Shipping beer, cold or warm?

I'm getting ready to ship a couple bottles of beer that are currently, and have been since bottling, sitting at room temp.

So, before shipping should I pop them in the fridge for a few days and then pack them up or should I ship a couple bottles as they are? I can see problems both ways. Ship warm and you don't get the temp change warm-cold-warm-cold. Ship cold and they get some time to absorb CO2 from the head space before I box them up, reducing the chances of leaking in transit.

How do most folks do it?

Warm.....Gives them plenty of time to condition.

If stored warm, send warm. If you have belgians though and have corks, then you want them to have the best chance of not pushing out in warmer weather, I would send cold. Lastly, invest in the styro shippers, they have a lot of insulation power.

according to coors light commercials, they cold ship it to make sure its the worlds most refreshing beer....so...

and dont forget to add the hops three times during the brew process like miller lite's unique process; and dry hop for full body like Budweiser American Ale.

wreckinball9 said:

according to coors light commercials, they cold ship it to make sure its the worlds most refreshing beer....so...

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Haha.

The hops 3 times is ridiculous. But Coors is onto something. If you actually maintain cooler beer at all times it will be better beer, with a longer shelf life. Though it won't necessarily make it more refreshing!

I would listen to Revvy in this situation though.

WorryWort said:

Haha.

I would listen to Revvy in this situation though.

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Listen to Revvy? Nah, I always do the exact opposite of whatever Revvy says. Makes life more exciting that way.

I think it is prolly more difficult to disguise your "yeast samples in suspension" if you are sending them cold...may have to call them "Plasma for research purposes" or "organs" or something.

I ship beer often, I always ship it room temperature and never had a problem. I try to ship early in the week to avoid it sitting in a hot warehouse somewhere over the weekend.