Small Canning Machines Comparison

[Jim ComtoniKa]

Hello Everyone, this is my first post, i have a small micro in Argentine and im interested in canning my beer. Til now ive found 3 pieces of equipment that seem to be in the market for my scale, those being:

CASK SAMS / WG 100 / ABE Craft Can 15 (maybe lincan15?


CASK: Since its the brand with more machines already sold, there are many references about it. But i would like to know of someone that bought a SAMS in the last 2 years tops, to see if they improved the model. So far i would put it last in quality, lots of complaints about the seamer getting fucked up quickly, sensors that dont work and bad support.


WG (wild goose): Mixed references, mostly good. Some issues with the filler, good seamer. Again i would like to know reference from a 100 line machine bought recently to know if there were improvements in the machinery.
(Wild Goose if you read this, please get in touch with me, i already sent contact form via website).


ABE (american beer equipment): The craftcan15 looks like the most compact machine, which is a plus to me because space is very limited here. Only got 2 references of this canning lines, one of a craftcan15 and one of lincan series, both excellent reviews, they seem to be well made and good customer service. But 2 is a small number, so if theres more ppl out there with this equipments functioning please come out and give us a hint, if you know of someone that bought one please tell me and ill contact directly. This piece is not upgradeable i think, so thats against it, but i bet they are going to design some features to add to it in the future.
(ABE if you read this post please contact me, i already sent emaill form too, thanks).


My conclusion to this point is going with ABE as first option, WG second and i dont know about CASK unless i got better references.

Any insight will be much apreciated.

Javier

[WaywardOwlBeer]

Small Canning Machines Comparison

We ordered an ABE lincan 15 over the craftcan 15 simply for the upgradable features and potential to double output. I do not believe that he craftcan can be expanded(not sure). Ours will not be in operation for a couple of months but so far their communication both before and after the sale have been excellent. I'm planning on posting an update with our experience on the lincan15 once it's running for a couple months. I know that doesn't help you make you decision based on performance but after talking and negotiating with all 3 manufacturers I find ABE to be the best at communication.


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[Jim ComtoniKa]

thanks! it does help to know that someone evaluating the same options made the same choice. I havent decided yet between craftcan15 and lincan considering the upgradeability, but our budget is very limited so ill probably have to settle for the cheaper.

[Jim ComtoniKa]

Can you tell me at least aproximately the price of the lincan 15 and how much they take to deliver? They havent contacted me back yet.

Oh and do you know of some company thats running an ABE canning line?

[WaywardOwlBeer]

Small Canning Machines Comparison

It will depend on what options you choose but I would say somewhere between 50k-60k. I don't know anyone running one. When did you contact them? Typically ANY manufacturer I've sourced gear from takes 3-7 days to reply. Sometime sooner.


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[beermkr]

We have a SAMS that we put into use last year. So far it works like a charm.

I will say that the on site visit was well worth it but they have yet to respond to an email I sent them asking some questions. I was not involved in the initial purchase as I was on a "sabatical" at the time.

The machine is solid, the tech is solid, the adjustability is pretty self expanitory once you understand the concepts. I have not had any issues with the seamer at all.

Expandability is an issue. Without some custom made parts there is no upgrade path provided. I do not think automatic feeding would be a huge problem to implement. Outfeed is the same way. Not a huge problem to add a conveyor.

We get a solid 15 cans per minute with 20psi of tank pressure. The feed lines are very long and slow the fill down and I have figured that I have a six second gap between the end of seaming the last can to finishing filling the next set of three. I plan to shorten the feed lines radically and put them on a manifold to increase this speed. I heard there is a place getting almost 20 cans per minute out of it.

It was right at $40K I believe shipped here plus about 4K for the site visit.

[Gbbc]

DO NOT buy the Cask SAMS

Hi Jim,

I can speak from experience that ALL of the threads you've read about the SAMS is correct, especially the parts on nonexistent service and parts failing.

When it works, it is great, but it came at the price of allot of beer and time wasted. When we got the unit we had to fly a technician over who 'explained' how to use the unit and what to troubleshoot. Within a day from the technician leaving we had to replace sensors. A few months later a seaming chuck, a norther few weeks later some more sensors and filler valves etc. We've Replaced all the sensors with the appropriate sensors that can handle chemicals during the wash down. We had to work it out for ourselves.

I would consider the Lin 15 if I was you.

Cheers

[Jim ComtoniKa]

Thank you all for your insight!

[caskcanning]

Dedicated Service & Support Department

Earlier this year, Cask Brewing Systems set up a dedicated Service & Support phone number and email address to provide better support our Customers. This will streamline the support process by providing Customers with a single point of contact by phone and email to reach a dedicated team of Technical Representatives.

We realize that especially for some of our international customers in different time zones, in the past it has been difficult to get timely responses to support questions or have parts dispatched quickly to prevent downtime. Over the last year we have taken many steps to improve this.

If you're experiencing issues or require parts ordered, please get in touch regardless of if your system was purchased and installed by Cask or if you're running a used system.

Toll Free: +1-800-661-8443, Option #4
Direct: +1-403-640-4677, Option #4
support@cask.com

https://www.cask.com/customer-login/

[crafty]

We have been using the Craftcan15 now for almost a year. It's been trouble free. With fine tuning on the settings and a mixture of cold beer correct co2 vows and good tank psi we get a solid 25cpm.
DO pickup is constantly around 19-30ppb