Packaging options
Cans, bottles, crowlers, growlers. Mobile, in-house, contract. The decision that determines your gross margin and your beer quality.
The decision to can vs bottle, and to package in-house vs hire a mobile canner vs contract package, is one of the highest-capital decisions a brewery makes. Get it wrong and you've sunk $300,000 into a line you outgrew, or you're paying mobile canners $0.40/can forever.
The right answer depends on your volume, your product mix, your capital position, and how much your beer quality depends on packaging-stage oxygen control.
The format decision
Modern craft beer has shifted heavily to cans over bottles since around 2015. Cans now make up roughly 75% of craft packaged volume. The reasons:
- Better oxygen barrier. Cans are 100% impermeable to oxygen. Bottles let in trace amounts through the crown seal.
- UV protection. Cans block 100% of light. Clear and even brown bottles allow some UV transmission, which causes "skunking" via hop alpha acid breakdown.
- Lower freight cost. Cans are lighter and stack denser.
- Better retail acceptance. Cans go more places (beaches, pools, hiking, anywhere glass is banned).
- Easier consumer transport. 4-packs of 16oz cans are now the standard hazy IPA format.
Bottles still make sense for: barrel-aged stouts (the aesthetic matches the price point), Belgian-style beers (tradition), some lager styles (heat-stability is slightly better in cans but matters less for clean lagers), and breweries with established brand identities tied to specific bottle shapes.
Can formats
| Format | Volume | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| 12oz standard | 355 mL | Lagers, pale ales, session beers. 6-pack and 12-pack volume play. |
| 16oz "tallboy" | 473 mL | NEIPAs, IPAs, the modern craft standard. 4-pack format. |
| 19.2oz "stovepipe" | 568 mL | Singles for convenience stores. Higher price point. |
| 12oz slim | 355 mL | Hard seltzers, some session beers. |
| 32oz crowler | 946 mL | Taproom-filled to-go. Single-use cans. |
Stocking multiple formats means multiple SKUs of cans + lids + cartons. Most small breweries pick one format (typically 16oz for modern craft) and stick with it.
Path 1: Mobile canning
A mobile canning company brings a portable canning line to your brewery for a day. You provide beer in a brite tank, they provide everything else.
Major players: Iron Heart Canning, Mobile Canning Systems, Crafted CC, Wild Goose mobile lines (run by various operators).
Economics:
- $0.20-0.40 per 16oz can packaged (varies by region and run size)
- Minimum run size: typically 15-30 barrels per session
- Setup/teardown: 2-4 hours; canning rate: 30-60 cans per minute
- You provide: beer, cans, lids, labels, cartons, and a forklift
- They provide: the line, operators, CO2/N2 purge, technical expertise
When mobile canning makes sense:
- Under 3,000 bbl/year packaged
- You don't have space for an in-house line
- Capital is constrained
- Your packaging volume is irregular (a few big runs vs steady weekly)
Quality considerations:
- Quality varies massively between mobile canning operators. The best run dissolved oxygen (DO) under 50 ppb. The worst run 200-400 ppb.
- Request DO measurements. Reputable operators measure and document.
- Test packaged cans yourself with a portable DO meter ($1,500-3,000) — worth the investment if you can a lot.
- For NEIPAs especially, packaging DO is the single biggest determinant of finished beer shelf life. 100 ppb DO turns to "papery" character within 4 weeks.
Path 2: In-house canning, manual/semi-automated
A basic in-house canning setup for small breweries (1,000-5,000 bbl/year):
- Counter-pressure can filler: $15,000-40,000 for a 2-4 head fill / seam unit
- Brite tank: if you don't have one, $5,000-20,000
- Can rinser: $2,000-8,000
- Manual case-packer or hands-on packing: $0-15,000
- Label applicator: $0 if buying pre-printed cans, $15,000-50,000 if labeling in-house
- Total investment: $60,000-200,000 for a complete entry-level setup
Production rates: 10-30 cans per minute typically. A 20 bbl batch (240 gallons → ~2,000 16oz cans) takes 1.5-3 hours.
Specific brands to know: Wild Goose (industry standard, $40K-100K), Cask Brewing Systems (older, more affordable used), GAI mini-lines (Italian, premium).
