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Author Topic: Can filler and seamer  (Read 18975 times)

Offline gmac

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #15 on: May 29, 2013, 08:33:34 am »
Sort of off topic, but do you sell pre-filled growlers? Is that why you submitted COLAs for them?
Yes we use growler as a bottle and filled them in the brewery. We do not fill growlers on demand. We are distributing them (growlers) in the liquor/grocery stores. We take deposit on growler. When they come back we wash/sanitize them and fill them again. People can also swap the growlers in the tap room. One disadvantage to do it this way is that growler in the tap room is the same (almost) price as in the retail. Well you would not have to do it this way but we do.

Can I mail you back my growlers and you mail them back full :) ?  Not sure when I'll be in Eau Claire again now.  I'm sure the cans will expand your business greatly.  Good luck.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #16 on: May 29, 2013, 08:33:56 am »
A craft minivan like the Mystery Machine? Or just some run of the mill minivan

Offline Pinski

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #17 on: May 29, 2013, 08:44:57 am »
A craft minivan like the Mystery Machine? Or just some run of the mill minivan

Dude, the Mystery Machine was NOT a minivan.   ;D

OK, maybe it was a MiniWinni.
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Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #18 on: May 29, 2013, 08:51:35 am »
 ;D.  Good stuff.
Jon H.

Offline gsandel

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #19 on: May 29, 2013, 09:34:39 am »
Quote
There should be a forum rule against expressing cost in terms  of minivans.
;D

I quite agree...perhaps our equivelant monitary system should be in something valuable (unlike Mini vans) like "1/2bbl stainless conicals"...
You wouldn't believe the things I've seen...

Offline euge

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #20 on: May 29, 2013, 09:49:46 am »
I think it would be logical to price them in terms of kegs. Perhaps something like "it cost me [the equivalent of] 400 kegs..."
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Offline edvinjonsson

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #21 on: May 29, 2013, 10:22:08 am »
Can I ask the approximate cost difference between the MC-50 and the MC-100 (with conveyor/lid dropper/seamer)?

Is that against forum rules?
Price of MC-50 is about one new minivan. Price of MC-100 is twice as much. Do not forget suppy (cans, lids, plates making, binders and trays) that is about another minivan.

But similar would go for bottling line. Moheen filler is about tvo minivans then you need labeled and supply.
Anyway you look into it it cost arm and leg.

You also have to get a buttload of cans don't you? Who do you get them from?

Awesome cans btw!

Offline bluesman

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #22 on: May 29, 2013, 10:37:15 am »
Movin' on up Leos!  Very nice can design. :)

So...How many mini-vans away from being able to buy your beer in Delaware? ;)

Congrats!
Ron Price

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #23 on: May 29, 2013, 01:34:43 pm »
Movin' on up Leos!  Very nice can design. :)

So...How many mini-vans away from being able to buy your beer in Delaware? ;)

Congrats!
Ron,
You have to take a road trip to get my beer. I am not planning on shipping out of state. I think I can do quite well within the state. New Glarus is the example.
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #24 on: May 29, 2013, 01:37:35 pm »
Can I ask the approximate cost difference between the MC-50 and the MC-100 (with conveyor/lid dropper/seamer)?

Is that against forum rules?
Price of MC-50 is about one new minivan. Price of MC-100 is twice as much. Do not forget suppy (cans, lids, plates making, binders and trays) that is about another minivan.

But similar would go for bottling line. Moheen filler is about tvo minivans then you need labeled and supply.
Anyway you look into it it cost arm and leg.

You also have to get a buttload of cans don't you? Who do you get them from?

Awesome cans btw!

My minimum is 8 pallets on cans and one pallet on lids. Lids will kill you thou.

In bottle market you also have minimums on six packs and mother cartons, labels and everybody wants to sell you truckload of bottles.
Na Zdravie

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Offline edvinjonsson

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #25 on: May 29, 2013, 02:47:00 pm »

You also have to get a buttload of cans don't you? Who do you get them from?

Awesome cans btw!

My minimum is 8 pallets on cans and one pallet on lids. Lids will kill you thou.

In bottle market you also have minimums on six packs and mother cartons, labels and everybody wants to sell you truckload of bottles.

8 Pallets is not that bad for printed cans, I thought you had to get a truckload. Does wild goose supply the cans too ?

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #26 on: May 29, 2013, 03:11:21 pm »
No you buy them direct from supplier.
I think you can even buy Balls cans if you wanted to.
I used Crowns.
Na Zdravie

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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #27 on: May 29, 2013, 03:21:34 pm »
Out of pure curiosity, is there a manual canner for sub-nano brewer? Or a better question would be, how many cases of bottles (production level) until switching to cans makes sense?

Offline a10t2

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #28 on: May 29, 2013, 05:37:24 pm »
Out of pure curiosity, is there a manual canner for sub-nano brewer?

There's no such thing as a truly "manual" canner. The seaming is a fairly complicated operation and there's really no way around that. I guess that at really tiny volumes you could fill the cans using a simple siphon setup and then seam them, but most people seem to end up with Ball's Cask's two-head filler. Until Wild Goose came on the market, anyway. I guess we'll see what happens now.

Or a better question would be, how many cases of bottles (production level) until switching to cans makes sense?

Economically, a semi-automated canning setup is actually less expensive than bottling, in both capital and per-unit costs. The two Ball Cask units, gently used, sell for about half a minivan 500 millivans.
« Last Edit: May 29, 2013, 08:17:09 pm by a10t2 »
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Offline gmac

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Re: Can filler and seamer
« Reply #29 on: May 29, 2013, 06:56:00 pm »
Out of pure curiosity, is there a manual canner for sub-nano brewer?

There's no such thing as a truly "manual" canner. The seaming is a fairly complicated operation and there's really no way around that. I guess that at really tiny volumes you could fill the cans using a simple siphon setup and then seam them, but most people seem to end up with Ball's two-head filler. Until Wild Goose came on the market, anyway. I guess we'll see what happens now.

Or a better question would be, how many cases of bottles (production level) until switching to cans makes sense?

Economically, a semi-automated canning setup is actually less expensive than bottling, in both capital and per-unit costs. The two Ball units, gently used, sell for about half a minivan.

I had another thread going on a manual canner that I have a line on.  Still wish I could make it work but really, as Sean already told me, the seamer is the key and my guy won't sell me just the seamer.  The used system is 3 times the cube root of 1/2 of 1/3 of a mini-van squared / 2 minivans (-456*the average annual rain fall in cubic centiliters).  Of course, these are Canadian mini-vans so you'd have to factor in the exchange rate (1 minivan = 2 1984 Ford F-150)