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Growler Filling ends up flat

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jamursch

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Jan 25, 2012
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Ive filled 2 growlers now and they both have been flat? I'm using a tube I jam into my tap and it's probably 2.5 ft long. I even froze the growler before I filled it.

I'm dying for a beer gun but I shouldn't need it to fill a growler!
 
i have only recently had success with bottling from my kegs. and i also add not making a total mess with beer foam and having to go back three times and top off to the success part. I keep a keg at 36 degrees with my reg turned up to 18 psi for about a week, i chill the bottles for a day in the freezer, and i blow off pressure and fill at 3-5 psi when i bottle. I also use a beer gun that has about ten feet of hose on it- but i know a lot of people use the cobra tap/racking cane and bung method (i apparently suck at it). when i quick bottle from the tap- i use soda bottles and have one of those posted cappers to top and tighten the bottle with co2. i like carbonation, so maybe i'm a little biased- but i get growlers lots of times from pubs that i think taste flat unless i drink them in the parking lot.
 
Are you reducing the pressure when you fill the growler? Is it flat immediately, or does it take a few hours? Are you getting lots of foaming?

If you're getting foaming when you fill, that's where you're losing the carbonation.

When you fill a growler, I'd suggest purging the keg and resetting at 2 psi, or just enough gas to push the beer. Cap immediately on a little foam, and you should stay carbonated at least a day or two.
 
This is how i do it. I have a 12 foot line going to a picnic tap. I take a bottle filler with spring tip, then slide a rubber stopper over it to plug the growler. The bottle filler fits the picnic tap perfect, so slide the bottle filler in the picnic tap. (be careful as you can break the picnic tap). Then I bleed the keg, open the picnic tap and slowly turn up the co2 till it starts flowing, very low psi i might hit 3psi at max. You will have to bleed the stopper as it fills, I just use my thumb to bleed it when needed. I have always done it this way and never gotten a flat growler. I know its more work than a beer gun, but its a hell of a lot cheaper too. I do the same method to bottle from the kegs for competitions, ect.
 
I fill growlers on picnic taps or faucets without an extra cane/tube/bottler/stopper/etc., and it always turns out great and usually stays decently carbed for a few days. I just turn it way down, like 2-5psi (5 is max, like if I'm in a hurry) and make sure to start the pour with the growler at a very sharp angle, probably 150*, and don't start tilting it back up until beer is about to spill out the top.

I use the racking cane and stopper method to bottle from keg, but with growlers it's unnecessary in my opinion.
 
Yeah. It was foaming like mad when I was filling it. I turned the psi down to about 5 and bleed the pressure on the keg. The beer was flat when I drank it less than 2 hours later so it must be the crazy foaming when I filled it.
 
Yeah. It was foaming like mad when I was filling it. I turned the psi down to about 5 and bleed the pressure on the keg. The beer was flat when I drank it less than 2 hours later so it must be the crazy foaming when I filled it.

I think that's it :mug:
 
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