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Brewing Topics => Brewing Discussion => Topic started by: kw642 on November 24, 2018, 06:08:10 AM
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I've been extract brewing for only a couple of months now, and so far I've been using only 341ml, 500ml, and 650ml bottles. I have a few growlers kicking around in my basement, can I use those? I've been told that priming a growler will result in a beer explosion. Also, I assume that using something with a threaded cap will require CO2?
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It's definitely not recommended. Growlers aren't really built for the pressure of carbonating. At 70 Degrees F, carbonating a beer to 2.5 Volumes (pretty standard) would generate roughly 30PSI. The large surface and thin walls of MOST growlers aren't made for that.
If you had CO2 and a regulator, they make carbonating caps, these could be used to force carbonate at lower temps, to carbonate to the same volume at 34F would only be 9-10PSI.
TL;DR If its a super sturdy growler, give it a try in a place it can explode without ruining anything! if not, don't.
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I've done it with lower carbed drinks like cider.
But I've always had it in a "secondary container" like a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.
Was in a pinch. Dropped and broke 12 bottles in a box once the bottling was underway.
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Since someone drug this back up, I'd like to post that I have a conditioning chamber i use. It's a 55g food grade hdpe barrel with a seal-able/removable lid. I can fit a few cases in there. I have a hole in the top where i drop a couple temp probes and run heating elements with. This allows me to condition at a consistent temperature and not ever have to worry about a bottle bomb ruining anything.
If you had growlers you could do something similar to contain any potential explosions.
That being said, i bottle condition VERY infrequently. I would assume if one brewed a lot, they may run out of space in a setup like this, however i think most bottle bombs occur pretty quickly, so as long as you had perhaps 3-4 weeks to condition you'd probably be safe to remove and store in a cool place.