When is it too cold to ship?

I'm in agreement with the above posts. I'm comfortable with temps in the 20's. I hold off when the high temps are in the teens. But you should only do what you feel comfortable with. I would also ship early in the week to insure it does not sit over a weekend.

It looks like I have 25 plus trades between December and February last winter, never had any damage caused by freezing.

 

Also, just a note - you can do some reasonable guestimation as to whether a shipment will sit. In one case, I asked a shipper to ship on a Saturday because the expected travel time was exactly the same as when shipping on a Monday, and it was going to be 3 days. So, I preferred him shipping it Saturday than waiting until Monday so that if there WAS a delay for some reason, it would be LESS likely to sit in a warehouse AFTER the delay.

 

That's a pretty odd route, for sure.

No point in worrying now, but - my experience this winter has taught me a few things. Generally, cans are pretty resilient in the cold. I have had one bomber bottle (of a DIPA) leak while in transit - but, that bottle sat in significantly below zero (fahrenheit, that is) weather for a couple of days during a snow storm. Cans have all been perfect, no incidents.

So - I'd suggest you not worry just yet. My guess is, it will almost certainly be alright. If it's not - well, cross that bridge when you get to it.

 

I understand the concern! Take this as a data point. I live in Minnesota - pretty much every beer that reaches market sits in either a freezing warehouse and truck, or in a stiflingly hot warehouse and truck. Do the radical temperature changes and sometimes frozen state have an effect on the taste and consistency of a beer? Possibly. I sincerely doubt that it will be a factor though.

Again - there's really nothing to be done about it now. If it survives, drink it and enjoy it. If you have doubts about it, make another trade or work with your partner to make it right.

 

I'd be concerned putting the can of 8% into the freeezer at 0degrres F for a full 24 hours. If you read above, I don't believe that would at all replicate the conditions a package experiences, not one that is sitting in a warehouse where the OUTSIDE temperature is 12.

I'd bet dollars to dohnuts your 8% can explodes in the freezer for 24 hours.

 

Oh, I gotcha. I suppose what I heard in my heard differed from the words written. Sorry about that.

 

FWIW, we had a bad couple of weeks here in the states a while back with many posting here. I don't recall and reports of exploded cans.

The warehouses (shipping hubs) the beer spend the night in are heated. They all have sprinkler systems with 0% abv water. if these warehouses were that cold, sprinkler systems pipes would be bursting all over the place.

They are only exposed to the elements when they are in the back of the truck going from point A to point B.

You'll be fine @Snowcrash000

 

I agree with those saying beer will most likely be fine. Warehouse isn’t 12 degrees. People work in there. Boxes are not sitting outside.

 

Once upon a time - it might have been years ago - someone who worked for FedEx used to hang around here, & said that the bulk of trucks do not spend the night indoors. Which makes sense if you think about it. Unless the box is at a hub & being actively swapped from one truck to another, the trucks aren't going to be inside, moving or not.

That said, 12 degrees is borderline, but hardly beer killing. It would meet my threshold for shipping. I suspect you will be OK.

 

I was figuring they are in a warehouse at the airport pre loading for a flight, but I don’t know for certain that’s how it’s done.

 

Not a chance either of them survives a night in the freezer. I can get a can of soda to ice-cold temps in 2 hours in the freezer, maybe less. They'll freeze for sure. Put them inside a trash bag or even better, a gallon Ziploc bag. To contain the mess when they burst.

 

I've been doing an experiment all winter long that I thought I would share.

I have a mostly drank plastic bottle of water I left sitting in the cup holder of my car for the past 3 months. Probably had about 3oz of water in it. Despite the crazy cold temperatures we've had this winter, the bottle has only frozen once.

(All daytime - sunlight could be a factor)
It survived many 4-12 hour stretches at between 10-32F. It survived a 9 hour stretch at 0-2F without freezing. The very next day, it froze in a 0-2F 9 hour stretch. I assume from already getting close to freezing the day before. From there it stayed frozen for about a week, even as temps increased (but not past freezing point).

The biggest thing I learned from this experiment, is that how long the item is exposed to the temp plays a big part. So, you'll want to consider if you are shipping a state away vs cross country.

My gut is that we are probably overly cautious when shipping beer. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.

 

Any updates on your package?

 

That's interesting. I've had a half-case of water bottles in my car for months, and there was a solid week it was in the 40s during the day, and the bottles remained frozen until near the end of the week. I mean, on average it sounds like we have had a colder winter than you (which I am again surprised about), but this still seems odd. I'm very surprised by this. I wonder if there's something else that might be influencing it.