A brewery packaging line is shorter than the lines in a large beverage plant, runs fewer cases per minute, and has to switch between formats far more often. A taproom brewery may fill 12-ounce cans in the morning, 16-ounce cans after lunch, and 750-milliliter bottles the next day, then pack all of them into carriers, four-packs, six-packs, and variety packs. The sections below follow that reality: the containers and packs, what small-batch operation does to equipment choices, and a stack that can be built in stages. The page belongs to the packaging industries section and is closely related to beverage packaging automation, which describes larger lines.
Packaging chain overview
A brewery might run a can line, a bottle line, a keg line, or any combination. On the can side, empties arrive on pallets, go through a depalletizer or a manual unload into a rinser, and then reach a filler and seamer. Bottles are rinsed, filled, capped, and labeled. Many small breweries run one flexible line for both and change over between them.
The filled containers are then grouped into the unit a store, bar, or distributor handles. Four-packs, six-packs, and twelve-packs in carriers or cartons are common, as are shrink-wrapped multipacks of larger cans and corrugated cases with partitions for bottles. After that the end of line covers case forming, packing, sealing, labeling, palletizing, and stretch wrapping.
A trade source on craft beverage packaging describes the end of line as everything from case forming through load stabilization that gets filled, labeled containers ready to ship. It notes that many producers automate one step first and add the rest as volume and budget grow. That is a good guide to planning a brewery line: a sequence of stages, with space and controls reserved for the next step.
Typical containers and packages
Cans come in 12-ounce and 16-ounce sizes, with larger sizes such as 19.2-ounce and 24-ounce cans in use. A bundler supplier describes dedicated equipment for breweries packaging 3-packs and multipacks of large cans such as tallboys, stovepipes, and king cans. Print-registered shrink film is one way to make branded multipacks without cartons or trays.
Glass means standard longnecks and larger 750-milliliter bottles. They need partitions, careful transfers, and heavier-duty conveying. Kegs are filled on a separate line, are heavy, and are palletized as unit loads. This page covers them only briefly.
Paperboard carriers, plastic can carriers, and fold-over cartons hold four, six, or twelve cans or bottles. Regular slotted cases suit glass and mixed packs, and open trays with shrink film suit cans where retail display allows.
When pack formats are many, the pattern list for the case packer and palletizer becomes the real constraint. A case packer that handles two or three footprints quickly is worth more than one that is fast at a single case.
Key challenges
Small-batch changeovers
Large producers run one product for hours. A brewery runs short batches of several beers on the same line, each with its own label, carton, and sometimes container. A trade source notes that a typical craft brewery might handle 12-ounce and 16-ounce cans, 750-milliliter bottles, and four-pack, six-pack, and variety-pack formats, at times all within one week. Equipment designed for one format struggles with that mix, so tool-free or recipe-based changeover often matters more than headline speed.
Glass and cans on the same line
Cans are light, stackable, and tolerant of mass conveying, but they dent if packs are squeezed. Glass is heavier and fragile, with a breakage risk at every transfer. Lines that run both often need two sets of change parts or two dedicated conveyor paths. The bottle conveyors page describes how single-file and mass flow differ, and the bottle handling application page covers container-level considerations.
Partitions for glass
For glass bottle lines, a trade source calls partition inserters a critical companion to the case packer, since the dividers keep bottles from touching in transit and cut the product lost to hand handling. Where partitions are used, the case packer must place bottles into cells without chipping them, and the case erector must form cases accurately enough for dividers to seat.
Limited floor space
Many breweries are in converted warehouses or compact sites where fermentation tanks and a taproom already use much of the floor. Equipment that fits one linear section, stacks vertically, or can be moved aside when not in use is easier to place. Planning the layout before buying machines is cheaper than altering the building afterward.
Labor and ergonomics
Craft producers often staff the end of the line with part-time or seasonal workers, which leads to variable pallet quality and a higher risk of repetitive-motion injury. A trade source cites U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data of 2.5 total recordable cases per 100 full-time employees in breweries in 2024, and points to manual palletizing as a lifting task rated highly stressful by NIOSH criteria. Those are secondary citations, so check the original figures before using them in an internal case.
