Ask The Brewmasters

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Hello all,

We experienced a new canning QC issue today that we have not encountered before.  We swapped a two of three chucks on our three station Ferrum seamer, but made no other adjustments.  After determining seam measurements were unchanged, we proceeded at normal speed.  After about 700 cases, an operator noticed there were tiny aluminum "shavings" (more like fine hairs/fibers) all over the seamer.

We stopped the packaging run, and put all product since the chuck swap on hold.  Cans seamed on both new chucks appeared to be damaging to some degree all cans that were coming through.  See attached picture of one of the "hairs" still attached to the seam and also a magnified tissue wipe from one of the affected cans.

For any that have experienced this before, I'm curious how your Quality program would address this?  Would this be recall/destroy worthy?  The strands are so fine that they do not represent a consumer safety hazard (I can rub them hard between my fingers and they don't sliver), however it is fairly off-putting to know that this is on the can you're about to drink.  We filtered a couple of cases of cans and found very little evidence of any metal inclusion actually inside the can. The very top of the seam is slightly abraded (has a little rough feeling if you run your finger over it) but actual seams are still solid and consistently pass seam measurement checks and 20minute 160F water bath test.

The 1st or 2nd operation seaming rolls are improperly set to the seaming chuck.  When the cam brings the rolls to an "on seam" position, the seaming rolls are hitting the seaming chuck.  You may be able to get out of it with resetting the tooling, but usually the damage to the groove profiles and the seaming chuck are already done.  It only takes one cycle and it will be damaged.

The seaming roll groove profile needs to be set to the seaming chuck anvil.
1st Op:  .003" above seaming chuck lip.
2nd Op:  .006" above seaming chuck lip.


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David Garab
SME Cans, Lids, & Seamers
Treasurer, Master Brewers Association of the Americas
District GA
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We had an issue like this once.  We have an Angelis 120L seamer, and we think there was some foreign object that got wedged between the two sections of the upper turret, and dragged on the top of the cans as they spun through the seamer.  We never found the offending bit; it must have fallen out on its own.  But it damaged a lot of cans before we caught it.
As for what to do with your damaged cans: I would definitely put those on hold.  Your customers often drink right from the can, and who wants to be drinking aluminum dust and shavings?  Those are a no-go!  See if you can find a satisfactory way to clean the tops of the cans, and clean a few cases with a timer running.  It might make sense to schedule those cans for re-work rather than pay to destroy them, but you will have to decide if it's worth it.

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Cullen Dwyer
QA Manager
Wachusett Brewing Co
Westminster MA
(978) 874-9965x160
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As a follow up to my earlier post, the fibers are from the outside of the can.  There's a real quality issue with potential foreign objects (slivers) in the finished beer since it accumulates and packs into and around the seamer tooling.  Then it starts falling down and can will get into the can.
I would not risk your brand and suggest destroying it.
If you want to discuss, please call and I'll walk you through setting up the seamer.  However, the tooling may be damaged beyond too damaged.
There is also a webinar on this site for tooling set ups.


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David Garab
SME Cans, Lids, & Seamers
Treasurer, Master Brewers Association of the Americas
District GA
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Here is a better visual of what's likely going on.  This is also the cause of the abraded top of the seam.


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David Garab
SME Cans, Lids, & Seamers
Treasurer, Master Brewers Association of the Americas
District GA
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