In anticipation of possibly starting to trade beer, I did a test run. I sent myself some Prairie Artisan Ales from OK to OH. Sent via UPS. Packaged a few in a styro shipper and some others just bubble wrap and packing peanuts. The bottles arrived fine, no leaks, but they look shaken to hell. I was kinda pissed because I labelled the thing "This side up" and told them it was fragile, but it arrived with no "Fragile" sticker and both boxes were upside down. I did a little searching and saw some mentions of this sort of thing on the forum and nobody seems concerned, just a few replies to leave it in the fridge for a few days and it'll be fine. My question, is this just a really common thing and everyone knows about it? If I ship some bottles to somebody and it arrives in a similar fashion are they going to freak out? Again, does this just happen? Or should I do something different? Side note: They arrived very cold, but not frozen. I had kinda forgot about it being too cold to ship. How do other people address that?
I don't think anyone would really be upset about the bottles being shaken up. I don't think it has any long term effect on the beer. The beer is going to get pretty shaken just from what it is going through on the trip over. I wouldn't worry about it.
"This side up" & "Fragile" doesn't mean anything to shipping companies. Pack it like hell and let it sit if it concerns you. I have opened a few bottles right when I received them and nothing was wrong with them. Welcome to trading,
Most times "fragile" and "this side up" don't even matter. The bottles are going to be shaken up either way. The real killer is the temperature. I try to insulate using newspaper, but who really knows if that makes a big difference. If you want to trade with confidence wait for a break in the weather and hold your package at a FedEx or UPS location
I can't even take a sixer out to my car from the beer store without shaking them. It's understood that it happens, it's all good and as @mlhyatt said doesn't seem to affect the beer any.
I'm not 100% sure FedEx drivers pay attention to those labels (got this box a few weeks ago) Any box being shipped is going to get shaken. As its being handled at drop off, in the truck driving across the country, as its being moved from truck to truck, and as its being delivered to you. I've never personally seen any negative consequences from this, so I wouldn't worry too much. But I also wouldn't put much faith in those stickers making a damn bit of difference either
Every time that I have dropped a box off for pick up with FedEx that has "Fragile" or "This Side Up" stickers on it they immediately warn me/inform me that, since a lot of the sorting at hubs are now automated, there is no way that they can guarantee either. I've never had an issue though. As long as they aren't literally throwing the box around and the box is packed properly, everything will be fine.
I don't worry about marking my boxes "This Side Up". I feel like the box is going to be set on the truck any old way they can get it on there. I don't mark my boxes "Fragile" either. To me, it's as if you're labeling the box "Kick Me". Besides, boxes get tossed and fly down conveyors, etc. Shaken seems as if it's part of the shipping process.
Bottles get shaken up and boxes tossed all around during shipping. It happens. As a general rule, I wait 24 hours minimum to drink any beers shipped to me or that got loose in my trunk and were rolling around. For any special beers or those known to contain any sort or sediment/particulate etc I wait at least 5 days.
My only issue with this is when bottles get packed loose in styro shippers and the bouncing around abrades the labels, sometimes almost completely off
Beer shaking: no worries, as mentioned above. Shipping brew during the winter months: most BAs will watch the weather and avoid shipping if the weather will be at or below zero. If there is any hint of sub-zero temps most will just delay the trade. It is difficult to time when the package may arrive so that could mean hours on an outdoor porch or front step. Common sense.
Definitely disagree! 'This side up' and 'Fragile' mean quite a lot to shipping companies! 'This side up' = Make absolutely certain that this side is NOT up 'Fragile' = Make certain to hit this box with a forklift and possibly drop it off the sorting line at least once. I had a friend that worked at Fedex/UPS (I think it was UPS, but its been over a decade now) in the sortation area sometimes. He said his best day ever was when a box of bats busted open and they sorted all the boxes by hitting them with bats
Good post here. I recently made the mistake of opening a Tilquin about three hours from being delivered and the results weren't good. Gonna start waiting now.
In regard to your question about temperature, beer freezes somewhere between 26F or 30F or so, depending on the ABV and original gravity (ABV lowers the freezing point, OG slightly raises it, but not nearly as much as the associated ABV lowers it). Plus, depending on what you ship in and how cold it is, beer would need to spend a couple hours/up to a day in that temperature to actually freeze. It's definitely something to check (which means you also need to check the Fedex/UPS routes in between as it'll be spending a decent amount of time there) during the winter, but most of the country doesn't have huge problems. If you're shipping to Minnesota... yeah, check the weather VERY closely In regard to the beer being shaken, the vibration from the truck is probably much, much worse than any bumps taken from mishandling (assuming a bottle doesn't break). In that regard you aren't much different from a beer distributor as they get their beer in by truck as well. However, assuming the cap isn't leaking the CO2 doesn't really have anywhere to go but into the headspace of the bottle, and even there can only fit so much CO2. I don't bother waiting to open bottles typically. If there's an IPA in a box I'll often have it chilled and opened within an hour or two of the box landing. Certainly isn't going to hurt giving it a day or two if you want though. ETA: Missed @evilcatfish 's point about sediment. I really only open IPAs right away, pretty much anything else I leave around for a while, mainly because I usually don't want to drink it right then anyway. I'd agree that if there's sediment in the bottle, you need to give it a couple days to settle down.
