt in my growler before filling to clean it out.

 

The only place I don't aggressively clean before I go is Pizza Port, and that's because they swap out their growlers for new ones with each fill. (That said, for me-like most homebrewers-my dirty growler it's probably cleaner than most people's clean growler.)

In fact, I went down to San Diego for some beach volleyball back in February, and I specifically bottled homebrew in Pizza Port growlers because I wouldn't have to worry about it when I got fills on the way home.

 

Have you been cleaning/sanitizing your own growler between fills?

 

Yeah, I use oxyclean free and a squirt of starsan

 

Sanitize your growlers? heh

 

Heck yeah I sanitize those things. We paid for a sanitize feature on our dishwasher and by golly I'm gonna use it.