Cold Weather Trading / Winter Shipping Thread

Have you suspended shipping beer during this most recent cold snap?

 

It was -20 here a cpl days ago. I'm holding off on sending a shipment to CA until it's above 0 at least, if not warmer

At -20, your beer WILL freeze and it will break the bottle, and not in days but hours or less.

 

nah, i just load up the box with some hot charcoals to keep the beer warm in transit.

 

I sure did. It was -13 in Iowa on Monday. 23 degrees in my garage. Figured if my garage is 23 degrees (and its connected to a heated home), a shipping truck / depo will be even colder.

 

Yes. And the cold snap before that in MN that's stretched back to about Thanksgiving.

 

Damn is been cold, I hate to ship if it's below mid 20s. I have a few boxes to get out but shipping into the NE is almost impossible .

 

Sent out a few boxes today...High of 25 here...Tomorrow 36 and the weekend in the 40's.....

 

Couple questions regarding frozen beer - apologies if this is duplicative with other threads, but I didn't see answers elsewhere.

How can you tell if beer you received froze in transit? Obviously if the bottle is broken or it's frozen upon receipt, those are clear signs. But is it possible the beer froze and thawed without bursting bottles or pushing off caps?

I'm curious about this because I recently received a box of about 17 beers, 4 of which had leaked 1/3 of their contents though the bottles are still intact and the caps in place. I know that the box sat in Chicago for 4 or 5 days due to the cold weather - it was supposed to have shipped before the polar vortex weather swept in. All the beers that leaked were between 5.9% and 7.5% but there were some beers that didn't leak which were in the 6% - 8% range. I'm assuming that the bottles leaked due to freezing temps. Is that a fair assumption or is it possible they were just poorly capped? If they did leak due to freezing temps, should I be worried that the bottles which didn't leak have had their quality impacted by the low temps?

Appreciate the help here. I'm not sure how to approach my trading partner until I understand the facts better.

 

I just shipped a box to Rhode Island and Iowa. No issue . Got two growlers from Maryland that took four days instead of 3, no issues.

 

I received a few boxes a week or so ago and they were two day ships. I dare to say in another day those beers would have been lost, they were ice cold and I could have easily just popped them and drink them right out of the box. This week I would not ship anywhere, next week its going to be back into the single digits again. As an example destination Fl, I have no idea where that box is going after I drop it off. I know where it's supposed to end up but if they go thru cold weather en route I could lose the beer.

 

These wise words bear repeating.

Anybody who trades this week (or next, looks like) is begging for busted up bottles.

 

I have some Abrasive on order for Super Bowl from france44, I ordered them a week ago, no way I get them for the game.

 

The way things are going in MN, you may not get them until April.

 

I was hoping a hole would open up, but it doesn't look good. If I would have foreseen this I would have sat on those HT's instead of drinking all but 1 lonely can. It's 13 degrees here right now last sun it was 60+.

 

Its a pretty shitty time of the year to ship right now. Arrrgh stupid polar vortex.

 

It's not the best idea, but not impossible if you're smart about it. Be aware of your shipping times, where the box moves through and overnight lows. I just completed a trade this week with a tiny little window where temps climbed a bit for a couple days. Short shipping windows help, I wouldn't send anything that would be in the mail for more than 2 days, personally.

 

Those inbound boxes I got would not have survived a 3 day ship. I have two ships pending, and there's no way in the world I'm shipping them until its in the mid 20's at the lowest.

 

I just got 2 boxes in today, 1 from GA took 2 days & 1 from RI took 3 days. Both boxes arrived without any issues with the contents inside, bottles don't look frozen at all & cans aren't bulging, but I will say that I worked from home so that I could grab them literally 2 min after they were placed on the porch despite FedEx never knocking on my door when they deliver.
It is currently 8 degrees and -13 with the wind chill. One of the keys is having someone at the house when that box is delivered so that it doesn't sit for a period of time out in the elements

 

I'm only shipping to CA for the next two weeks or so - and I put notifications on all incomings. My neighbor is a stay at home mom and she can grab that box from my porch within minutes.

Have completed trades recently with WA and NY as well without issue. I also only ship on Monday typically, no risk of that box sitting somewhere over a weekend that way.

Cheers!

 

I forgot to mention this & it's huge! I've had about 4 trades over the last month that I had the sender wait until the next Mon or Tue to ship instead of sending on a Wed or Thur hoping it gets to me in time. I also had a couple of CA traders send my box on Thur or Fri so that it sits over the weekend someplace warm & gets to me the next Wed or Thur.
You want that beer as quick as possible to try but it's more important that it gets there in one piece