Filling Methods For Beer Cans Easy Guide 

Great to hear, enjoy 🍻🍻

Haha, yes! I was surprised when I was asked to do that :)

Thanks Tony. Yes, plenty of options and pros & cons :)

Thank you. Yes, not everyone will go this route but its nice to know the details I feel :)

I will see what I can do there :)

@@DavidHeathHomebrew Ah your a legend David! 🤘

As I understand it there are attachments that make this possible. I have not tested them though, at this point.

Hi Erik, Glad you enjoy it. Yes, this is easily done and a very handy option. You will need to keep pressure in the Fermzilla whilst doing this. I use a sodastream bottle with a converter for this.

Thanks Mike, yes for transfer to bottles or cans it will. Yes both.

Are you using a cleaner first and then rinsing with water before the san step?

It is where you use co2 to remove oxygen :)

Hi, yes, no problem there if you use a beer gun or silicone tubing from a tap that reaches the bottom of your bottles.

Hi Richard, sorry but this is not something I have tried, so it is hard to advise on.

It is the co2 in the beer that matters. Cap on foam and all will be good.

By all means you can try it. No guarantees though.

Sure, no problem there :)

I would suggest so, if for long term storage.

Hi :) yes best to fill from the bottom for sure. I didnt notice any pulling myself, could be just a little adjustment is needed there.

Cheers, it needed a little adjustment indeed :)@@DavidHeathHomebrew

Great to hear:)

Hey Ruan, I would not rush it :) Maybe 2-3 done carefully. Depends on how you set things up really:)

Hi, glad you enjoyed it. Could it be that the cans were not airtight? Perhaps you need to adjust your can seamer?

I do appreciate David‘s video. My experience with the cannular has has been quite different however. I had the same problem with losing CO2 pressure. I came to find out that my machine was grossly out of tune. The problem is with this machine you were totally splitting hairs with the adjustments. You have to use feeler gauges, this is nothing that can be done by Eye. And the adjustments on the machine are so crude that by just tightening the 3/8” setscrew you can move your adjustment totally out of realm. I ended up actually machining the end of the set screws to a point. This allowed me to set the machine without fighting the setscrew from pushing me out of misalignment. Secondly I found that my rollers (specifically the first operation) were a little rough on the aluminum and were causing heavy chafing to the point where it compromise the seal. To fix this I put the roller in my metal lathe and polished the roller with steel wool. This helped a lot as it was able to mold the aluminum into form vs chafe. All in all with the directions online it took me about six hours and about 30 spent cans to finally hone in my machine to seal properly, To know that you got a good seal I would say do a test can with water, try to squeeze the heck out of it. If you can squeeze it to the point that the head starts to pop on the lid and no water comes out of the seem you got a good seal! Cheers! Overall I’m totally thrilled with being able to can like the pros!

You certainly can but the contents will not have the same shelf life sadly.

What sort of shelf life will they have

You can expect greater life than bottles, over 2 years is possible but it relies on the right methods of transfer being used.

It will vary according to storage temperature but 6 months to 2 years is the range.

The best way by far is to go as far as you can and cap on foam. This will work well and protect the beer also ;)

@@DavidHeathHomebrew Thanks for the quick answer! but what im not sure if I understand is: If the beer is not carbonated what foam should i cap onto?

Pedro Sanchez To cap on foam is best. If not then leave a minimal head space but this will depend on the level of carbonation desired and how good the cans you use are.

Thanks :) I use Intertap faucets with the growler filler addon spout. I have a short piece of hosing that sits on the bottom of the can. I fill until the can is mostly beer but with foam on top. I cap onto this foam. I use a beer gun to purge c02 by simply appling it for 3 seconds and then starting the pour. My cans are lasting for much more than 1 month :)

David Heath Homebrew thank you very very much! So i’ll connect beer-gun to an extra CO2 fass and use it for gas only!! I’ll post after testing!!

Great, please do :)

Afew seconds works for for bottles and cans.

Hmm I would think such a method would get odd pretty fast with all the extra waiting. No need for it either really. The important thing is to cap onto foam. How long you spend generating it really matters not.

You will need a beergun for purging for all methods.

Yes, you sure can. The downside is shelf life.

David Heath Homebrew thanks for the reply! How long on average would you say the shelf life is when using drops? And in terms of filling them, how much space should one leave at the top of the can?

It then becomes like bottling beer manually. So if you are careful then it could last much longer. Some styles that involve adjuncts like wheat, rye will not last as long.

David Heath Homebrew should one leave a cm on top of the beer for the carbonation, or do cans handle the pressure of being completely fillled with drops ?

I would fill as far to the top as you can. Some find they need to reduce the carbonation sugar by up to 25% for cans compared to bottles.

Thanks Adrian. Yes, no problem there at all. The best way would be to make sure the carbonation after fermentation is right for you first and then transfer to your cans. Naturally you can do this with bottles also.

Hi Adrian, did you ever do this? I'm considering this as a way around buying a kegging system

I've not tested them but most likely it will

Foaming is always the challenge people face. The main tip here is to lower the temperature but naturally its important to cap on foam.

I’ve had good success controlling the foam when filling from a carbonated keg with the beer gun method. There is a difference that I do compared to what’s shown the video. Instead of the standard beer line (3/8”) I use about 2-2.5 meters of restrictor beer line (3/16”). This lets me put the keg at a higher pressure and have more control over the amount of foam by adjusting the pressure up and down (more pressure more foam). This also means I don’t need a second CO2 tank or secondary regulator for purging, just a tee connection in my gas line. I also weigh each can after seaming so I know how much is in the can and if I need to increase or decrease pressure in the keg. My calculation for ideal weights is can+end(lid)+desired volume for can type(330ml=330gram)+\-15grams. 330ml cans+end weigh 14 grams so I go with 345g plus/minus 15g for a range of 330-360 with closer to 345 being better. I find that I’m usually at about 1.2-1.4 bar pressure on a beer chilled to 0-1°C and fill levels and foam are very consistent. Hope this helps, if you have any questions about my method feel free to ask :)

@@krugsterone Awesome Mike, Thank you

Great stuff Mike

:)

As sterile as they can be.

Because if you do not then you could end up with oxidised beer. If you want your bottled beer to last longer then you would purge them also.

Good question: Don't the yeast need a bit of oxygen to get started again?

The important thing here is to not oxidise the beer. The yeast will do its job still.

You add the beer gun to the can and shoot c02 for 3-5 seconds :)

Sure, no problem.

Ok :)

Are you using a cleaner first and then rinsing with water before the san step?

No just using the stellar San.

I clean them also :)