Growler Bombs

[bosox]

I've bottled 2 growlers before, and both have exploded...The first time we filled both growlers pretty high for the both of them, and then after fermentation I moved one into a fridge and left the other out...The one left out exploded and the one in the fridge we opened and drank so it didn't have the same fate.

Just now, the one that survived the initial filling, I filled it up with less beer, and had it fermenting for a week and checked on it today and it was shattered. I think it was probably the 128 ounce one, although there's no way to check now lol...

What am I doing wrong!?!?!? That's a lot of beer that's been wasted on these two damn things

 

[zimman]

growlers are not made for carbonating beer in. sorry but the only thing your doing wrong is using growlers instead of bottles or kegs.

 

[bosox]

I was not aware of that lol. I'll be sure to never use those again. I'll just stick to bottles. Thanks!

 

[Walker]

I've bottled 2 growlers before, and both have exploded...The first time we filled both growlers pretty high for the both of them, and then after fermentation I moved one into a fridge and left the other out...The one left out exploded and the one in the fridge we opened and drank so it didn't have the same fate.

Just now, the one that survived the initial filling, I filled it up with less beer, and had it fermenting for a week and checked on it today and it was shattered. I think it was probably the 128 ounce one, although there's no way to check now lol...

What am I doing wrong!?!?!? That's a lot of beer that's been wasted on these two damn things

Wait... are you actually FERMENTING in a sealed growler or just bottling in them? Your text above makes it sound like you are doing main fermentation in them.

 

[humann_brewing]

I have a rogue 1/2 gallon growler that I have used several times with no troubles. I filled it up with about 1.5 inches of head space left and put about 5 grams of dextrose in to carb it up.

Remember you don't need the same about of sugar as you only have maybe double the amount of headspace to fill, same concept as carbing a keg with sugar.

 

[bosox]

SOrry, not main fermantation, just the bottling process. The carbination part

 

[Walker]

growlers are not made for carbonating beer in. sorry but the only thing your doing wrong is using growlers instead of bottles or kegs.

You can carbonate in a flip-top growler with no problems, but the growlers that are really just big class jugs are not meant for handling pressure.

 

[humann_brewing]

Wait... are you actually FERMENTING in a sealed growler or just bottling in them? Your text above makes it sound like you are doing main fermentation in them.

oh I didn't catch that, yeah, that would be REALLY bad!

 

[zimman]

You can carbonate in a flip-top growler with no problems, but the growlers that are really just big class jugs are not meant for handling pressure.

i agree with that and i should have been more specific, i just figured he/she was using the standard cheap glass jug growlers.

thanks for correcting me on that.

 

[Walker]

i agree with that and i should have been more specific, i just figured he/she was using the standard cheap glass jug growlers.

thanks for correcting me on that.

No problem. Not picking on you. Lots of folks assume that a growler is a growler is a growler....

But, this:

and this:

are very different beasts.

 

[robtotten]

What about the gallon wine jugs that cheap wine come in like Carlos Rossi? Would that work with a bung and an airlock?

 

[Yooper]

What about the gallon wine jugs that cheap wine come in like Carlos Rossi? Would that work with a bung and an airlock?

For fermenting, yes. You'd be using an airlock to release any pressure built up during fermentation. For bottling and carbonating, no. Those vessels are not designed to hold pressure. If you cap it tightly and prime, as for carbonating, they will blow up.

I use them all the time for making one gallon batches of wine.