When is it too cold to ship?

What Kind of beer are you shipping?

 

Too cold, hold off. I have a couple of trades now where we are holding off on shipping.

 

I would wait till it's not so cold. No need to loose any good beer on account of weather.

 

I often feel that concern over shipping during winter is exaggerated, but the current conditions do warrant holding off. It was -22 at my house this AM and I feel this could cause damage fairly quickly.

When it is twenty degrees and above I am not that concerned personally. I have received hundreds of boxes at these temperatures and never had any damage from cold. They do arrive nicely chilled and ready to drink though!

Either way this is a personal choice and you should not ship if either you or the package recipient feel that damage may occur.

 

With where you live and all those trades, great data points for people who ask this question.

 

So, everything that everyone said above is great. High ABV bottled stouts is certainly different from canned low iPAs. Still, cold is cold and you should be cautious.

I normally do not ship in cold weather like this. I did send a shipment Tuesday from Indiana to Mass - All 11-14% ABV bottles. it has been and is cold. In hind sight I wish I had not because of how cold it has been, but the person I am sending to seemed comfortable with it, and they have more experience than I do, so I am trusting this.

More data points.

 

I like to see highs above freezing and lows above 20F. This is based on absolutely nothing other than a wild guess I made and have stuck with since I've never had a problem with freezing. I'm simply not in enough of a rush to push it more than that. Most of my packages are going due south so they don't have to hang out in my lovely weather for long.

 

Lots of threads on this ever-popular topic. Here's a re-post of mine from 2012:

Shipping when it's below freezing is never perfectly safe.

However, I've traded throughout Minnesota winters for several years with only a single incoming casualty. Ask yourself a few questions before you ship:
- How cold is it? My rule of thumb is no single digits while the box is traveling.
- Where's it going? If it's 50 in NY & 70 in CA, it just might go through Chicago...
- What you trading? Hi ABV beers will survive when that 4% session beer explodes.
- Who's home? Once it arrives, get it inside.
- When you sending? In the winter never, ever, ever ship anything if it's not Monday.
- Weekends are killers...see above. Don't let anything sit in a truck over the weekend.
- How valuable is it? Save those bottles of KBBS or BA Dark Lord for spring or fall.

There you go. Your results may vary, but I've only had one incoming bottle & zero outgoing bottles kill in the past 10 winters. Watch the weather, pack well, send on Monday, you *should* be OK.

Side note: I too am currently holding off on a trade. Negative temps here in MN at night (& sometimes for highs, too) is waaaaaaaay too cold to ship beer.

 

Well said and very valuable information for people!

 

Anyone know which Fed Ex hub(s) a package would go to leaving Detroit heading out west to NM? If it was heading South East it would go through Perrysburg OH and I am assuming it would go through Chicago first? In theory, my packages 2nd stop is what I am most worried about since it would spend very little time in Michigan and on a truck. It is the layover I am mostly concerned about. If the 2nd stop was even further South the better.

 

Thanks for the report!

Did any of them freeze (seemingly completely) even if they did not explode?

 

Thanks! I just reread your other post and realized I missed the "(Frozen)/(Slushy)/(liquid)" at the end. Sorry about that.

 

Are you planning on drinking these cans/bottles? I'd be interested to see if you thought the carbonation/flavor/etc. was changed due to the freeze.

 

I just got word that my box of stouts (all 10-14% ABV, maybe all 12-14%) arrived Safe and Sound to Mass (at a toasty 3 degrees outside). Details:

7 stouts in a sturdy box shipped via Fed Ex from Indiana. Was a high of 18, low of 8 the day shipped. Dipped colder the next day (low of 0). Left Chicago the next morning. Arrived in PA, then to CT, then to Mass. was a high in Mass of 12 and a low of 0 yesterday. Not sure if the temps in between.

By no means were these obviously extreme temperatures (no high of 0 each and every day), but this was cold. Quite cold.

Hope this helps others.