Bottle Conditioning in a GROWLER??

[gfinockio]

I'm not suggesting this is safe, but it has worked for me without issue:

Bottle as you normally would into a growler. Put the growler into a bucket filled with water. (Unless seriously under filled, they sink.) Wait a couple weeks to carbonate. Being under water, they are under some external pressure - roughly double ambient pressure, IIRC - to balance the pressure building inside. A happy benefit is that they are effectively in a swamp cooler, so you could add some hot water to regulate conditioning temp above room temp (my house is cool in the winter).

I'm not saying nothing could ever go wrong, but at least being under water they are pretty safe in case of fracture.

That actually makes a lot of sense... except when you have to take them out of the water to serve?

 

[w0732400]

I carbed 6 of these thick flip top growlers for my roommates groomsmens gift for his wedding, I was worried none of them would be carbed because the seal got pushed out (as you can see) and was leaking but in the end they were all carbed well and none exploded!

I actually didn't know they could explode until after I did it, at the time I was like it has a flip top and there real thick so it should be fine. I read about it later and was like hmm that could have been bad.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[gfinockio]

Maybe I'll keep the growlers for mead only.

 

[freisste]

That actually makes a lot of sense... except when you have to take them out of the water to serve?

By then they are carbonatED and not carbonatING. Which is (in my understanding) where there are issues.

 

[gfinockio]

By then they are carbonatED and not carbonatING. Which is (in my understanding) where there are issues.

... but the pressure increase is the problem - if the carbonation has ceased, the pressure inside would still be greater than it was when you put the beer in, no?

 

[freisste]

... but the pressure increase is the problem - if the carbonation has ceased, the pressure inside would still be greater than it was when you put the beer in, no?

Correct. But that's no different than filling a growler by any other means.

People talk about a transient condition which is only relevant during carbonating. Once carbonated, that transient condition does not exist.

 

[Humboldt1976]

Sorry to resurrect but I've done this a bit. I've done about 45 5-6 gallons batches. I've bottled 1-4 growlers in each batch. I'm not sure if its affected by the area I live in, which has an average year round temp of 55-60 degrees. I only mention it since I've seen so many other folks speak to temp specific brewing problems (both cold & hot) which I've never dealt with.

Also, swing tops always seems to let tiny amounts of carb/foam leak out yet the beer turns out great, maybe it helps? The metal screw tops, which my local homebrew guys say do not use ever work fine. The poly caps seem to get stuck if you leave em on for months, but vice grips fix that.

 

[SailBrewAway]

about the dilemma of Growler let's see this video about a glass bottle not "DESIGN"-(ridiculous) to hold pressure


(only overcarbonated glass bottle or bottle with defects will crack in priming process )

 

[Thedillestpickle]

Wow! It did make it all the way to 260psi very impressive.

I actually think wine bottles should handle pressure quite well because of the concave bottom. The issue with the growlers is that they don't have a concave bottom and so the pressure within the bottle creates more stress on the glass.

 

[Raenon]

Wow! It did make it all the way to 260psi very impressive.

I actually think wine bottles should handle pressure quite well because of the concave bottom. The issue with the growlers is that they don't have a concave bottom and so the pressure within the bottle creates more stress on the glass.

Champagne and Belgian bottles will, but regular still wine bottles just aren't designed to take that-especially if you're only corking them. Something will give out.