Micro Canning in the UK - Time for an update !

My god its May already - doesn't time fly when you're having fun.

WeCan Solutions ltd is still the ONLY mobile canning facility in the UK. To date we have filled 125,000 cans and now put 20 new craft cans on the UK market. We have worked with breweries such as Oates, Wild Beer, TractorShed, Eden Mill, Redwells, Brains, Steaming Billy, Everards, Wierd Beard, 40ft and Andwells Brewery. 

Its not been completely plain sailing and we have learnt an awful lot in the last few months - there was no instruction book on 'how to start a mobile canning line'. I think its fair to say that micro-canning is not easy and there are lots of factors to get right - its certainly not as easy as buying a micro-canning line and away you go ! Although we're pretty much there now we'll never stop improving.

I'd say that quality is the key to micro-canning and not quantity - like craft brewing perhaps. These cans are truly, truly craft - what ever that word actually means. I'll tell you what it means ..... hand crafted, - these cans ARE hand crafted. Everything from the beer, label and filling, there's no question these are crafted beings. And these beauties rightly deserve a premium price.

We think we have our labelling spot on. Not only do the labels stay on the can well in warm, cold, wet or dry conditions they hold up physically well to. Its been well worth the 18 months of development during which time we have really focused on the way the labelling works.

Whilst we can put beers into printed (direct to can) at volumes of 50,000, for smaller volumes our Pressure Sensitive Labels work really well. I truly believe that the taste of the beer occurs before the can is opened - that's all down to the label. Without any offence meant to any of the producers of craft cans at the moment, I think there's lots more to come in the way the labelling will progress in the coming months and years.

I mentioned quality earlier. That is the key to our service. I have no issue in spending several £1000 on seam testing equipment. Nor have we minded training our staff on in-depth seaming quality training. Nor do I mind that we take our time ensuring the beer is presented in a manner which ensures min Dissolved Oxygen levels (14ppb - thats parts per BILLION) and correct fill levels. These things are all inter-dependant and our understanding of them are again a key to our service.

Its probably a good point to comment on the commercials. Whilst we have open and fair pricing this is not the place to go into detail. Give us a call or send an email and we will send you the information you request. What is clear is that as the largest 'small contract canner' we pass on all of the bulk purchase savings to our customers. 

Break downs -  machines break down. So does ours ! The good news is that we understand completely technology and fix it if and when it goes wrong. One failed production day was at Tractor Shed - we were back there the next day to finish off. Lesson learnt - more spares required. Lots of lessons learnt (not major ones and I'm not embarrassed to say to be honest with you) which is now

why we are the best around.

So what does our future look like for us ? More canning lines to service the growing market, more beers canned, more brands in cans. We now boast conditioning / carbonation / filtration capacity to add to our service so we are able to take rough or bright beer to process and put into cans. We're just about to launch the CraftCanDirectory.com which will offer the widest range of canned beer on line. Not only will this be the cheapest place to buy the widest range of craft beer cans on line, customers will understand that the cans will be the freshest - because they will be for sale from the moment they are made. The way we work means that there are less storage costs, less transportation costs and certainly no middle wo(men). Thats how we will be the cheapest online in the UK for craft beer in cans. We also provide an ability for customers to design their own labels for events such as weddings, festivals, sporting events etc. That's another 1st in the UK for canned beer !! An then there's the canned beer club - a monthly collection of the widest selection of craft beer cans in the UK. And customer feedback will play a big feature as we grapple with the buzz going on in the social media which seems to drive us all these days - feedback that we will use to negotiate on price !

So, there's lots going on.