21st A took the plunge into canning; I have no doubt that the products will be damned good. This is a well-run business – opened just ahead of the dot-com bust & survived! They knew going in that they’d have 85-100 “heavy” days/year from events at 24 Willie Mays Plaza guaranteed. Further, they got a full liquor license to cater to the “fad” cocktail freaks, plus those who like a nice “chaser” (cognac/single-malt scotch/high-end whiskey) after a few pints. Unlike Pyramid & other brewpub chains ruled by the corporate “beancounters” & “marketing experts”, they’re more able to react to the local scene & adapt more quickly. Their menu always has mixed reaonably-priced “pub grub” with “trendy” food, but with nowhere near the changes I’ve seen at Pyramid Berkeley the last 7 yrs. Bottom line: Profit on food is bonus – the big $$ margin is in the liquids, & 21st A has the variety to serve anyone.

Our two-head canning system is indeed manual and it does require labor. However, the terms “labor intensive” and “slow” are thoroughly relative ones — two people operating our canning line can produce 20 cases per hour of finished beer. That would be 150 cases of beer canned in an eight hour day. No bottling equipment we have used could come close to this volume and no system that could go any faster than this small canning system would fit into our tiny brewery. On your site, you show a video of the entire process and most viewers would agree it is surprisingly quick.

Regarding air levels, Jackie Chan’s comment, “The air-levels will not come close to that of a real canner (or even a good bottler)” is just plain completely wrong. The equipment manufacturer, Cask Brewing of Alberta, Canada, sent beer samples to the independent Siebel Laboratories in Chicago for testing. To quote the report’s summary of their findings:

“Four cans and bottles of the same beer were randomly chosen and sent to Siebel Laboratories in Chicago. Siebel test results revealed that there was no significant difference in O2 level between the bottled and canned product. Furthermore, the O2 levels were extremely low, measuring at under 0.125 PPM.”

The final comment from Technical Director Dennis Bryant sums it up:

“The result reported less than 1.0% of saturation”…”We do feel that this is an extremely low level of dissolved oxygen”

For the complete test results, go to
http://www.microcanning.com/cbs/files/02%20analysis.PDF

Our two-head filler uses a long tube fill, done under a CO2 blanket. This means that a CO2 tube reaches to the bottom of the can, filling it with CO2 gas just prior to fill. As CO2 is heavier than air, it forces all the air in the can up and out the opening. This evacuates all the air in the can, the can is filled at 30 degrees Fahrenheit to limit foaming, and then capped on foam so that there is little or no air under the seal. Most commercial can fillers are short tube DUMP fillers. There should be virtually no dissolved air pickup using long tube fillers. Dump fillers need elaborate evacuation methods, nitrogen drips etc to achieve airs as low as long tube versions. The equipment manufacturer has tested big canner beer packaged by one of the largest beer producers. Cans came in at over 3 ml air. They had a very large canning system. Big size and automation does not necessarily mean low airs.

And finally, regarding consistency, microbial contamination and carbonation levels. We brew the same Watermelon Wheat Beer and IPA for canning that we have been brewing for six years. Our process is sanitary from start to finish and we are confident that the beers will have a microbially stable shelf life. Our bright beer tanks are tested using a Zahm & Nagel CO2 tester and internal carbonation levels are adjusted to exactly where we want them prior to canning. The beer runs from the bright tank through a special glycol chiller and directly into the filler to ensure 30 degree Fahrenheit filling which eliminates foaming and guarantees our dissolved CO2 levels remain intact.

Jackie Chan’s final comments, “In a nutshell, these cans will have terrible shelf-stability and it will probably be a crapshoot every time you crack one open. A real canner is great for beer… but this ain’t that.” again, are simply ignorant of the facts. Twenty five small breweries across America and dozens in Canada have been canning beer with these small canning lines for years. If there were significant quality and consistency issues, these breweries would have long ago abandoned the can. On the contrary, canned beers are wining gold medals in blind taste tests everywhere. I’m not just talking about beer competitions (Caldera, Ashland, OR) but also about taste tests done in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

The time for good beer in cans has arrived and we intend to be a leader in both the canning field and the battle against canning misinformation.

Sincerely,
Nico Freccia
Co-founder
21st Amendment Brewery
San Francisco

“The air-levels will not come close to that of a real canner (or even a good bottler).”
Jackie is right there – they are usually much lower. Large counter-pressure systems start by trapping air in the cans and bottles – and then they try to remove it as best they can..they’re getting better at it…pretty soon they might even get close to the old fashioned, slow, ‘one at a time’ way.
But like any ‘hand’ process they are subject to variability attributable to the competence and care of the operator. Once again though – must we assume that just because it’s possible to have an incompetent, uncaring operator there WILL be one? There would be no GOOD craft brewed beer anywhere either if this assumption were true. Good beer from small ‘hand operated’ breweries exists because small brewers love what they do.

“…it will probably be a crapshoot every time you open one”. Jackie I’ve been taking those odds ever since 1984 when I tasted my first microbrewery beer. And I do it every time I open a beer I’ve never tried which – thanks to the craft beer industry – has happened thousands of times since then. Some of those beers actually sucked. If I stopped trying them after I tasted the first bad one I would have missed out on tasting the very best beers in the world. So you, Jackie, should stick to Bud, and leave the good beer to the rest of us gamblers.
Bruce (faked my own death) Lee

A real canner is great for beer… but this ain’t that:)

HH

Also, this is a trend the rest of the world may shy away from. How will the Belgians use bottle fermentation in cans? The old world traditions will stand strong accross the globe, Americans may associate cans with all beer and start trying new beers, but that (in my opinion) may lead to mass consumption of a product that will won’t be as appreciated.