flying with beer

quixotic · May 12, 2008

I'd like to pack some homebrew with me on an upcoming flight back home, but security only lets you bring a few ounces of liquid on the plane now. So I believe that checking it in is my only option (short of mailing).

I was wondering if anyone has experience with packing bottled home brews in their check-in luggage.

Is this a bottle bomb waiting to happen

, or am I good to go? Maybe a growler (or any other twist off) would be better? Thought/ideas?

Revvy · May 12, 2008

Bottle them in Pete bottles.

You can get them from most LHBS's or online....even through mrbeer.com since they include them with their kits...

quixotic · May 12, 2008

thanks. Luckily, it's kegged right now, so no problem filling to a plastic bottle. Good idea, I think I might have a few of those laying around.

mullimat · May 12, 2008

I've never brought homebrews on flights with me (haven't flown anywhere since i've been in the hobby). But i can speak for commercial beers in which i have never had a problem bringing a few bottles in my checked luggage. Just make sure you pack them good. Meaning plenty of clothes in between bottles. Sounds kinda ghetto but i normally just roll them up in some tshirts or something. And i've done this flying all over the world. Never had a bottle break.

Bokonon · May 12, 2008

Whenever I fly I always take beers with me. Usually homebrew out wherever I am going and some commercial beer back with me. Generally what I do is put each beer in a nice fluffy sock and then wrap them all in clothes so they cant possible bang into each other. When I first started doing this I always put the clothes/towels with the beer in them in a garbage bag in case of an accident but I've never had a problem with it.

On occasions where I don't have much luggage and have lots of beer to bring I'll just wrap up beer just like I would ship it and check that. A full case of beer weighs about 32lbs (the case I just filled up with various beers weighed that), so even with good packing it would be under their 50lbs limit. If its in a separate package I'd try to keep it under 25lbs just to be safe.

SteveM · May 12, 2008

Bokonon said:
Whenever I fly I always take beers with me. Usually homebrew out wherever I am going and some commercial beer back with me. Generally what I do is put each beer in a nice fluffy sock and then wrap them all in clothes so they cant possible bang into each other. When I first started doing this I always put the clothes/towels with the beer in them in a garbage bag in case of an accident but I've never had a problem with it.

On occasions where I don't have much luggage and have lots of beer to bring I'll just wrap up beer just like I would ship it and check that. A full case of beer weighs about 32lbs (the case I just filled up with various beers weighed that), so even with good packing it would be under their 50lbs limit. If its in a separate package I'd try to keep it under 25lbs just to be safe.

Unfortunately, many domestic carriers are now charging for an extra piece of checked baggage - usually about $40.

Brew-boy · May 12, 2008

I travel all the time and I do what others have said, wrap them in your suitcase never had a problem yet. What I would do is weigh your suitcase before you leave and then weigh a 12oz bottle so you know how heavy you can be without paying the over weigh fine.

Jared311 · May 12, 2008

I packed 18 homebrews into one duffel bag and luckily every single one survived. I wrapped each bottle with paper towels and placed them in sixers. This prevented them from tapping each other. Then I wrapped each sixer in a large bath towel and finally I stuffed the excess space on all sides of the duffel bag with a couple of blankets. When wrapping the sixers I made sure to stuff well in between the bottle necks as well. Good luck!

RodfatherX · May 12, 2008

SteveM said:
Unfortunately, many domestic carriers are now charging for an extra piece of checked baggage - usually about $40.

Only $25 with NWA

I heard they are also going to start charging you $10-15 for requesting a window window seat

raceskier · May 12, 2008

I've traveled several times with crown capped homebrew in my luggage. Last summer, traveling in warm weather, I had about a 25% rate of leaking bottles. (My underwear smelled of chocolate stout!) Could have been a coincidence, but no problems at all in cooler weather. Since then I've put each bottle in a ziploc before wrapping in clothes.

steinsato · Feb 19, 2010

Revvy said:
Bottle them in Pete bottles.

You can get them from most LHBS's or online....even through mrbeer.com since they include them with their kits...[/QUOTE

I suppose these PET bottles need to have the brand new caps on them to prove that they have not been opened and tampered with? I usually just use previously used caps for my PET bottles but when it comes to flying with them I wonder if they need to be the brand new caps.

flying with beer

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