Canner or glycol chiller

[Golddiggie]

I'm under 3 hours from Oktober so I couldn't get shipping much cheaper but I paid about $100 shipped for 192 16oz cans early last fall and bought 2 more cases for the same price around the holidays. I bought a stack of 4-pack holders but also asked friends to save them and am getting as many back as I give out even though some of the beer is traveling out of state. If I get 6 pack holders I trim off 2 and add the remaining 4 to the stack.

Not bad on the pricing, even shipping to NH. I'll keep them in mind for when I need more cans.

 

[WesBrew]

I’d go for the glycol chiller. Fermentation control, set it and forget it and it’s pretty much a one time expense. Canning sounds really cool but I’d wait until I had the brewing running the way i want it

 

[OLBrews]

For those of you that can , is there a technique to getting the can full and staying hard? My aunt got a canner a couple years ago and we tried it out . It seemed like the cans were plyable once filled , kind of squishy.

Some suggestions for can filling:

• Cap on foam
• I found I would lose some volume in the transfer to the canner, even using a gentle squeeze. I now keep one finger on the cap pressing down, then tilt the can so I can get my second hand under it. That way, I can transfer from the fulling station to the canner without any pressure on the sides.
• Give can conditioning a go – just leave about ½ inch clearance at the top and add your priming sugar. Nice part about cans is that you can tell when they firm up that they are ready to go.

 

[sicktght311]

Another vote for building a Glycol chiller, and buying a seamer. I built my glycol chiller for probably $150 at most and it works fantastically well for 2x 7gallon Chronicals. Bought an Oktober SL1 with the funds i saved

 

[Gus_13]

I'm personally going for Glycol first. I live in MS. We have like 4-6 weeks of cool weather then everything else needs to be temp controlled. I have keezers now but moving to a larger conical and want to temp control it so Glycol is my obvious choice. But then after that, I'll definitely be eyeing a can seamer to have for sharing beers.

 

[davidabcd]

Without further info, I'd get the chiller. Last time I checked canning out, the cost was up there for supplies and the waste doesn't thrill me.

 

[pinemarten]

I have an IceMaster 100 and a Cannular. The Cannular is very cool. The IceMaster has become my favorite thing in the brewery. If you ferment outside of a fridge or freezer and often have more than one beer fermenting at a time it’s a massive convenience.