PITTSBURGH -- Temporary layoffs have been announced at the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, which is the maker of Iron City Beer.

But the decision by the brewer in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood has nothing to with the current state of the economy.

There is a problem with the production line that turns out cans of Iron City Beer. Starting on March 1, as many as 30 workers will be temporarily laid off until the problem can be fixed.

"Starting and stopping with our line, it's not very productive. And it's a problem we have to solve," said Iron City Brewing President Tim Hickman.

The good news for the company is that it will just make cans of Iron City Beer somewhere else.

High Falls Brewing -- based in Rochester, N.Y, and best known for Genesee and Original Honey Brown Lager -- will take over Iron City's canning for 30 to 90 days.

"This is not unusual in a manufacturing or a mechanical setting to have these kinds of issues bring a production line down. Rolling Rock's experienced it in the past. Matt Brewing has experienced it in the past," Hickman said. "It's also not unusual for us to take our recipes and our brewmaster and go to a contract facility to temporarily brew our product."

The bad news is that 20 to 30 of the brewery's 81-person work force will be on a week-on, week-off work schedule.

Iron City Brewing hopes to have the problem solved within one to three months. The company is also hopeful that a possible Steelers Super Bowl win will increase sales.

While many businesses are facing tough economic times, Iron City reports a spike in sales. Iron City Beer sales are up 20 percent and sales of Augustiner, which it also makes, are up 250 percent.