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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A little home(brew) canning

Rick Bonino

The Spo-Can canned craft beer festival returns to The Elk this weekend with a new twist.

While the crowd is consuming its choices from among 50 commercial canned beers, Spokes Mobile Canning will show up on Saturday to put local homebrewers’ creations in cans as well.

It’s a way to keep the fourth-year event fresh, says Elk general manager Marshall Powell.

“When we started out, there were only 40 or 50 craft beers available in cans, so we were pushing that,” he says. “But it’s just exploded in the last few years, so our little shtick didn’t really work anymore. We decided to give homebrewers a chance to get involved.”

While they usually deal with commercial brewers around the region, Spokes co-owners Abbie Speer and Amanda Mead say they’ve wanted to work with homebrewers ever since they launched their traveling canning line in 2013.

“It’s a fun thing to be able to do for them,” Speer says. “It’s something they wouldn’t be able to do outside of this. It gives them that little bit of excitement.”

Adds Mead, like Speer a homebrewer herself: “A lot of homebrewers are out there making really fantastic beer, perfecting their craft. It would be great to see their craft in a can. (This event) legitimizes canned beer, and it legitimizes homebrewing as well.”

While you can’t actually drink the canned homebrew at Spo-Can – liquor laws say that has to be consumed in private – you can see how the process works.

Since they’re dealing with much smaller quantities than usual, Speer and Mead will be filling the cans by hand with a beer gun, instead of using the automated line. But the cans will go on the line to have the lids put on.

“It’s not extremely different from what usually do,” Speer says. “People will get a chance to see the line as it would be in a brewery. It will give them an education on how beer is canned.”

Homebrewers don’t need to sign up in advance, just bring their beer carbonated or primed in a Corney keg (no wild or sour beers accepted, to avoid contaminating the equipment). The cost is $15 for a 5-gallon batch or $30 for 10 gallons; regardless of size, there’s a limit of two batches per person.

Brewers also get case trays to carry their cans. The Elk will have a refrigerated truck on hand to keep the beer cool before canning and after, if homebrewers want to stick around to try some of the commercial offerings.

Powell says the selection is “mostly Northwest, but a little bit from everywhere. We just went through and picked 50 – there are so many available now, we could easily get 200 or 300 if we wanted.”

While the homebrew canning only happens on Saturday, the event runs both Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. in the outdoor beer garden, with DJ music both days.

Good things, smaller packages: Orlison, the only Spokane-area brewery to can its beers so far, is making the move from 16-ounce cans to 12-ouncers.

Its India pale lager is going into the smaller containers this week, to be followed by the Havanuther pilsner and Clem’s Gold next week. Those should start reaching stores within the next month; we’ll have more details here as that happens.