Shipped a few double IPA's to Sweden via a trade. Looking to hear some ideas on keeping IPA's cold during transit for any future trades, especially since IPA's are best kept cold. I knew ice packs wouldn't last long and dry ice would freeze the beer. Also there's the issue of the package getting wet.
I wouldn't worry about it. Beer is exposed to varying temperatures as it goes from brewery to store anyway. A few more days on the road (as such) isn't going to do the beer any harm.
A simple way to manage this situation is to solely ship your beers during the non-hot times of the year. For example, trade your IPAs during the late fall or early spring. it is unlikely the beer would experience hot temperatures then. Cheers!
Actually, I just shipped a couple crowlers of IPAs from The Answer here in Richmond and was worried about this exact thing. The crowlers were filled frosty cold (as they should be) and from everything I heard before, once cold a beer should stay cold. However, I did some research online and it appears that while large temperature fluctuations while increase the rates of oxidation, this is not the primary factor that accelerates "skunking". The primary factor to beer skunking is light exposure - which is exacerbated in high hop profile beers. All wrapped up in your packaging this shouldn't be an issue (and definitely not in a crowler). That being said @JackHorzempa is right - avoid shipping your beer during the hottest months of the year or step-up to the fastest shipping you can afford and ask your recipient of said fine India Pale Ale to be ready to accept shipment.
The actual 'problem' with beer staling is not so much the fluctuations of beer temperature but the level of hot temperature the beer is exposed to. In other words if a beer goes from 40 degrees F to 60 degrees F many times that is not a big issues. if the beer spends some time at 100 degrees F that is a big issue. Heat 'kills' beer. The aspect of skunking is a separate issue for beer going stale. A beer shipped in a box will suffer zero skunking. Cheers!
What I always do is make sure to ship first day of the week so it doesn't sit in a trailer or train over the weekend.
