CANNING

Tall pallets of empty cans are placed in a depalletizer, where each layer of cans is swept onto a conveyor belt and aligned in single file for date coding and entry to the can filler. Cans are filled at a higher speed than bottles, although the filler itself is similar to the bottle filler. Our can filler operates at a speed of 450 to 480 cans per minute, with a top speed of 720 cans per minute; however, other equipment on our production line is unable to utilise this higher speed at present. After the can is filled, it is quickly, but smoothly transferred to the can seamer.

In the seamer, any air in the head space of the can is replaced with carbon dioxide gas. This is done just prior to the cans receiving the lid, by what is referred to as the undercover gasser. The lid is then attached to the cans by furling the edges of the lid and the can together to form a "J" seam.

The cans then travel through the same pasteuriser as used for bottles, although only one type of container is packaged at any one time.

After the cans are pasteurised, they are automatically checked for fill level by a fillcheck unit. This unit operates by sending a signal from a weak radioactive isotope (Americium) through the filled can at the level of fill desired. This beam is detected by a series of Geiger tubes, and the strength of the signal received determines whether the cans are filled to the proper height.

A plastic carrier, or "Hy-cone" is fed from a continuous roll, the cans placed in the carrier, and cut into sixpacks. Four sixpacks are then grouped together on a conveyor belt and enter the "traymore". This machine then erects a "flat" or low cardboard tray around each group.

Cans may also be packaged without a carrier in a chipboard carton holding twelve cans. In either event, the package is then date coded and travels by conveyor to the warehouse for palletizing and storage.

The picture is now complete. The beer has been bottled or canned, the bottle crowned, and both pasteurised. The bottle has been labelled and both bottle and can has been packaged, the final step being delivery into the consumer's hands. Beer is at its best immediately after leaving the brewery. Packaged beer will remain in better condition longer than kegged beer, but both products should be consumed as quickly as possible; neither product improves with age.

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