Washing Growlers

[WitsEnd]

I'm looking for some ideas, thoughts, and suggestions for washing growlers.

First off - do you wash at all? I'm a bit anal when it comes to cleanliness and store all my personal growlers clean and sanitized, so filling a growler without at least a sanitizer rinse makes me nervous.

Second, any good (cheap and easy) setups to give a quick rinse?

I'm a small nano starting my build-out, so any equipment setup I can do now will help. I will have a 3 compartment sink a few steps away from the retail counter (not really a bar), but not immediately within reach, due to where my plumbing is being run.

[troybinso]

A jet washer attached to a faucet with hot water washes it out pretty well, and then a dip in sanitizer. Or one of those homebrew bottle rinsers works pretty well for sanitizer. I guess it depends on how many you need to wash and sanitize, and how fast you need to get it done.

[Brewtopian]

Check this out.

http://www.amazon.com/Jet-Carboy-Bot...9441204&sr=8-3

[WitsEnd]

Check this out.

http://www.amazon.com/Jet-Carboy-Bot...9441204&sr=8-3

Is that what you use? Just a blast of hot water?
I got burned on a couple of batches of homebrew thinking that bottle washer could take the place of cleaning. I can assure you it does not.

[Brewtopian]

No, if you're looking to sanitize for homebrew then you need to use a sanitizing solution. A bleach water solution and air dry is what I use but for just rinsing a growler for a fill we use a rinser like the one I linked.

Here's a handy little thing for helping with the air drying. http://growlercollar.com/

[almalkin]

You might want to check with your local health department, as they may have certain requirements for cleaning and refilling containers.

[WitsEnd]

... for a fill we use a rinser like the one I linked.

Is a short shelf life assumed, then? I guess if someone knows to drink it within a week or so, there wouldn't be much of an issue as long as the O2 pickup was low. Perhaps I should be more concerned with a CO2 purge than a clean/sanitize cycle.

You might want to check with your local health department, as they may have certain requirements for cleaning and refilling containers.

Luckily, I fall under Dept of Ag, not Dept of Health in my state. The person I spoke with wasn't too concerned when I said that the customer would be bringing the growler in and it would be filled on-demand. I would imagine there would be a greater concern if it was a pre-filled condition (as with the TTB).

[Brewtopian]

We instruct our customers to drink their growler within a day or two, three tops.

Our health dept. hasn't addressed refilled containers at this point.

[TripelD]

We put our returned growlers through a 5 step cleaning process before refilling and sending back out. We avoid filling on demand at the tavern and exchange for fresh growlers if possible depending on inventory.

[ChesterBrew]

In most of the places I've been in this area, it's generally assumed that people are supposed to be bringing their growlers back in already washed out and clean. When that doesn't happen, the bar server does do a quick clean out of it on a bottle washer like shown above, but the customer is also reminded that they should clean their growler out before coming into the brewpub.

[iscorice]

In California you are technically not allowed to refill per the trade enforcement. you are "technically" supposed to give back a different cleaned and filled one per trade enforcement.

[WitsEnd]

We can refill on the spot in MN. There are no regulations other than it must be your own growler and it must be a 64 oz growler. I really like the idea of the 32 oz growlers, however. May need to work on that one.

[CDangerBrew]

I also like that idea Patrick! We always exchange for a fresh growler, we usually end up hand washing 50 or so growlers a week. Time consuming, but worth the effort in my opinion. The last thing you want is to fill a dirty growler, and have someone go home and share it with a neighbor. Growler washing can be a good job for volunteers, the expression "will work for beer" comes to mind. Congrats on the kickstarter!

[WitsEnd]

I'm definitely nervous about a dirty growler being shared with someone, but I really like the idea of people taking ownership of their growlers. I would think a quick shot of sanitizer in a white container would both give a bit of insurance and quickly reveal any growlers not properly cared for. It'd be easy to grab the bucket and say, "here's what I rinsed out of your growler" and suggest they buy a pint while they wait for the growler to be cleaned.
I'm working on a modification of this: http://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Rinser-.../dp/B0064ODV1Q

I'm also working on a good "use and care" description for the back to help this. Simple and clear instructions on how to make the most of your beer transporter.

I can do it, but I'd much rather have the option to crack open a QT than a growler for an evening.
Plus, then you can sell a 4 pack of QT's for slightly higher margin.

[WitsEnd]

Any other ideas or options out there for cleaning/filling growlers? Looks like the easiest way is to get one of those Jet washers with hot water, then a sanitizer rinse with a modified homebrew bottle tree rinser.