Wet floors and cleaning
Brewery floors are washed down regularly, so electrical enclosures, sensors, and motors near the filler should be rated for wet environments. A packaging conveyor supplier recommends IP66 as a minimum for most food and beverage components, with higher ratings for high-pressure hot washdown. Ask what cleaning method your plant actually uses and choose accordingly.
Recommended equipment stack
Build the stack in stages, in the order that removes the biggest bottleneck first. In many plants that order is:
- Palletizing first. A compact or modular robotic palletizer matches the moderate speeds and frequent pattern changes of craft lines. A case palletizer is the right match when the pack is a case or a tray with a stable top.
- Case erector. Forming cases by hand causes downstream jams and misaligned loads, and a case erector improves reliability before product reaches the case packer.
- Case packer. A case packer places filled containers into cases, with partition insertion for glass. For several formats and compact footprints, see robotic case packing.
- Case sealer. A case sealer closes cases with tape or hot-melt adhesive, which gives consistent presentation for wholesale and retail distribution.
- Conveying and accumulation. Connect machines with case conveyors and buffer with accumulation conveyors. A trade source calls both consistently underspecified in first automation plans, and notes that insufficient accumulation lets a short upstream stop stall the whole end of line.
- Depalletizer for empties. When volume grows, a bulk depalletizer or a bottle depalletizer removes a heavy manual task at the infeed.
- Stretch wrapper. It is easy to leave out and expensive to skip, because a load that fails in distribution can wipe out the savings from the automation.
Design considerations
Line balance
A brewery filler may be the slowest machine in the plant or may outpace the end of line on a good day. Rate each machine against the filler’s output and against the longest changeover. There is no universal speed at which end-of-line automation pays off. The practical test is whether your line rate is limited by how fast people can stack, not by the filler or labeler.
Accumulation
Set up a short buffer after the filler or labeler and a pack buffer before the palletizer. Without them, a case jam stops the filler, and a filler stop wastes beer, which is usually the most expensive thing on the line. The accumulation conveyors page covers table, zone, and live-roller options.
Reject and rework
Plan for rejects such as underfilled cans, dented cans, missing labels, and bad seams. Each needs a reject path that does not mix with good product, and a rework path that keeps beer handling safe. Partially filled glass should leave the line without crossing the case packer.
Floor space
Choose machines that can sit against walls or in corners, and check pallet staging, forklift routes, and distributor pallet specifications. Modular equipment lets you reserve a space for a later machine without leaving a gap that has to be rebuilt.
Pallet requirements
Distributors specify pallet height, pattern, and wrap, and rejected pallets mean rework. Check those requirements before settling on a palletizer pattern.
Example line configuration (illustrative)
Illustrative example. A small craft brewery runs one combined can and bottle line. Empty cans are unloaded by hand at first and later by a small depalletizer. A filler and seamer feed a single-file conveyor carrying cans to a pack-forming station that places four cans into a plastic carrier. For 750-milliliter glass, a bottle filler, capper, and labeler feed the same single-file conveyor with a different set of guide rails. Both container types then move onto a conveyor with a short accumulation section. A robotic case packer picks packs or bottles into corrugated cases, with a partition inserter active only for glass. A case sealer closes the case, a short conveyor presents it to a compact robotic palletizer, and a stretch wrapper secures the finished pallet. Pattern changes are chosen from a recipe screen.
A second stage adds a bundler to pack larger cans into shrink-wrapped multipacks without cartons. This configuration is a planning sketch, not a real customer project, and speeds, formats, and layout would be set by the brewery’s actual volumes and building.
Standards and references
Beer packaging machinery falls under the same worker safety rules as other industrial equipment. OSHA’s general requirements for all machines call for guarding against hazards such as nip points and rotating parts, which applies to conveyors, bundlers, case packers, and palletizing cells. Robotic cells also need perimeter or area guarding, and the supplier and your safety team decide which method suits your plant. Lockout/tagout rules cover maintenance work.
Alcohol labeling and tax matters sit with federal and state alcohol regulators and are outside the scope of this page. For the equipment side, see the how to choose a palletizer guide, the packaging line layout guide, and the case handling application page. Larger lines are covered in beverage packaging automation, and bottle-focused lines in bottled water packaging.