Bottling into growlers

[thomas_marbach]

So whenever I bottle my beer I just use priming sugar and in two weeks I'm good. But I'm brewing for the head table at my cousins wedding and they want the beer in growlers but that would mean a longer time to get the beer to the right carbonation level. Time I don't have. Could I just regularly bottle it in 12 oz. bottles and a couple hours before being served pour the beer into the growlers or would that cause it to go flat? Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ong]

I suspect you'd lose a lot of carbonation that way, and also introduce oxygen. The latter shouldn't be a problem if the beer is meant to be consumed right away, though. I assume you don't have a kegging setup, or you could force carbonate. The best bet would be to figure out a way to transfer very "quietly," without disturbing the beer much. Maybe one of those miniature autosiphons meant for small batches? Any way you can siphon the beer from just over the lees in the bottles would be optimal.

(While I don't recommend carbonating in growlers, I'm not sure why it would take longer than in 12 oz containers.)

 

[rawlus]

a growler at a table isn't going to last very long, 4-5 glasses. a bucket of bottles in ice might still be a better option.

if you were to do growlers, best way would be to keg first and then go to growler the day before the wedding or something.

 

[djevans3]

You don't want to carbonate in growlers because they are not designed to hold the pressure required to force CO2 into the beer the same way beer bottles are. Also, for presentation purposes, you'd be better off not having sediment at the bottom of the serving container from bottle conditioning. If this is truly important to your friend, invest $150 in a kegging setup, force carb, and then fill the growlers morning of wedding. Just my two cents.

 

[flars]

It sounds like the person demanding beer in growlers, doesn't know very much about brewing. I would bottle condition in 12 ounce bottles. The morning of, bring the bottles to near freezing and gently pour into growlers. Keep the growlers very cold, they won't know the difference one way or another. They will still have the impressive look of the growlers.