GrowlerWerks uKeg 128 CU Growler, Copper

Product Information

The basics of brewing beer, or a beer-like substance, is achieved by a grain's sugar creating a fermentation process which produces yeasts. The yeasts carbonate the substance giving beer its characteristic suds. Given the wide array of the processes, large varieties of beer existed in ancient times due to the relative ease of brewing. Other growlers can store beer under pressure, with carbon dioxide and truly airtight seals to keep oxygen at bay. These gadgets can keep beer fresh and tasty for as long as two months. This convergence of form and function potentially marks the uKeg as a game-changer in the growler landscape, positioning it as a worthy investment for both seasoned and aspiring homebrewers.

Once pressurized, the uKeg will hold bubbles for the whole time it keeps the beer fresh, thanks its keg-style tap that dispenses liquid without releasing the airtight seal. "I looooooove the GrowlerWerks uKeg," says The Spruce Eats General Manager Emma Christensen, an experienced homebrewer who's written three books on the topic. "It's easy to transport to a party or tailgating or whatever, and I also use it for carbonating things like kombucha or apple juice for DIY sparkling cider." Christensen has two uKegs of her own, both in the larger gallon size. Do I recommend the uKeg? 100% YES. This thing is bad ass. I don’t see myself using it for every batch of homebrew, but it’s perfect for special occasions. Like if I want to bring homebrew to a party or a picnic. Or when I have guests over. I’m thinking beyond homebrew, too.The most basic glass growlers offer no insulation at all—you have to store them in the fridge until you're ready to serve the beer. Others are vacuum-insulated like a Thermos and can keep cold beer cold (or hot coffee hot) for hours or even days on a camping trip. In general, better-insulated growlers are more expensive.

Size, mainly, but there's no official line marking when a growler becomes a keg. A keg is a metal container made to hold a large amount of beer. These are usually filled at the brewery and sold by distributors, mainly to bars and restaurants, but some liquor stores also sell kegs for home consumption. The huge kegs you'd find at most bars are half-barrel kegs, which hold 15.5 gallons and weigh more than 150 pounds, though there are versions with capacities down to 5 gallons or less. A growler is a more manageable size, generally at or under a gallon.The love of good beer was the start of Portland-based GrowlerWerks. As many of their favorite microbrews didn’t come in bottles, they had to come up with another way to store their brew and keep it fresh. They used their experience from engineering and product design to create the uKeg that ensures your beer always tastes exactly how the brewmaster intended. More information: This growler functions as a personal mini keg with the help of DrinkTanks' auto-regulating keg cap. All DrinkTanks growlers are fully vaccuum insulated, so you can put either hot or cold liquids in it and it will keep them piping hot (for 12 hours) or fully chilled (for 24 hours). Learn More Here interchangeable tap handle: handle can be changed to personalize or represent your favourite brewery Even though stainless steel growlers do a far better job of keeping their contents cold than do glass versions, we've kept two of the latter for those who prefer the classic appeal of amber glass. These are the Amber Glass Half Gallon and the Euro 2-Liter. The Euro model has a large metal handle, while the former do not; it's also pricier, but with a more robust lid to make up for the higher cost. The benefits of the growler are plentiful. While their popularity waxed and waned in the past century, the resurgence of home brewing and the craft beer revolution have consumers considering growlers once again. The obvious advantage is that a growler allows you to take beer on the go. If you cannot commit to purchasing a keg of beer, but you demand a large volume, this is the best option. Also, some beers are only available on draft at a brewery. This is usually because the beer is a small batch or seasonal brew. This allows the consumer to have the brewery experience outside of the establishment.

If you're going to take the time and effort required to make your own beer at home, you ought to keep that beer in pristine condition. That's what the luxury uKeg is all about, with the ability to maintain your homebrew's freshness and bubbliness for weeks. It also lets you precision-carbonate your beer by dropping in a standard CO2 canister and dialing up the pressure you want from 0 to 15 PSI. (You could use a nitrogen canister instead, for a putting a creamy head on a dark beer like a stout.) There's even a gauge on the outside of the opaque container that lets you know exactly how much brew is left. As the name suggests, it's kind of a keg in growler size.Carbonation-enabled growlers often give you control over the exact pressure of CO2, which lets you set the texture of the bubbles in the beer. A pressure of 10 to 12 PSI yields the normal level of bubbles you'd expect in a can of domestic lager, while higher pressure makes tiny, aggressive bubbles that can be more refreshing, and lower pressure makes a silkier beer. (You can also use nitrogen canisters in place of carbon dioxide to get the creamy head that's classic on a beer like Guinness.) By the early 20th century a term, “rushing the growler,” emerged to describe how children would take a growler to a bar, have it filled, and then transport it to, most often, their father’s workplace in time for lunch. Variants of this story suggest that the workers would be so hungry by the time the growlers arrived, their stomachs were “growling.”