GrowlerWerks uKeg Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Maker, 50 oz, Black Chrome

Not much of a regular coffee drinker except that I love Starbucks’ Nitro Cold Brew - this is the one coffee anything I drink. During the current pandemic and need to quarantine, it’s impossible for me to go to Starbucks daily so I searched for options. When I first starting my search, I wasn’t even sure that something like this even existed but IT DOES! This GrowlerWerks Nitro Coffee Maker is the best pandemic purchase I’ve made. Very easy to use and clean. In fact, I look forward to steeping fresh coffee every few days. Yes, every few days. While the description states that this keg makes 20 cups, I’m used to a 12-15 oz cup. The keg works flawlessly and produces the perfect amount of cascade - frothy, milky layer that sinks from top to bottom. But what I enjoy most about this new toy is trying different types of course ground beans to find the percent flavors. Unless you already have a favorite cold brew coffee or combination of beans, it will take time finding the flavor combination that gives you taste you ultimately want - it’s an adventure!

I've worked in the coffee industry for a +10 years. I love when a company creates a machine that allows me to enjoy my favorites in-home. What I enjoyed: 1. Sleek Design I love the black chrome finish; I'm not bougie, but it sure does look nice in my fridge. On that note, it fits in the fridge, which means it's surprisingly compact. The valves and gauges are user-friendly. 2. Frothy, Delicious Pour I used a single-origin Ethiopian bean for my first batch. I prefer African beans, as the have a bright, floral finish that lends itself to the quintessential crispness of iced coffee. The pour was super frothy at first, but the nitro-bubbles relaxed leaving a perfectly foamy head. Delightfully creamy mouthfeel. 3. Simple Instructions It is a several step process before you enjoy the nitro-infused goodness, but the instructions are easy to follow. 4. Overall... it's great My personal take is, we enjoy our food more when we have a relationship to it. Being a coffee dork, I like getting into the process of creating unique flavors, textures, and artisanal/foodie experiences. This GrowlerWerks product scratches my itch for both the art and science of making really freaking good cold brew.

I’m new to nitro cold brew, after failing to follow instructions on my first go at brewing I made several mistakes. In my first attempt I brewed coffee, refrigerated it for a few hours and poured it from my french press still lukewarm into the uKeg and infused the nitro without shaking. Afterword I realized that I went too light quantity wise on the coffee and went too light with the roast as well as not infusing it long enough or correctly and lastly failed to get the brew cold enough. In my second attempt I utilized the provided coffee bags directly in the uKeg with a good dark roast, refrigerated overnight, infused in the morning by shaking for two minutes, moved the dial to pour and bam! My cold brew was a dead ringer if not better than the Starbucks nitro I’ve tried. The creamy smooth texture, taste and feel were perfect. Also once prepped and kept refrigerated on pressure the brew lasted me and my partner over a week. In short, I found this to be an easy way to make high quality nitro cold brew coffee! I’m hooked on my uKeg nitro cold brew maker!

Works good. Be careful when adding nitro to infuse, especially if you just washed everything. You'll get ice that jams it up once it infuses, and you'll get low pressure. If that happens, shut the flow off the cap, slowly depressurize the cap, then pull it off and rinse it under 120° water. When it warms up, put it back in and do the infuse again, then it'll be okay. Best bet, dry it well and move the dial to infuse slowly so you don't risk ice. Also, I had to tighten the upper neck when I first got it. It was loose enough that the tap would move if you bumped it. UPDATE: I find the best solution is to leave it in the fridge on infuse for at least an hour, then pull it out, set it on the countertop, set the dial to pour, and you'll be good. Previously I kept it in the fridge until empty, and the pressure would drop too low to get nitro after the first pour or two. Leaving it on the countertop makes a huge difference. it definitely gives more nitro that way.. Also, their customer service has been excellent and responsive to any issues that I have had. I had cartridges that kept hissing even with the sleeve tightened up. If that happens to you, make sure the sleeve plug is fully inserted by pressing on the center with your finger. It should be noticeably concave and may start wedging itself out over time. It took a few months for this to happen and may have been my fault while pushing in a paper towel to dry the sleeve after rinsing it. Based on their customer service alone, I'd recommend it, but it does take a while to get a solid routine so you get a consistent nitro pour.

