Recent trends have been reason enough for Craft Beer Professionals to hold their breath. Covid trends, sales trends, and supply trends have all caused that tightening of the diaphragm. Understanding the can seaming process will help you breathe easier and give you the confidence that your customers will enjoy your canned beverages.

Can seams are made to keep air out; however, like so many recent trends, things can go wrong during the seaming process. If unchecked, seamers can trend out of specification, leading to leaking cans and a bad-tasting beverage. A bad seam can look perfectly normal and still allow air to leak into your can, compromising quality.

To ensure your canning equipment is creating air-tight seams, visually inspect your can seams often. In addition, regularly inspect your seams for the following:

1. Correct Tightness: The seam must be sufficiently tight to ensure the sealing compound is properly held under compression.

2. Correct Body Hook and Cover Hook Length: The geometry of the seam as measured either mechanically or optically includes ensuring the cover and body hook are within the proper tolerance of length and engagement.

3. Overlap: There must be sufficient overlap of the cover and body hooks to ensure an airtight seam.

4. Other Critical Defects: No localized distortions in the seam such as droops, vees, pin lips, or seam fractures.

Training your QA team to perform regular and thorough seam checks is key to keeping your products top quality and fresh. When conducting checks refer to the specifications provided by your can and seamer manufacturers, and empower your staff to speak up when measurements are out-of-spec.

In addition to manufacturing seam inspection equipment, OneVision has created several online resources to aid your brewery in learning more about the can seam inspection process. Expand your double seam and seam inspection knowledge and learn about available inspection tools and vision systems at www.QualityCanSeams.com.

Cheers to quality canned craft beverages!