Path 3: In-house automated canning line
For 5,000+ bbl/year volume, a fully-automated line:
- Filler/seamer: 6-12 head, depalletizer to packer, all on conveyor
- Rates: 60-300 cans per minute
- Total investment: $500,000-2,000,000 depending on speed and automation level
- Footprint: 800-2,000 square feet
- Operator requirement: 1-3 trained operators per shift
The breakeven for in-house automation vs mobile canning is roughly 100,000-150,000 cans per year. Below that, mobile is cheaper. Above that, in-house pays off over 3-5 years.
Path 4: Contract packaging
You ship beer in totes or tankers to a contract packaging facility. They can/bottle/keg it for you and ship back.
- $0.15-0.30 per can typical contract rate (lower than mobile because of scale)
- Minimum runs: usually 500-2,000 barrels
- Quality control is out of your hands
- Logistics complexity adds (shipping, scheduling, tracking)
Contract packaging is used by some brewery brands without their own packaging facility (often startups, sometimes growth-stage breweries between scales). Common contract packagers: Sleeping Giant (Colorado), Brew Hub (Florida), Stevens Point (Wisconsin), various smaller regional operations.
The dissolved oxygen problem
Modern craft beer — especially hop-forward styles — lives or dies on dissolved oxygen (DO) at packaging.
| DO at packaging | Quality impact |
|---|---|
| < 30 ppb | Excellent. Stable for 60-90 days for hoppy beers, 6+ months for cleaner styles. |
| 30-80 ppb | Good. Acceptable for most styles; hoppy beers degrade visibly past 30 days. |
| 80-200 ppb | Marginal. Hoppy beers turn papery within 14-21 days. |
| > 200 ppb | Poor. Beer is degrading from the day you package it. |
What controls packaging DO:
- How well the can/bottle is purged with CO2 or N2 before filling
- How the beer transfers from brite tank to filler (closed pressure vs open)
- How fast the seam closes after fill
- How much undissolved CO2 is in the headspace vs air
Cheaper packaging setups (basic counter-pressure fillers, some mobile lines) often run DO at 100-300 ppb. Premium setups (modern automated lines with proper purging) run under 30 ppb consistently.
If your beer quality matters and you can specifically (NEIPA, fresh hop, pilsner), DO performance is the #1 factor in equipment selection.
Crowlers and growlers
Crowlers (32oz single-use cans, filled at the taproom) and growlers (refillable glass jugs) are taproom-side packaging, not "real" packaging line decisions.
- Crowler machine: $3,000-8,000. Pays back in 2-6 months for a busy taproom.
- Crowler DO: usually higher than canning line. 100-300 ppb common. Drink within 2 weeks.
- Growlers: minimal equipment. DO is bad (300-500 ppb typical). Drink within 24-72 hours.
Both formats are taproom revenue tools, not distribution products. Don't try to wholesale crowlers.
Common mistakes
Buying a line too big for current volume. A 60-cpm line running 30 minutes a week is wasted capital. Buy for current + 2 years projected growth, not 5 years.
Underestimating ancillary costs. Can prices ($0.15-0.25 per 16oz unprinted, $0.20-0.35 printed), case cartons ($0.30-0.60 each), labels (if applying in-house), shrink wrap. Per-package costs add up.
Not measuring DO. If you don't measure, you don't know. A $1,500 portable DO meter is the cheapest insurance against shipping bad beer.
Pre-printed cans for new SKUs. Minimum pre-print order is typically 100,000-200,000 cans. For a new beer, you might sell 30,000. Use shrink-sleeve or pressure-sensitive labels until volume justifies pre-print.
Mixing formats without volume justification. 12oz + 16oz + 19.2oz cans = three SKUs of cans, lids, cartons. Multiply by every beer in your portfolio. Inventory complexity explodes.
Next steps
Packaging interacts with distribution — see distribution models for format preferences in different channels.
If you're considering contract packaging to test the waters before investing in your own line, see contract brewing for the related concept of producing through someone else's facility entirely.
Quality measurement matters at every stage of packaging — see lab equipment basics for what tools you need to verify the beer you're shipping.