i saw a friend had this the other day. i tried it myself and love it very much. some tips to use this: 1. it takes 16 gram cartilage. they are hard to find and cost more. most you see n2o cartilage for sale are made for whipping cream dispensers. those do not list their weight are either 2 , 4 or 8 grams version. 2. this keg takes internal cartilage. once inserted, you can add more pressure. so you have use the 16 g cartilage for a single batch. 3. shake it hard! turn the knob on infused and shake the devils out it! you will get a very nice head when pouring the brew out. 4. make a large batch of the cold brew. 1/2 gallons at a time. use very coarse grinds possible about 148 grams of coffee add 7 cups of cold filtered water. brew for 12 hours in frig. filter the coffee after with fine mesh to remove any grains. add the brew into the keg, add the gas. close the lid. store in frig and let it in fuses for over 10 hours. shake it and serve!

I cannot believe that I did not find out until I opened up this package that I did not come with everything needed to make the cold brew coffee. I am not sure if it said anywhere in the description to be honest however you would think that would become an obvious thing to tell people when they're ordering this for the first time. This is like ordering a cell phone and not having the charging cable included. I fully expected to have one or two of these cartridges inside not a piece of paper telling me that per their own policy that they made up themselves that did not disclose to me upon doing an order that there were no cartridges. So now I have to wait God knows how long to get the cartridges delivered to me before I can even attempt to review this. I am seriously considering returning this product not because of the craftsmanship but because of the lazy marketing and lack of foresight to advise this or should I say disclose this fact to their customers that they do not include cartridges. to say that I am one unhappy customer is an understatement this was a Christmas gift!!!!! Edit after using this crap for 3 days. So I followed the instructions, bought the (overpriced) nitro cartridges. Had to wait for a replacement part as it had NO top cap to it. So I did what they say, coarse grind, let it cold brew for over 24 hours (26 to be exact) then installed the nitro, set to infuse and shaked it for 60 secs. Then let it wait for 2 hours more to "infuse". What did I get? cold coffee with no nitro gas infused at all. This is a pure scam piece of crap item that I will be promptly returning for a refund

And I still prefer Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew. Unfortunately, this product never really panned out how I hoped it would. I can say it pretty much works as designed. It infuses your cold brew with nitrogen. Exactly as advertised. However, I have three issues. Not all of the issues lie with the product. 1) Hardware - The product is beautiful and for the most part well made. The one place I've run into an issue is the part of the machine that punctures the nitrogen cartridge. The first time I screwed in a nitrogen cartridge there was a brief puff of nitrogen, exactly as advertised in the documentation. Since then I've made about 10 batches and each time more nitrogen seems to leak out. Not sure where the fault lies, but something isn't working quite right. 2) Costs - The product is reasonably priced considering the quality. But you have to factor in the additional costs of the nitrogen cartridges (ordered from GrowlerWerks) and your cold brew coffee of choice. There are ways to bulk buy the cartridges and coffee to reduce costs, but cold brew requires a lot of coffee. 3) Output - My last ding isn't really against any one thing. It's a combination of things (brand of coffee, brewing, nitrogen infusion process, etc) that have led me to the conclusion that I prefer Starbucks product. I was not fully successful in imitating their product. Close perhaps. But not 100%.

My husband and I are fans of the UKeg beer growler, so we recently purchased this product to give it a try. Right out of the box, it's obvious it's well made. And did I mention, beautiful? We both love cold brew coffee and have missed being able to grab a cup at our local coffee shop. In a COVID world, it's nice that we can now enjoy a cup of nitro cold brew again without leaving our house. And it’s so easy to use! On our first go, we only tried ¾ of a cup of coffee and were a bit too excited to wait the full 24 hours, so it was a bit weak for us (though it still tasted great). For the second attempt we followed the tip listed in the how-to guide) of using 1 cup of coffee with at least 24 hours of steeping. It was perfect. Highly recommend. On top of being fun to use it’s a great accessory in our kitchen. This would also make an excellent gift!