Last Friday we got our new canning line up and running for the first time. The feeling of seeing that thing go was pretty cool. It was up there as one of the best moments we've had. I was watching it, wondering how we'd gotten to this point where we have this monstrosity (relative to us) of a canning line running hard cider in our fermentation/production facility.
That lasted for about 30 seconds, at which point I realized how far we were from smooth sailing. It was a total disaster. We started tinkering at 7AM, and got her running at about noon. Around 2 or 3, Tyler had to go to the Drink Craft Beer Summerfest*, leaving just me and Matt. Cut to 930, we were canning at the same rate as our manual line because we had to hit the emergency stop button every 10 seconds or so. I won't go through the list of issues, but it was a disaster. We were covered in cider, tired, angry, and probably wasted 400 cans of cider with bad fills, seams, gaping holes, and a gaggle of other problems.
We've been tinkering again all day today, and I'm optimistic that this afternoon we'll crank out a decent number of cans. It's more of a prayer than an expectation, but our fingers are crossed.
Also, if people don't know who Matt is, he's the third owner now. He also went to Bates College, he's my brother (Ross), he's an old-timer, 27, and in danger of screwing up our health insurance situation, and he likes to drink tepid water, which I find bizarre, and quite disturbing.
*side note: attend a DCB festival, next one's in the fall. Absolutely worth the price of admission, you won't regret it.
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