Tubes for filling growlers?

[MikeRoy]

I can't seem to locate a good tube that fits are faucets that doesn't split apart at the end. What does everyone use to fill growlers from the tap and where do they source it from?

[RobZamites]

*shrug*
Me, either. All ours are split/stretched-to-hell. I tried finding a tube o.d. that would shove tightly into the faucet, but that was a bust too. The brewer that invents a perfectly sized and functional growler filler will become as a god! :D

Rob

[leftnutbrown]

I have always used a 6 or 7 inch piece on ½ inch vinyl beverage tubing. I buy in from Micro Matic, but I sure there are other sources for that type of tubing. The hoses do wear out, but it is an easy replacement.

[lhall]

Two things:

Get better faucets for your draft tower. The new Perlick stainless faucets have a tapered nozzle that holds a hose perfectly, and there are no vent holes to spray beer over you. They stay clean much longer, no mold buildup around vent holes.

Hoses: we use a piece of 3/8" beer line, with a short piece of 1/2" tubing over the end of that hose that fits up on the tapered end of the stainless faucets.

Our growler record is 131 growlers filled in four hours, on a six-head tower. Anyone top that?

[Beersmith]

We use 1/2 id food grade vinyl tubing as well - works great! However, the reason is probably the faucet and not the tubing. We use Perlick stainless faucets - they have a flow straightener on the end. The straightener is tapered which conveniently makes for a great tubing fit. Easy on/off, the Perlick faucet and 1/2 id tubing combo really works well for us, and we average about 300 growler fills per week. Stainless One faucets work great too, but I am not sure they are still being made. I think any model with a tapered spout should work great.

[Beersmith]

Linus and I must have been posting simultaneously! And yes, we have filled over 250 1/2 gallon growlers in a five hour period, on a 4 faucet system. The day before Thanksgiving, its always our best growler day of the year!

[Sir Brewsalot]

Those pesky vent holes do make a mess. I've taken to a brute-force method of cobra head faucets which recieve a piece of tubing very nicely...but my whole operation is kinda brute force.

Scott

[damoller]

I have always used tubing that fit on the inside of the draft faucet!

[Sauce]

heh, I'll never forget trying to make a counter pressure (sans co2 flush) contraption for growler filling.....just a rubber stopper for the growler with two holes, one with a hose going into the growler bottom connecting to the fawcet, the other with a small plastic ball valve to regulate the air leaving the growler.......only took one test run, gotta nice spray of beer right in my face;-) I didnt take into consideration the vent on front of a standard fawcet....oh well

hmmm.....might actually work with the new perlicks....


JackK

[Valleybrew]

The new tapered tap faucets are definately the ticket. I just use two pieces of clear beer hose. The ID of the first one is slightly larger than the tap faucet diameter and about 3 inches long. I put an adjustable hose clamp in the middle of it and then slightly tighten it until it slides onto the tap faucet but fits tightly when it meets the clamped section. The second piece is about 10 inches long (enough to reach bottom of growler) and has an OD just big enough to not quite slip into the other shorter piece. It needs to be a tight fit. Heat the bigger piece in hot water and the chill thinner hose in ice water and then slip them together and they will adhere together quite well when at the same temp. I'm not sure of the exact tube dimensions. They are cheap and easy to make and a hell of a lot cheaper than the ones that Rapids Dist. sells. :D

[colin kaminski]

I was at Silverado Brewing in Saint Helena, CA the other day and the bartender hooked the hose to the spray wand on the espresso machine and ran steem through it for about 15 seconds before filling my beer in a box. It was a nice touch.

[beerkeep]

We have been using the grolwer filler from Rapids cost about five bucks, works great paid for it the first night we used it.

[beauxman]

Tapered faucet flow straighteners with some hose work well for me too. Wow, talk about some serious growler sales! Care to share your promotional ideas, what works best for you and how you sell so many growler fills?
-Beaux

[Todd]

Stainless One faucets are expensive up front but they will save you time and beer in the future. (NO TUBE NEEDED) ( CLEAN ) ( BEER FRIENDLY)

-Todd

[boucino]

We fill our growlers directly from the tap as most do - our problem was that the tube kept spliting. We now use this company called Maverick Machine Works (they also make our tap handles).

They incorporated a compression mount to the top of the tube and life is good. As well as the price $15.00

Here is their website with more product information.

http://www.maverickmachineworks.com/index1.html

Cheers,

Steve B.

[gabewilson50]

I was at Silverado Brewing in Saint Helena, CA the other day and the bartender hooked the hose to the spray wand on the espresso machine and ran steem through it for about 15 seconds before filling my beer in a box. It was a nice touch.

Only a good idea if the wand NEVER touches milk. If it's used for steaming milk, you're introducing lipids to your growler that will collapse your foam. Otherwise, I'd rather see the hose go into the bar dishwasher or get dipped in the bar sanitizing rinse than see it steamed with a milk wand.

[Chip D]

We use the Perlick Faucets also. We took the ends of and machined them down leaving a ridge on the end so the hose will not come off. Heat them up with hot water to get them on. Use a 3/8 ID X 3/4 OD to get the right fill height. Length is 13 3/4".

Last year we filled 150,000 growlers. We fill 720 growlers in 30 minutes with 8 faucets.

Chip DeForest
Berkshire Brewing Company

[Beersmith]

WOW! Chip, that is some serious growlerage! I will never whine about a 200 growler day again.

[beauxman]

Holy crap! What kind of market are you in and how do you sell that many growler fills? Over 2400 BBLS of growler fills in a year? 17 growlers per hour every day of the year? 3 growlers per minute per faucet? I would say you hold the world record for growler fills.
-Beaux

[sudsy]

Here's a link to an inexpensive growler filling tube:
http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?productid=18982&cat=394&page=1

[Sir Brewsalot]

Good God that's impressive. At those rates, a dedicated/automated packaging line might be more effective, but it doesn't sound like it's slowing you down either way.

I assume you're not filling from kegs, but a serving tank? All those keg changes would seriously slow things down.

We took the ends of and machined them down leaving a ridge on the end so the hose will not come off.

So, did the machining leave a burr along the edge, or was it something more significant? Photo would be VERY helpful... we usually just retire the piece of tubing when it loses it's grip on the faucet.

Cheers,
Scott

[MickDuffs]

My brother came up with a filler that works great for us. We use S/S Perlick valve seat forward faucets. We took a stainless dip tube from a corny keg and cut it to the length of a growler. We unscrew the Perlick spout and we slide the corny dip tube into the spout along with a corny dip tube "O" ring. The flare on the dip tube fits the spout perfectly. Then we screw the spout/tube onto the faucet and fill the growler. It works great if you have enough room between the faucet and the drip tray. If you use Perlick faucets like ours you should give it a try. I will attach some pictures to help explain it.

Cheers,

Mickey Mahoney -MickDuff's Brewing Co.

[pbjbrew]

I think that it's an amazing accomplishment to fill 150,000 growlers in a year, but I think it should be noted that Berkshire Brewing is filling them assembly line-style (but by hand) in the back of the brewery to distribute to outside accounts. They aren't being sold to waiting customers in a tap room. It's even more impressive that they fill 22 oz bombers the same way - directly from taps mounted on jockey boxes, with a volunteer bottling crew. According to their website they've filled 90 cases in 47 minutes. I wish I could get my paid crew to work half that hard :rolleyes: