I'm suffering from Can-itis

Cans are convenient because of shape (fit in the bottom shelf of fridge) but bottles allow you to use your cool bottle opener. Both cans and bottles are recyclable which I do. I don’t care either way.

 

Over 20 posts and we haven't heard from @woodychandler yet!?!

Cheers!

 

Yes. Here in California you pay CRV on every can or bottle. When it comes time to recycle, you get so much more back for aluminum than glass that cans are really a better deal all around.

 

I college (1970) we looked at the environmental impacts of beer packaging and returnable bottles were the best for the environment and throwaway packaging was the worst and at the time everyone thought beer from cans sucked. Today the environmental costs of getting the ore out of the ground and make into aluminum and then into a can is enormous but once the can is a can then it beats the socks off throwaway bottles environmentally. Looking at the total lifecycle cans and bottles are probably pretty equal although each side can make a strong case that the other is much worse. The best way environmentally to drink beer is to drink draft beer.

The flavor issue with cans is long gone and unlike green, blue and clear bottles, beer in cans does not get skunky. Cans are also cheaper to transport per unit of beer. Beer in bottles will stale slightly faster due to extra headroom at the top filled with air. I have aged beer in bottles but not in cans so i do not know if there is a big difference between the two. Aesthetically I think bottles look nicer but then that could just be because I'm an old fart set in my ways.

 

Just recycle instead of throwing them on the neighbors lawn?

 

Don't want to get too off topic. Before trying to wade through aluminum industry propaganda that litters online search results, start by comparing the environmental disasters caused by mining for bauxite and the toxic process of turning aluminum oxide into aluminum versus the environmental disasters caused by gathering glass raw material and creating glass.

 

1. Homebrew
2. Bottle
3. ???
4. Profit

 

I'm curious about the negative environmental impact of cans as well. Both aluminum and glass are infinitely recyclable, yes? But glass is actually easier to come by. Does it take more energy to recycle aluminum than glass?

As far as shipping goes, however, cans are much better than glass because they weight a lot less and take up less room, which means less trips overall (which is great in itself).

Environmentally, concerning energy/fuel/shipping costs, cans have to be better than glass. The beer inside a 12 fl. oz. bottle of beer weighs roughly 13 oz. while the bottle itself is then another 7 oz. while a can is next to nothing. Am I wrong? Therefore the glass in a 24 pack case would weight an extra 10.5 #s in shipping.

 

Now I see said the blind man!

 

Since "-itis" refers to inflammation of some sort, I'm guessing that his ass is swollen.
Wrong forum.

 

I suggest that equivalency can be roughly determined after a rigorous examination of all the factors, which include distance traveled in total by all raw materials to place of final manufacture, and distance traveled in all cases after manufacture. Which includes glass being mostly not re made into glass but used as clean fill, and needing to travel only a short distance from point of being recycled.

However the extreme damage done by bauxite mining has no equivalence with glass raw materials,, and there is no equivalence to the toxicity created by aluminum oxide being made into aluminum. So we can debate whether the glass mouse in the room weighs more or less than the aluminum mouse in the room, while the aluminum elephant stands alone to the side.

 

Cans, bottles, it's all good. Shipping wise, easier to ship cans.

Cheers!

 

I hear you.

 

Because he likes it in the can!?!

Cheers!

 

This happened to me a year or so ago after I made my first beer trade for fresh cans. I spent the next 4-5 months chasing every can release I saw posted on Instagram. Many fruitless hours on the trading forums of the internet trying to figure out a way to score the latest hype. I had some success but I struck out more often. Then one day in July everything changed. I saw the lastest hyped beer being released from the latest hyped brewery and I was like mehhh. Don’t get me wrong I love fresh cans and have a few in my fridge ready to be consumed this weekend but something definitely changed. I adopted the attitude “If I can try it great if not that’s okay because there is great beer all around”. A few bad experiences on Instagram and Reddit (not BA ) I found a lot of these haze bros to be complete and utter douches when it came to beer and trading it. But hey I know I’m just being salty because I don’t live next to Monkish, OH or Treehouse right? Lol I don’t get that the beer is practically gold right? And that my beer I am trying to trade is complete garbage because it’s not hyped and being posted all over Instagram. But after all this ranting I just want want to say ISO:Fresh Canzzzz

 

I'm sure woody would say he 'CAN offer you his opinion but he doesn't understand the OP's CANundrum' or something like that

(am I doing this right, @woodychandler ?)

 

Welcome to the adult world of craft beer drinking.

 

Thank you. I was in the adult world of craft beer drinking prior but can fully admit I suffered a 4 or 5 month sickness. It’s good to be back

Cheers

 

Glad you're feeling better.

 

Cans are boring. Bottles have caps!