Re-Cooling beer?

In a few weeks I'm taking a keg on a road trip (fantasy football draft). Naturally, I'd like the beer to be the best I can get it to be. I was going to clear and carbonate in the fridge, but it will probably warm up on the drive. Its 6 hours, and I'll probably drive a day or two before I have to be there.

Is it a bad thing to cool it, let it warm up, then re-cool it once I get into town or will that make it skunky? Am I better off trying to keep it cool the entire time by wrapping it in a blanket for the drive surrounded by cold packs then putting it in a tub with ice when I get to town? The cold packs/blanket/ice bath won't give me much temperature control, but its better than nothing.

Just wondering if anyone has tried/done this before and how it worked out.

As long as the temps don't become extreme you'll be fine. For example, don't leave it in a 160f car for a day. I'd try to keep it as cool as possible just so you don't have to spend all day cooling it again. It'll be fine.

Get a Keglove with the insert to keep it cool... You could also get/make a jokey box for dispensing that day.

I'll be bringing home brew to an annual family gathering/party in October. I plan on making a cooler based kegerator for this. I'll opt for either ice packs, or fill the voids with ice for the drive to where it is (about an hour from where I live). I expect to have kegloves for at least those two kegs by then. I'm using 2.5 and 3 gallon kegs, so it will be easier for me to do this.

If you have the option of using kegs that size, then I would. You could make a jumper line to fill the smaller keg from the larger one, leaving the sediment behind in the original keg. If that's not an option for you, then the keglove should let you get it there cool enough (they're supposed to keep the keg cool for 24 hours, with the inserts). Get spare inserts and get them into the freezer when you get where you're going. Change them when you need to after arriving.

What kind of vehicle are you using to get to the draft location? Does that place have a kegorator/keezer that you can put the keg into? If not, does the host have a trash barrel he can fill with ice around the keg once you arrive?? Small price for him to pay since you're providing quality brew for the event...

Thanks guys. I'm probably just going to go the ol' tub of ice route. I don't take kegs on the road enough to justify buying a keg sleve when I could spend that money on things like ingredients and what not. I was just worried that the beer warming up would skunk it somehow.

Some where in the book How To Brew it say's some where is there that change in temp meaning Cold to Hot / Hot to Cold will not hurt your beer in any way. Like trevorc13 extreme temps like 180fF beer wont be the bester for your your brew

Going up to 'room temp' aka in the 80's shouldn't cause any harm... If you want to keep the temps more stable, during the drive, you could get a bucket, plastic bin, or large metal bucket, and make a simple swamp cooler for the keg during transport. Use the AC in your vehicle too, to help keep temps even. You could then just transfer it to where you're spending the night, refill with ice, and continue on.

Or, build up one of the cooler based beer dispensers that is in another thread. Fill the sucker with ice (around the keg) and go with that. It should even work for when you have people pulling pints from it. I'll be building up one of those for two 3 gallon ball-lock kegs very soon. There are people who have cut the top so that 5 gallon kegs fit too.