Cans or Bottles?

[mpietropaoli]

I seem to recall this discussion taking place in another thread, but (A) I can't locate it and (B) I think this topic deserves its own thread.

My latest understanding of the cans v. bottles debate is the following: In general, cans are better at keeping oxygen out, as they are a near-perfect seal, however by and large, the vast majority of canning lines are FAR worse at keeping O2 out during the actual canning process than the equivalent process on a bottling line.

That being said, I know Brewdogs and some other breweries have higher-end canning lines such as this:

https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/blog/ou ... nning-line

If I see canned Radeberger (my fave), I buy big. Primarily because its becoming harder to find in my area. Though I can find bottles of it pretty easily. I also love Konig. I don't know if its confirmation bias, but I find myself looking down at a can far more often, and exclaiming "damn!".

Any research and actual data on oxidation when packaging with either/both?

[Brandon]

[Bryan R]

Yes caps allow oxygen ingress, couple that with light exposure issues. Cans are far superior.

[cinbers]

How about other factors?

-Transportation costs - cans: lower weight, lower volume than bottles!
-Recycling? Most bottles are (here in Germany at least) reused a lot of times. Cans are mostly made of aluminum, which can be recycled but only up to 6% is used in the production process of cans at this time. For most cans you have to produce new aluminum and the energy costs of new aluminum is very high and not environmental friendly.
(example: for 1000L of beer, you need 46kg of Aluminum for cans, with bottles you need 26kg of resources)
-As cans can be pressed/swaged when empty, volume and logistic costs are lower relating to glassware.
And: Cans have to be coated from the inside?!

[Bryan R]

Oh, absolutely. I always assumed cans were solely for zee Americans. I have only ever seen bottles in Europe.

[cinbers]

[Brandon]