Hop Valley Canning Party

I know...I know.  Two posts in one day.  Crazy!  Well, we did something fun this afternoon and I wanted to share.

We really enjoy Hop Valley Brewing in Springfield.  They have a great happy hour (fish tacos!), they hold blood drive events and promotions, and they have a new cask ale on tap every time we go in there.  Plus their waitstaff is really friendly and they have the hard chocolate mints as you leave.

Today we went to Hop Valley because they were having a canning party.  Within the past few months they have started canning their craft beer.  Normally you see craft beer in bottles but Hop Valley is the first local brewery to join the canning revolution.

Cliff and I got to can our own six pack of their IPA.  It is a small operation as you can only fill two cans at a time.  Their brewer told us that when they are cranking they can produce six to eight cans per minute.  There were quite a few folks excited to practice their canning skills.  We even got to meet the brewer's grandmother who was happily sporting her Hop Valley t-shirt and waiting for her friends to arrive to join in on the fun.  I love locally owned businesses.

How do you can your own beer you might ask?  What are the steps?  We knew you would want some photos to illustrate the process so we did the best we could to document.

1.  Get cans out of a sterile bath and place on the filler machine (that is my technical term for it).  Press the button and balance the cans on the platform as they automatically fill.

2. Watch the can fill. Once the foam hits the top a sensor will stop the flow.

3. Remove the full cans from the filler machine, pick up a top from the sterile bath, place the top on the can, put the can on the capper machine (another technical term), and press the button.

4. Remove sealed can and dunk it in a final sterile bath.  When six cans are complete place them in recycled plastic handle (thanks to another Eugene company) and take home to enjoy.

We had a lot of fun this afternoon.  A tasty hamburger, a great bbq chicken quesadilla, two good beers, and our very own canned six pack.