The Cons of Cans...

[triple]

Bottles and Cans

The 6-head canning line is on the way.

I'm excited about it.


But I'm expecting some resistance from the market. (We're still going to package in 12 and 22-oz bottles -- restaurants don't seem to want to hear about the superiority of cans.)

What I'd like to know, in what ways are bottles better than cans? Most cans have a lining that contains BPA. We're spending extra for cans that are BPA-free. So they can't use that excuse.

Anything else I'm not thinking of?

My 2 cents.


Canned beer has a longer shelf life.
Canned beer can be sold in venues where bottles are not allowed. Ball parks etc.
Canned recycling is more efficient.

Bottle cleaning is more expensive.
Stacking of pallets is not recommended. More plant floor space for cans.
They break and can contaminate the filling process.

[liammckenna]

Canned beer has a longer shelf life.

Bottle cleaning is more expensive.
.

Most large brewers I speak with actually have a shorter shelf life on cans. Even on a high tech, high speed canning system, the O2 pick up in packaging can be staggering. This is a factor of magnitude worse on primitive canning lines I often see at microbreweries. ther is obviously a huge surface area of exposed beer on a can compared to a foaming bottle neck. Some of the most atrocious beer I have ever had has been in cans. Obviously not what the brewer intended.

Bottle cleaning is not cheap. But neither is bauxite mining in the third world, especially in human and environmental costs. Nor is the cost of the pollution created by burning plastic (liners in cans entering a blast furnace)...but hey , why not externalize those costs and hand them to your grandchildren to deal with...

[triple]

Lid dispenser magazine

Hey Mike,

Would you jot down a list of the main things you have modified to decrease O2?

Stuff like "changed stock gizmo with ABC company gizmo, used such-and-such regulator with XX PSI, etc."

We're going to have the Cask guys down next month setting up the system, and I'd like to talk with them about it while they're here.

I'd ask you to PM it, but I have a feeling a lot of people will want this info.

The Cask Lid dispenser on our Cask 5 head machine was prone to missing a lid now and then. If you remove a can from the line between the filler and seamer, it loses it's count. we modified the program and added a proximity to keep lids in the magazine full at all times. It solved that issue.

The Dryer section on our machine was a filtered plant air blow off. If a can gets past the seamer without a lid. (and it will happen) the air would blow beer all over the cans in the line causing a real mess for the packaging. We added a proximity to detect a missing lid and cancelled the blow off for that can.

We made a few program changes to these issues and some other HMI issues.

Keep a few extra Seamer bearings in stock. Use only Double sealed bearings. Shielded bearings will not work. Keep an eye on your seam tolerances on a regular basis to determine bearing wear.

[petebearvalley]

For all you plastic lickers out there.

Or those who like beer in cans.

You might want to think about this.

Beer in plastic...yech.

Pax.

Liam

It comes down to which research you want to believe.

Do you want to believe the government? And by the way, this is the same government that says roundup weed killer is perfectly safe for human consumption.

http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/cons.../ucm297954.htm

Or do you want to believe the independent studies that the government has invalidated?

http://www.naturalnews.com/BPA.html

I guess that is up to each individual.