West Coast Brewer Home Brewing Blog

Tag: growler

Growlers for your home brew!

Growlers

Growlers for your home brewed beer.

 

So you brewed an incredible pale ale and now it is time to share it with some friends.  If you are anything like me you are too lazy to clean and sanitize 40 bottles each time you brew a new batch of beer so you keg; but a keg is a pain to transport, what to do, what to do.  The answer is a growler!  Most beer growlers hold half a US gallon or 64 ounces, some are a bit larger and there are also 32 oz half growlers.

 

Typically what I do is if I go to a brewery that I really like I will pick up a growler of their beer and just re-use those growlers for my home brew as well.  That way if I am heading to an event, going on a camping trip or a buddy wants some beer to bring home I have several available.  I recently also purchased a couple of really nice stainless steel growlers.  I like them because they are nearly indestructible, has a cap that you never need to replace and is also far more compact then a typical growler yet still holds 64 ounces.  It also looks like a miniature keg which I also like.

 

Stainless Steel Mini Keg Home Brew Growler

Mini Keg Growler

 You can find these stainless steel mini keg growlers for purchase here

 

Stainless steel mini keg growler!

Stainless Steel Mini Keg Growler

Stainless Steel Mini Keg Growler

 

Have I found the worlds best growler?

When I first viewed this stainless steel mini keg growler online I was not too sure what to think.  My initial thought was that it was just another way for a home brewing supplies to get another $35 of my dollars.  I needed to buy something else in order to qualify for free shipping and this looked interesting so I thought what the heck, I will give it a shot.

 

My stainless steel mini keg growler arrived about 2 weeks ago and when I first saw it and the small box that it came in I started regretting my purchase.  The box was so small in comparison to a traditional glass growler that I figured I would be lucky if this new growler held 2 pints, but thankfully I was wrong.  One of the best parts of this stainless steel growler is that the walls of it are so much thinner than a glass growler that it can be much more compact but still hold the same amount of beer.  Best of all if I were to drop this mini keg growler, I might dent it but not shatter into 10,000 glass shards like a regular growler.

 

Since buying this mini keg growler I have already used it on 2 separate occasions and everyone who sees it has expressed how great they think the design is.  When I walked in with it I think I think people initially thought I was transporting uranium but when I came a little closer they could see that it was a miniature keg and could not wait to try the beer.  Another thing that I really like about it is the lid.  The cap is also made of stainless steel, it is very sturdy with an o-ring at the top of it that holds a perfect and air tight seal.  The cap is just about indestructible, easy to clean and should never need to be replaced as opposed to a standard growler cap.

 

If I had to find a problem with this stainless steel mini keg growler, I suppose that it would be that it does a poor job of retaining its cold.  Since you can just keep it in a fridge or a cooler, that is a really small issue in comparison to all of the benefits that it brings.  Overall this has to be my favorite growler that I own and I would highly recommend it.  It is also a great gift idea for the home brewer that already has everything.

 

The stainless steel mini keg growler can be purchased here:

Click here for the stainless steel mini growler

Growler

Growlers are large capacity beer containers that are typically made of glass, ceramic, or stainless steel. In the late 1990s, growlers began gaining in popularity at craft breweries and brewpubs as an easy way for patrons to take beer home when traditional bottling was not a reasonable option. A typical growler holds 64 or 68 fluid ounces, but they come in a variety of sizes. The top of the growler creates an airtight seal using either a screw cap or a hinge/latch style cap and can keep beer fresh for over a week if maintained properly.

Below is an example of five different styles of beer growlers: a ceramic Widmer Gasthaus growler, a Deschutes latch top glass growler, a small screw top glass growler, a Russian River latch top circular growler, and a Firestone large screw top growler.

An example of 5 different beer growlers

An example of five different beer growlers.