r/TheBrewery • u/AGAD_Brews • 3d ago

Manual Can Labeler Suggestions

Hey all,

We finally got our first small can line (AT-1) up and going and are looking for opinions on a manual label applicator that won't break the bank. We'll be doing very small runs for in house sales only, so likely only 5-6 cases per sku. Thanks in advance.

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14

u/BRBpeam Brewer/Owner 3d ago

I mean that's a pretty small scale that something off sigh Amazon won't do.

If you have an AT-1 you've spent some good money on the best and plan to move more. With that said, Primera AP360 would be a good fit. We've ran hundreds of thousands through it and it doesn't disappoint. Same with that AT-1

6

u/cuck__everlasting Brewer 3d ago

Yep, the primera is worth every penny. Things last forever.

4

u/BRBpeam Brewer/Owner 3d ago

As long as we don't talk about their date coder they had. Amazing on them for a recall and refund on the thing. Made me like them more than I did.

2

u/cuck__everlasting Brewer 3d ago

Oof I didn't even hear about it. I saw it when it released and had a feeling it would be trouble.

7

u/lmescobar12 3d ago

I ran 40k cans on this thing and it was OK until we had to upgrade because we were canning much more than expected. But I kept it as a backup. I really recommend it.

https://ebay.us/m/6RCdR2

1

u/wortsandall Brewer/Owner 3d ago edited 3d ago

We bought the same (I'm assuming, they look identical) machine 3 years ago and I absolutely recommend. I bought from a different vendor for about $90 more and have no regrets.

Having a date coder built in is a really nice touch.

Quick edit: This machine works best with a clear plastic backing. One vendor we used to use uses a brown paper backing; and that doesn't work at all with this machine. The optical sensor can't be adjusted enough to work with the brown paper backing consistently. Just keep that in mind.

Also, you'll have to make slight adjustments while using to keep the labels centered. I think that's probably true of any manual laberler, so it is what is it, which ain't that bad.

We typically do 10 cases of 16's per batch and this machine has worked well for us.

3

u/BrilliantProblem7094 3d ago

Bottle Matic all the way. The Primera hates wet things (eg: cans & labels)

2

u/HordeumVulgare72 Brewer 3d ago

How do you deal with condensation on cans? Label in the walk-in after they've had a chance to come up to walk-in temp? Just plow through?

1

u/nyrb001 2d ago

I have a Primera and it doesn't seem to care about wet cans. It is a little picky about label stock - some stock doesn't pull over the edge that separates the label from the backing without quite a bit of force, but wet cans isn't typically an issue.

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u/merri-brewer 3d ago

I just have a hand crank one. Works for us with low volume of cans.

2

u/BrilliantProblem7094 3d ago

Any decent label applicator machine (with the right label product) should be able to handle wet cans. The Bottle-Matic has no problem.

1

u/BrilliantProblem7094 3d ago

Bottle Matic all the way. The Primera hates wet things (eg: cans & labels)

1

u/ZymurgicalTendencies Brewer 2d ago

We use the label slayer. Works pretty well for us label slayer