"A year ago we had just started filling this brewery space" said Sun King Brewer/Owner Clay Robinson as he displayed the workings of the brewery's new canning system, "and it's crazy to think at where we're at now."
The meteoric rise of Sun King continues with the addition of an automated canning system that should help the brewery get its beer on local liquor store shelves by mid to late March.
Many craft breweries are still small batch bottle processing, a slow and tedious process that involves touching each and every bottle that goes out the door. Sun King's new canning system is capable of maximum speeds of 18 16oz cans per minute - or somewhere between 60 - 70 cases per hour.
What this means is that you can expect the beer in even more locations. "This enables us to sell the beer to folks who may not have a spare tap line available" said Robinson.
One potential problem with canning versus bottling is that pre-printed cans must be bought in bulk - a costly initial investment that can hamper diversity of product. Sun King plans to start their canning with their most popular styles - Cream Ale and Osiris Pale Ale - and see how the demand shakes out.
"One of the reasons we went with this machine is that it allows for different can sizes" said Sun King Process Engineer Michael Pearson. "So if we want to do one-off runs of bigger beers in bigger cans, or smaller cans, or anything like that, we have the ability."
Another option the brewery is looking into is a shrink-wrap type label that would allow for in-house labeling of blank cans. This would allow for cost-effective smaller batch or one-off varieties.
Robinson noted that he has already been in talks with 8 to 12 local liquors stores, with names local craft beer fans are familiar with - Mass Ave Wine Shop, Vine and Table, Goose the Market, Crown Liquors and Kahn's were just a few mentioned - so the beer should be available all over the city. That's a good thing, because initial taste tests proved that the beer out of a can is a tasty and wonderful thing. Considering Sun King's success, we wouldn't expect anything less.
It is exciting to see craft brewers fighting the stereotype that canned beers are cheap beers (both in price and quality). As we all know, canned beers are like mini-kegs and provide better protection for the craft beer inside.
Great Crescent Brewery is the next Indiana brewery to take up the charge of canned craft beer. Dan and Lani Valas have been looking at canning for a while. And they are close to putting the beers out for purchase.
The biggest challenge with canning is the cost of materials. There is a minimum purchase for each can design. For multiple designs, this can be prohibitively expensive. But breweries like Great Crescent are finding ways around it. Similar to Sun King's customizable can, Great Crescent has one can design. The cans will be filled with various beers and have a small label affixed to identify them. Each label has to be individually approved, but the hassle and cost involved is much better than the cost of printing cans for each individual beer.
Dan is starting with a manual canning machine. "We are using a CASK 2-head manual filler with a motorized single seamer. The cans get filled by hand and are then moved to the seamer, go through a rinse and then get the 4-pack rings applied. We are waiting on some trays to package the 4-packs in and then we will be ready to go. I don't have an arrival date on the trays, so I can't tell you exactly when we will start getting the cans out for sale. We're not sure which beer will be first in the cans, but it will likely be several styles to out with the first deliveries."
So far, six beers have received label approval with the federal government: Blonde, IPA, Mild Ale, Dark Lager, Stout, and Coconut Porter. I know several people that will be looking forward to having cans of Coconut Porter in their beer fridge.
