Design, Manufacture, Installation & Aftercare Support of Craft Brewery Canning Conveyor Systems and Craft Brewery Bottling Conveyor Systems.

Craft brewing canning lines are one of the most popular and in-demand canning line requirements requested throughout the UK and USA. CKW Pro-Can is a specialist engineering company that provides the design, manufacture, installation and aftercare for craft brew canning lines and craft brew bottle lines worldwide.

The Craft Brewing Industry

A craft brewer is typically defined as a small and independent brewer and these small, independent brewers are now in their largest numbers ever. Craft brews are not only trending, but they’re in demand! And it’s the independent brewers that are filling these demands.

Modern craft beer began in the 1960s, evolving with homebrewing in the 1970s and a huge rise of microbreweries in the 1990s. In most recent years, from 2010 to now, microbreweries have exploded to a peak, with thousands upon thousands of them opening to launch their own bottle and canning lines.

Unfortunately, due to the closure of restaurants and pubs during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, we’ve seen a decrease in breweries opening and an increase in breweries closing but the market is still very strong and ready to make it out the other side.

The overall beer market is worth a staggering £66.24 billion with craft owning 12.3% of that – £15.63 billion.

The problems craft breweries face

Craft breweries are born with a passion for the love of the brewing process and the end product. The love, attention and care that goes into the brewing process are second to none but the packaging process is always then an afterthought and of lesser importance when it comes to budgeting and process; leaving this as sometimes one of the main pain points for our small, independent breweries.

Small and independent, for any business, always usually means… ‘be careful with those budgets!’ And the same applies to craft brewers; but a well manufactured, bespoke craft brew canning line or craft brew bottle line will always pay dividends long-term.

The manual process is always where it begins, but the limitations of a manual process or semi-manual process will have more downfalls and limitations than just slower production.

For example, when approaching new vendors for sales, they’ll want to know the current capacity of your current can conveyor systems or bottle conveyor systems but also be forth-coming about the process, health and safety. Removing the human error and human contamination during the craft brew filling process is vital for securing partnerships with larger vendors and will also be something that, as a craft brewery, your team can shout about.

The phrase ‘build it and they will come’ is a commonly used thought process when it comes to demand and growth. Putting a solid, future proof process in place sooner will set up for smooth sailing through the journey.

Here at CKW Pro-Can, we are expert engineers within the canning industry and Conveyor System Manufacturing. We supply everything that Craft Breweries require for their craft brew canning line or craft brew bottle line set up. With canning and bottle filling speed options from 50 cans/bottles per minute, 100 cans/bottles per minute, 200 cans/bottles per minute and beyond; all depending on your budgets and filling requirements. This includes:

• The craft brew can depalletiser and craft brew bottle depalletiser: Ensuring an efficient start to your can conveyor system or bottle conveyor system, the depalletiser for craft breweries is both effective and on-budget for your requirements.
• The craft brew Can Conveyor Lines and craft brew Bottle Conveyor Lines: Creating a bespoke conveyor system to your warehouse layout’s and space is essential to setting up for success rather than failure. However, Canning Engineering is a specialist area of expertise and it’s important to work with the experts for the most experienced and valuable set-up. Working with some specialists can cost a fortune; at CKW Pro-Can, we are committed to partnering with Craft Breweries to find the best solution for them and will work with you, within your budgets for the best canning solution or bottling solution that your money can buy. Our conveyor systems include Can Conveyor Systems, Bottle Conveyor Systems and Single Lane Conveyor Systems, just to showcase a few examples.
• The craft brew Canning & Bottling Rinser Systems and Rinser Units: Sanitising and Cleaning of your cans and bottles is where some craft brewers miss the boat and underperform, yet it’s one of the most important and vital parts of the process. We create effective, expert Rinser Systems and Rinser Units to ensure that your process meets health and safety standards; whether that’s using water rinser systems or more economical set-up’s such as ionised air rinser systems.
• Craft brew can twists and craft brew bottle twists: One of our specialities at CKW Pro-Can are our high quality, bespoke can twists and bottle twists. Our team are the global leaders in canning twists and bottle twists; used to invest or twist your empty cans, full cans, empty bottles or full bottles as part of the filling and packaging process. They’re usually installed as part of the rinser process or for coding and printing. Once again, we can manufacture Can twists and bottle twists to any requirement and on budget.
• Craft brew Can fillers and craft brew bottle fillers: The filling stage needs to ensure that your brew is filled into your containers correctly without contamination and careful measurements. We’ve manufactured can filling station machines and bottle filling station machines that are on budget, powerful, effective and built to last.
• Can Capping machines and Bottle Capping machines: Built to withstand a range of can filling and bottle filling speeds while running alongside our bottle and can fillers, our can capping and bottle capping machines are created to your requirements and, once again, in line with craft brewing budgets.
• Packaging and palletising: Designed and manufactured to your requirements, we will work with you to engineer an effortless packaging set up to suit your quantities and processes, ready to be shipped individually or palletised to vendors. This includes machinery such as a can labeller or bottle labeller, rotary table and date coding.

Set up in 2015, but with a team who have specialised in the canning industry and bottling industry for well over a decade; CKW Pro-Can truly are the experts in can handling solutions and bottle handling solutions.

Working with some of the largest names in the beverage industry such as BrewDog and ABinBev, through to the UK’s newest craft brewery set up’s looking for their very first craft brew can line or craft brew bottle line.

It doesn’t matter where you are up to in the process:

• Is this your first craft brew can line or craft brew bottle line?
• Are you looking to modify a current craft brew can line or craft brew bottle line?
• Is it time to upgrade your initial craft brew can line / craft brew bottle line to meet higher demand or higher standards?

CKW Pro-Can can work with you to offer the perfect canning solution or bottling solution and provide a free, no-obligation quotation. We absolutely love can’s and bottle’s and are very passionate about providing the world’s best.

See also some of our other solutions that we provide: Can Conveyor Systems – Conveyor Systems – Bottle Conveyor Systems – Single Lane Conveyor Systems – Can Twists – Can Rinser Systems – Craft Brewery Conveyor Systems – Bespoke Metal Fabrication – Canning Industry Engineering – Can and Bottle Depalletisers

One of the questions that is being asked a lot recently is whether the craft brewers should be focusing on setting up a craft brew canning line or a craft brew bottling line. Within the brewing market in general, there is a lot of work going into the environment, recycling and sustainability. As a result of this, the preferable method of packaging is now heading down the Can Conveyor System route instead of the bottling Conveyor System.

Can’s are better for the environment because firstly they’re lighter and more compact than bottles. Meaning there is less weight during travel, better storage and higher quantities during travel and warehousing. But most importantly, only 26.4% of recycled glass actually gets reused, whereas the EPA reports that 54.9% of all aluminium cans get successfully repurposed after recycling. Recycled cans are made up of 100% recycled aluminium.

It’s also said that:

1. Can’s Keep beers fresher
2. Canned beer is more portable for everyone
3. Aluminium cans don’t impact a beer’s flavour

So, if you’re currently starting up a new craft brew line and are debating whether to go down the can or bottle line route; speak to us. Our expert engineers specialise In everything can handling and bottle handling.

In the video below, this is one of BrewDog’s new canning lines that we designed, manufactured and installed as part of their ‘only cans’ incisive. BrewDog, as one of the largest craft brewers across the world, are now only using Cans in the craft brew lines. Here are some of our bespoke can twists as part of the canning process.