TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Signing on to be Michigan Mobile Canning's first customer was a "no-brainer" for the owner of Right Brain Brewery, Russell Springsteen.

The canning company, based on a 16-foot box truck loaded with sleeve-wrap labeled cans and a Wild Goose Canning Technologies MC-250 modified system designed to can beers, is being launched this year to provide smaller breweries with an on-site canning line.

Springsteen, who opened the Traverse City-based brewery in 2007, was at a crossroads last year when his brewery was outgrowing its former 2,500-square-foot facility. In order to continue growing, he decided to close shop during the summer of 2012 to expand into a new 18,000-square-foot facility.

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“I lost a lot of money after being down for so long, but we were capped where we were at and I kept people employed instead,” said Springsteen, 44. “I am fresh out of $125,000 for a new canning line. I don’t have the money laying around and this canning line will help a lot. People think it’s a risk, but I think it’s proven and brewers are already using it out west.”

Right Brain will be Michigan Mobile Canning’s first customer, when the canning truck arrives in June. Right Brain’s Will Power Pale Ale, CEO Stout and Northern Hawk Owl Amber will be among the first brews to be canned later this year.

The brewery is currently using a labor-intensive bottling system that is plenty “fun” but is mostly slow and expensive.

“This is a total game changer. It's going to allow me to grow distribution more, which is something I’ve lacked,” Springsteen said. “People are going to see more Right Brain in cans than bottles by the end of the year.”

Springsteen said Right Brain has seen sales grow by about 40 percent every year. Last year, with the three-month closure, they sold about 2,300 barrels of beer. The brewery is aiming to sell 5,000 barrels in 2013.

The brewery recently began distributing in Ann Arbor and Marquette and plans to start shipping to Wayne County by May.

“This totally changed my plan,” Springsteen said of the canning line. “I can spend that money on other items I need. I think it will work awesome.”

Contact Ursula Zerilli at uzerilli@mlive.com or 269-254-5295. Follow her on twitter.