Tutorial for Shipping Beer

[Mountainbeers]

I've been wanting to ship some to my dad. Now I know how!

 

[cheezerman]

I'm not sure if beer is exactly the same as wine, as far as legalities go, but I do ship a lot of wine.

To ship alcohol through FedEX or UPS (and most regional carriers) you need to sign a contract.

Both FedEX and UPS do not allow alcohol to be shipped from consumer to consumer. (sources 1 2)

USPS does not allow alcohol of any kind to be shipped.

So take such advice with a grain of salt. If you ship beer through USPS, FedEX, or USPS, you at best are violating their terms of service, and at worse, possibly committing a felony (in the case of a felony alcohol state).

Disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, this is just my interpretation of their rules.

 

[Kass_Brauhaus]

Hey, if Burt Reynolds could get Coors across state lines, so can we.

(Let's see how long that lasts before moderator removal...)

 

[sea2summit3]

Are these bottle conditioned beers that everyone is shipping? Will the yeast sediment settle out well enough afterward for entry into a homebrew competition? This will be my first time shipping my beer and entering into a competition...

 

[Gremlyn]

I shipped beer to the HBT competition and they made sure to let them settle a couple of weeks before the judging. Guess it depends on the comp.

 

[gallagherman]

I did this recently and when I walked up to the counter at the post office, I forgot they were going to ask me what was inside. I panicked and said uh.... books! So he slapped a "media" sticker on it and said it may take longer. Whoops. I figured my beer was surely going to end up all over someone else's book packages. Needless to say they got there alright.

 

[alexand3r]

Thanks for this tutorial, it's very thorough and I don't think there's a chance of those bottles breaking!

I did find a couple of other solutions though and just thought that I'd share with the community what I found. Not as cheap, but they may look a little more "clean cut" or give you that "professional" look for delivery as a gift for birthdays or holidays. Here are the links:

http://www.radva.com/BeerShipper.html

http://www.clarkbrewing.com/Clark_Brewing_Innovations/Bottle_Shipping_System.html

Take care and Happy Brewing!

 

[rexbanner]

This post is fine, but any posts involving pot or selling beer get flamed and deleted. Some people need to recognize that not too long ago all of this was illegal in the U.S. Also, any competent doctor would tell you marijuana is far less harmful to society than alcohol.

 

[remilard]

There are some good tips in the OP but I think he uses more bubble wrap and definitely more tape than is necessary. If you are shipping to a comp, try to consider that somebody is unpacking like 50 boxes. My amendments would be:

1. Get the perforated bubble wrap and use one sheet per bottle. Attach it with a rubber band (works as well as tape, much easier to unpack). The point here is just to make sure glass never touches glass.

2. One layer of the large bubble bubble wrap around the outside wouldn't hurt anything.

3. Pack the box TIGHT. Preventing movement is 29% of the battle (60% was preventing glass on glass contact).

4. I very recently heard Gordon Strong on The Brewing Network talk about building an insulated box. I did this for NHC first round this year and it isn't all that expensive and was very easy. Just get the pink foam board and cut pieces to line the bottom, sides and top of the box (just score it with a knife and it breaks pretty clean over your knee). Then you pack the box and leave it in the fridge over night. If you don't have that much cold space, just get the bottles really cold and then pack and seal it. This apparently got Gordon's 2 day morning delivery shipped beers to Oakland in June still COLD. My wife just went to visit family back West and we sent some commercial beers this way so she could unpack them and get a first hand idea of how well it works. We also plan to do some experiments where we leave an uninsulated, insulated, and insulated with a cold pack box out for a couple days and see which works best. Unless I can't figure out how to make it work at all, I will use this in warm weather months from now on for competitions or just sharing.

ETA: I used 1" foam board, not sure what GS used. It does happen to work out perfectly for standard 12 oz longnecks in a 12" box though.

 

[Eddiebosox]

Definitely dont tell them you're shipping beer. It's against federal law. We're trying to write a bill at the federal level to allow it for home brew competitipns. Also, some private mail services, like DHL, may allow it.

 

[Beer_Guy]

I sure wish the OP still had the pics. I cannot see them anway.

Is it just me?

 

[dutchbrown]

Not just you. I can't see the pictures either.

 

[WastedCider]

I get beer from Clubs of America (sometimes schwaggy, sometimes not) in the mail every other month. They send via UPS and they pack the beer in an awesome box without foam peanuts, bubble, etc.

