than 4,000 litres of beer in a typical day at
a single site.
James Wells, co-owner and operator of
Winnipeg-based Mammoth Canning, says
the growing number of mobile canning
operations like his has been a simple matter
of supply and demand.
“I think it’s just because there were
more and more breweries that were pop-ping
up, and the ones that were already
here for the most part weren’t in cans and
that’s just kind of the way the industry has
been going in terms of glass versus cans,”
said Wells, who estimates his company has
produced 1.6 million cans in the two years
it has been operating.
Vessel Packaging was founded in 2013
and was essentially Canada’s first mobile
canning company. In 2019, its two sis-ter
companies, West Coast Canning and
Sessions Craft Canning, were combined to
form one of the largest mobile canning
companies in the country with operations
in Vancouver, Calgary, Mississauga, Ottawa,
and Montreal.
JJ Coates, a marketing and design spe-cialist
at Vessel, says one of the main reasons
more and more craft brewers are turning to
mobile canners is the fact that setting up
an in-house canning operation requires an
enormous initial investment, not just in
terms of capital, but also in physical space,
staffing, training and maintenance.
“Thanks to mobile canning…you can
focus on the product and dedicate your
often limited space to great production
capacity. It’s all about flexibility, really,”
he said.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of using
a mobile canner for most craft brewers
is the fact that they don’t have to dedi-cate
A typical mobile canning operation
can produce 30 or more cans per
minute depending on the size of can.
thousands of square feet of warehouse
space to storing empty cans. In Wells’s case,
he stores the empty cans at his own ware-house
and brings only what he needs to a
job site.
“For the most part, when you order
cans, the minimum order is a whole truck-load
and a lot of breweries don’t have the
space to store the empty cans. With us, we’ll
just come with what you need for that day
and then you’re just left with full cans of
beer rather than requiring you to store your
empty cans,” he said. “The other thing is the
upfront cost of buying all those cans isn’t
cheap either.”
Mobile canning certainly lives up to
its name. An entire canning line can be
stored and transported in a mobile trailer
to a job site where it can be set up in about
90 minutes.
Once the line is set up, an automated
machine known as a depal brings cans from
a palette to the canning line. They are then
turned upside down and rinsed with water
to get rid of any residual matter that may be
in the cans. The cans are then turned right
side up and purged with CO2 to rid them of
any oxygen. “Oxygen is the enemy when it
comes to packaged beer,” Wells said.
Next, beer is poured into the can and a
lid is seamed to the body of the can. Finally,
the outside of the finished can is rinsed and
a label is attached. Once the job is com-plete,
the canning equipment is thoroughly
cleaned and returned to storage in prepara-tion
for the next job.
A typical mobile canning operation
can produce 30 or more cans per minute
depending on the size of can being used.
Most canning lines can accommodate a
variety of different sized cans including 250,
355, 375 and 473 mililitres.
Coates says in most cases, his com-pany
will supply a lead operator as well
as a support operator to run the canning
line. Each lead operator has to undergo
a comprehensive on-the-job training pro-gram
prior to running a line unsupervised.
Breweries will usually provide two or three
staff members to assist with ancillary tasks
such as boxing the finished product.
COV E R F E AT U R E
Photos courtesy of Vessel Packaging
Vessel Packaging
18 § POURED CANADA § www.poured.ca
/www.poured.ca
