Need shipping advice on keeping beer cold

Tip 1
Dont ship them in the summer

 

It may not be what you want to hear, but it is the best advice you are going to get.
You can back the beer in Styrofoam with dry ice. But it is still going to sit in a red hot warehouse, red hot truck and/or on a porch. If you ship those beers in the summer you are taking a risk of exploding cans.

 

While I Generally agree with @SammyJaxxxx that this may not be what you want to hear, I disagree about the "redhot" part. Being in a truck it probably won't be red hot, just like in the wintertime it is not sub-zero, even when it is negative 20 outside. Unless you ship during a time where the box might sit (eg over a weekend), it's unlikely (to me) that your box will ever be in an environment that is hotter than 80ish degrees for longer than several hours. What's inside your box is unlikely to be hotter than that for an extended period (again, IMO).

I'll gladly ship during the summer - even sours - but I would never let them sit on a weekend, and i would avoid some particularly brutally hot periods if it can wait.

If you have any real concern, I agree with Sammy to just wait. It's not worth the loss or the cost of spending an additional... $20-50??? To do this.

 

What are you shopping that "needs to remain cold?"

 

You are getting these responses because anyone that tells you a beer needs to be kept as cold as possible to keep from exploding is either lying, does not know what they are talking about (i.e. Ignorant of the truth), OR the brewery bottling/canning in question is doing something wrong.

Every beer should be able to sit at room temperature indefinitely (65-75 degrees). Further, there's no good reason that nearly all beers can't sit at 75-85 for short periods of time.

True that beers with active cultures (sour beers bottle conditioned are the ones people normally think of - especially cork and cage) can be at risk. So, people just don't ship them if they are worried. But they do not have to "be kept as cold as possible."

If you think we are all crazy and/or full of shit, then packing cold isn't rocket science. Pay exorbitant costs and use styrFoam and dry ice. OR, ship next day with ice packs.

 

I use a double wrap of bubble wrap which provides some level of insulation as well as protection and I don't ship late on Friday if there is a chance the package will sit in a warehouse over the weekend. Also I don't ship any so beer so valuable that it requires special packaging or overnight shipping.

 

Maybe put the beer in a cooler with ice packs in the box? IDK how long that would last. How much beer are you shipping that you want to keep cold? How many shipping days will it be to the destination?

 

There's also a ton of videos on Facebook with people posting them blowing up............ People were giving you honest advice and that reply comes off snarky man. Most likely, 95% of those people trading joose/veil fruits and shipping those aren't doing anything special. They're sending them and hoping they make it without issue, however, that's only the first step because the receiver has to open it still and face a good chance of a beer explosion. Things happen. I recently had an issue with a beer that leaked 1/4 the bottle. The brewery ended up posting about an issue with that specific beer, but I also traded for another one at the same time and that one had no issue. The best bet on what would work best is a Styrofoam cooler and dry ice if it's a two day shipping time. I'd put it in a bit bigger heavy duty box and probably pack newspaper all around it to make it as insulated as possible. Then make sure the receiver is someone who can snag the box right away rather than getting home at 8pm when the box was delivered at 11am.

 

IMO there is probably something wrong with their process if things are exploding.

I had 2 450 north cans explode on me. Both were IPAs sitting at room temp.

That should not happen - like, at all. Never had that happen with any other brewery. The fact that other people are finding this is further evidence that they have a problem.

 

I think the take away is that it really isn't practical or cost effective to send a refrigerated box. It's definitely discouraged to do so, however, things to keep in mind are this.

1) Time is not your friend, the longer the box is exposed to the elements, the more likely it will be that your cold source will stop working.

2) You have to insulate well, the better job you do, the longer it will last.

3) Communication is key, shipping at the right time and making sure the other party moves fast when receiving will make all the difference in a successful venture.

I would recommend a heavy duty box lined with an air tight Styrofoam core can work. Pack the Styrofoam liner with the beer and dry ice. Seal the liner with tape and reinforce to ensure that it stays air tight. If that seal breaks, it's over. This is how the cheesecake factory would send cakes through the mail and it stayed cold for up to 3-4 days. However, they always ship overnight to ensure cold delivery so you can't cheap out.

Hope this helps

 

How many days of travel time to you expect and how much volume are you sending?

I sent a package that I wanted to arrive cold so they could be drank right away. I bought a $5 dollar cooler that held 8 cans (16oz). I put a few ice packs in the cooler with the beer and packed the whole cooler in a box. Took 2 days and was cold. Didn't add much to costs.

The insulated boxes from food delivery services also seem like they would work well for this. I get them (re-purposed for beer) via a trade once in a while.

 

You could always use a Yeti cooler to ship. Then again by that point your container is more expensive then the beer in it...unless you're shipping some Tree House.

 

I didn't bother to read the comments, but if you have to ship beer that's cold (which is strange in itself) throw some cheap frozen vegetables in the box. It'll also provide a little extra padding