traveling with my carboy

Hey, quick question, has anyone ever had experience transporting a carboy with them in a car over a long distance.

You see, I am looking at brewing stuff like belgian tripels and imperial stouts that require extensive carboy aging (supposedly), but I spend may through august 300 miles away, so i was wondering if i might run into any problems just taking the carboy with me in the back of the truck, so it could stay under my constant supervision rather than being left at home for 4 months.

I shouldn't think this would be a problem, but I just thought i would see if you guys had any thoughts on the matter. Thanks

i would just make sure the beer is finished fermenting before you left and then transferred to a secondary and leave it there for several months. A strong belgian ale, especially, would benefit from long aging times.

having it bounce around in a vehicle would cause too much aeration, i would think.

Get a milk crate to put it in when you travel. It will help keep it from tipping over on turns. I also would use a carboy cap for the trip.

+1...I'd carboy it and leave it.

Any sloshing around may aerate it.

Personally I'd leave it sit at home. Beer in secondary requires absolutely no effort. Just ensure it's someplace with a constant temp, like a closet and don't worry about it.

Moving it around opens yourself up to more risk from it sloshing back and forth, potentially falling, dropping it while loading/unloading, plus any temperature extremes you might run into along the way.

Put the carboy up front, fasten its seatbelt, give it a baseball cap, and drive HOV. Just sayin...........

300 miles isn't that far, you can always go home to visit on the weekends.

Just put it somewhere dark and give a friend some star san to keep the airlock full and it will great when you get back.

yeah i guess i didn't think about how much it would probably splash in transit. But my main concern in leaving it home for the summer was just temperature issues. It gets pretty hot where I live (90's) during the summer, and my house doesn't have AC, so i would think it would be too hot. the closet idea sounds like it could work but I don't know how hot it get in my closet, because my room gets real hot in the summer (and cold in the winter). so what do you guys think, risk/benefit ratio for either option.

(and i have no one that I can make babysit my carboy while it's at home)

Once you get to where you are working do you have a permanent location you are staying? If so, moving might be worth it if you can't regulate your temps back home.

yeah i have a permanent location, so i thought that if it was in a 5 gallon carboy and i took proper precautions for tipping over in the car that it would be fine, and that it would be better than leaving it.

But i don't know, that's why i am asking. Does anyone see anything else that could be a problem?

Nope. Just follow the recommendations made already, make sure it's secured to prevent spillage and tipping and everything will be fine.

+1 on the carboy cap. Hopefully splashing will just expose it to Co2. And drive slow.

If you really want to prevent any cap spillage.... Glad Press N' Seal wrap is the shizit.

OK, how about this...if it COMPLETELY fills a 5 gal carboy there won't be any sloshing because all the air space (where sloshing happens) would be taken up...

Now, how to fill the air space...sanitized glass marbles!!!

...and carry the carboy in a milk crate...

Next patient, please!!!

homebrewer_99 said:

OK, how about this...if it COMPLETELY fills a 5 gal carboy there won't be any sloshing because all the air space (where sloshing happens) would be taken up...

Now, how to fill the air space...sanitized glass marbles!!!

...and carry the carboy in a milk crate...

Next patient, please!!!

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Brilliant! I was going to advocate a smaller container, but marbles seem to be a much better idea!

I wouldn't worry to much about aeration. There should be some co2 in the headspace anyway. Take a solid bung instead of the bung with a hole in it, then wire it in place (champagne cork style).

If you are worried aboyut aeration then add a bit of ascorbic acid to the beer. Also you could shoot some c02 in the headspace.

I drove with a 6.5gal carboy from phoenix to vegas and had no problems. ... and yes, it was VERY mixed after the trip.

Oh and another thing if you plan on transporting it in the car.... cover it up! You don't want the carboy sitting in sunlight in your backseat all day.

Are you going to be transporting a betterbottle of glass carboy? I'm wondering about any bouncing over potholes shattering the glass....That would be my biggest concern...5 gallons of beer and broken glass in the back of a truck doesn't sound fun....I'd use a better bottle, at least they're supposedly shatter resistance.

Revvy said:

Are you going to be transporting a betterbottle of glass carboy? I'm wondering about any bouncing over potholes shattering the glass....That would be my biggest concern...5 gallons of beer and broken glass in the back of a truck doesn't sound fun....I'd use a better bottle, at least they're supposedly shatter resistance.

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If it were in a backseat, and buckled in tightly, I think he'd have a hell of a time shattering it.

Especially if it's in a milk crate

cronxitawney said:

Put the carboy up front, fasten its seatbelt, give it a baseball cap, and drive HOV. Just sayin...........

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HAH! I love it!

Laurel said:

If it were in a backseat, and buckled in tightly, I think he'd have a hell of a time shattering it.

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After being stopped for friving in the HOV lane:

Officer: Did you say your passengers name was "Malt" of Matt"??