The inside of the box has two pieces in it (one for the top and one for the bottom) made out of the same kind of cardboard that is used at fast food restaurants for the soda to go holder. The bottom has twelve holes fit for the base of each bottle and the top piece has twelve slots that fit the cap/neck. These two pieces hold twelve bottles tight without any plastic or foam.

I have been saving these pieces for my own beer shipping purposes, but it would be nice to find similar cardboard molds to avoid using a bunch of plastic and foam to ship beer. Shipping beer is cool, but that is a lot of material for just one use/end. It's also way more reliable. Each beer sits in its own place within the box. Once the box is sealed there is no movement.

 

[BrewCityBeerBuffs]

Uline.com has beer and wine box's that have modeled foam to ship in.

 

[pzack]

What priority level do you all use to ship? My concern is with temperature. It is hot right now and anything sent ground is going to be sitting in hot trucks/trailers, warehouses, and delivery vehicles.

Do any of you use ice packs?

 

[lakeshorebrewer]

Thanks for the great thread! It's just in time for a couple of cases I need to send.

 

[indigosun]

Thank you so much! Just finished or first batch (20 Gal!) of mead, and wanted to ship some out to Cali for my West Coast fam. Now, I know how to do it!

 

[RC0032]

Anyone have the pics for re-hosting?

 

[AKnewbrews]

I shipped a couple bottles that I picked up in the Netherlands and in Belgium this last summer. I shipped out of Brussels along with some other gifts/souvenirs that I didn't have room for packing around the rest of Europe.

I packed a box (approx. 12"x16"x5" box) with 3 bottles of beer along with the other stuff COMPLETELY full so that there was no room for any of the contents to shift. It included bubble wrap, the contents, and any other paper that was usable (this was all done in the Brussels train station). It took a month to get from Brussels to Alaska (it arrived about a week after we had arrived back in Alaska). Not a single bottle broken, but the box had been taped and re-taped about 5 times in it's long journey home. The real key to to pack tight with absorbent between bottles and between bottles and the outside of the box.

To be honest, I thought it didn't make it (a bottle broke and the mail service tossed the contents), but it did. I did not use a ton of packing material because I had a lot to fit in there and the box was quite hefty as well.

 

[hlumbard]

+1 for rehosting these picts

 

[rdann87]

That was good...here's to hoping pics are fixed.

 

[wncbrewer]

I recently shipped two corneys from north carolina to the bay area for a wedding. Told them it was yeast samples and there was no further inquiry. It was expensive, but possible

 

[WheeledGoat]

I've had great success shipping beer by using plastic bottles - not only do you not have to worry about breakage, but saves a lot of weight, too! The plastic bottles are more expensive, but I believe you save that much in shipping costs and packaging.

Here they are at northern brewer.

 

[qrb912]

I don't believe you! I am going to send you my address and require you send me a box of your best brew to prove your method.

 

[psymonkey]

So what about shipping to altitude? My buddy was in town from Colorado and we brewed a batch while he was visiting (he's hooked). I'd like to send him some of the beer, but I live at 8ft and he lives at about 8000ft. I was thinking of shipping them as soon as they are bottled so they won't be carbonated at all yet.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I know things I received when I lived in CO that were shipped from lower altitudes had the tendency to expand..to say the least

 

[ewtotel]

So what about shipping to altitude? My buddy was in town from Colorado and we brewed a batch while he was visiting (he's hooked). I'd like to send him some of the beer, but I live at 8ft and he lives at about 8000ft.

<snip>

I'm in Ohio around 800 feet, and my brother is between Carbondale and Aspen... around 7500 feet or so. I've shipped him numerous shipments in glass bottles without any problems. I wrap the SNOT out of them just to be safe.

 

[mjmac85]

Pics do not work for me. Anyone else having this issue?

 

[psymonkey]

<snip>

I'm in Ohio around 800 feet, and my brother is between Carbondale and Aspen... around 7500 feet or so. I've shipped him numerous shipments in glass bottles without any problems. I wrap the SNOT out of them just to be safe.

Thanks for the info! My buddy is in Vail so quite close - as a crow flies anyway.. I'll be sure to double-bag 'em, as it were.

 

[Haputanlas]

Wow, somebody should really update the pics.


Hmm... Somebody.....

 

[fatnoah]

+1 on the picture fix please. About how much does it cost to ship a 12x12x12 box?