Beer Cans

Attempts to can beer before 1930 were unsuccessful. What made canning beer difficult was that the beer can had to be able to withstand pressures over eighty pounds per square inch (psi). Food products require between twenty five and thirty psi. A greater challenge was finding a can lining to protect the beer from what brewers called metal turbidity, a chemical reaction that ruined the beer. The American Can Company developed a breakthrough in 1934 when it produced the flat, or punch-top, can with a lining made from “Vinylite,” a Union Carbide product. The package was trademarked as “Keglined” on 25 September 1934.