Cans

There is no "could" about this issue any more. Do a quick search and you can find tons of studies...

Not saying I don't completely ignore them since Ten Fidy and Gordon only come in cans.

 

Well as I see it I believe in most cases there is a sort of nostalgia to having beers and aging them in bottles. In most cases it does seem there are some advantages to cans(preserving hops, protecting from sunlight, ect..)But I believe certain beers like Belgian strong ales and Barleywines benefit from bottles due to their potential to continually condition and carbonate in the bottle. I don't know for sure but it may be a bad idea to condition beer in a can. Just another log to the fire...

 

Huh? Just because studies show that BPA is poisonous doesn't mean the amount you consume by drinking a can of beer is harmful. The BPA in a beer can "could" harm you, but only if you drank 450 cans in a short amount of time.

 

I've never used a heine pot, but I did just make my first beer can alcohol stove the other night. Can't do that with a bottle.

 

Clearly you haven't had Heady... we need to change that

 

Agreed 100%!

 

And repeat 10,000 times.

 

Long term storage for cans is much better than bottles assuming storage is not too warm. No light struck cans.

 

As stated by others here, Cans allow zero light penetration, zero chance of a leak or cantamination. Some claim that the metal can imprint flavor into the beer but from someone who works at a brewery I can assure you the cans we use as well as 99% of cans used on the market now have a plastic lining which would prevent this from happening. I pour all my beer into various kinds of glasswear anyway. I would drink everything in cans if I could!

 

Is this a guess? Do you have facts to back up your assertion that long term storage is better for cans than bottles?

 

I like cans because of their portability and ability to maintain freshness, but I usually buy bottles because I can put my home brew in them. Also, I usually find bottles more aesthetic and will sometimes hold on to special bottles as momentos. I don't know of many people with a good can collection... except for this guy:

 

No. But it stands to reason that the light struck issue would be a no-brainer. Unless you assume that long term storage would somehow affect the taste via can lining. Some folks insist that they can taste aluminum is any canned beer they drink. Not my experience. If the canned beer is sitting in a non-refrigerated (high temp.) warehouse maybe that would be a game changer. The only beer I have had that was sub-par was the Church Key lager that had some sealing issues and had a wide variation in seal quality. Some of those cans were reported to rupture and lose all carbonation. Otherwise a tasty canned beer.

 

Personally, I think cans are great. The biggest issue that I have is the cost. According to the brewers that I asked, the cans are currently more labor intensive to package, and therefore, cost more than bottles. Hopefully, eventually, the price will come down to match bottles. Also, even though I shouldn't do it, drinking from the can seems to make them go down much easier.

 

Oskar Blues just recently became available in my area. They shattered my beliefs about cans being an inferior form of delivery.

 

Dude, I'm just sayin this stuff ain't great, but what are you gonna do it's there. Probably not that big of a deal. Hence the rest of my post about drinking it anyway.

The only thing I really worry about is long term aging and what the can/liner could turn into.

 

Drink it don't age it, most canned stuff needs to be consumed fresh, hell even Ten Fidy doesn't need aging. IMO most aging is over rated.

 

True, and very true.

 

For large brewers cans are less costly to run. It takes fewer people to run a can line and can line speeds are usually much higher than bottle line speeds.