Best Options For Posting Comp Entries From Interstate - Beerfest 2009

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chris.taylor.98

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Hi All,

Had a question PMed to me today that I don't really have the experience to answer, and thought I would pick the brains of the collective forum instead.

What is the best way of sending beers interstate for competition entries?

Cheers

Chris
 
If you use aussie post be aware they have no "fragile" service and all beers should be packed to withstand a drop from shoulder hite to concrete. Thats Aus post policy. Just remember that they will get shook up really bad.

The other option is to use a courier and use their "fragile" service.

I have had much better results doing this than with aussie post.

cheers
 
I sent three beers to Beerfest by Aussie Post, over night. All three had low scores, cloudy, watch fermentation temps etc comments. The beers I sent were not the ones that arrived.
 
A brief note regarding how you pack your entries. When my club holds our competition, we've seen just about every method imaginable - most bad.

If you pack your entries in solid styrofoam sheets with cylindrical cavities for the bottles, it's almost a certainty that they'll arrive unscathed. Next best is to pack each bottle in bubble wrap with cardboard cylinders over that. Make sure that the bottles are packed tightly so they can't move around inside the box. Finally, if you have access to professional foam packaging, that works very well too. I'm talking about the foam packing that some shipping places use where they squirt a fast drying foam mixture into the box which hardens.

No matter what method you use, place each bottle in its own plastic bag. Line the box with a plastic garbage bag as well. No shipper likes to discover a package leaking foul smelling fluids over everything else.

I've unpacked boxes that had loose bottles with styrofoam peanuts - no bags at all. The bottles banged together and broke, which then started to dissolve the peanuts since they were the environmentally friendly biodegradeable type. This accelerated the breakage. By the time we got the package, the box was so wet & rotten that it was falling apart. We've also received entries that were simply mailed and this is a big no-no here because Canada Post prohibits mailing alcohol. That aside, the 2 beers that were mailed were just put in a box with no bags and no packing material. The bottles were loose to roll around. We have no idea how, but they actually made it without breaking.

Oh, and be careful when packing your entries so that nothing else gets into the box. This was discovered on an entry from Texas a couple of years ago. :lol:
 
Oh, and be careful when packing your entries so that nothing else gets into the box. This was discovered on an entry from Texas a couple of years ago. :lol:

Goddamn! I cant see that site from work, <_< the curiosity is killing me! You MUST paste a pic in, please :rolleyes:
 
I sent three beers to Beerfest by Aussie Post, over night. All three had low scores, cloudy, watch fermentation temps etc comments. The beers I sent were not the ones that arrived.


Also send the beers early to allow them to settle down well before judging.
 
Goddamn! I cant see that site from work, <_< the curiosity is killing me! You MUST paste a pic in, please :rolleyes:

Here you go:

539545139_c95ccc68f5.jpg

:D
 
If sending only a few I use APost's winepack. For more I pack them well with bubble wrap and styrofoam in a carton and courier them. Always send them as early as you can.
 
back on topic, if sending beers that have been conditioning at ambient temps is it best to leave them at this temp or cc them prior to posting them ?

cheers
Yard
 
In other words, when packing beers for a competition, always start by putting on some pants!
 
back on topic, if sending beers that have been conditioning at ambient temps is it best to leave them at this temp or cc them prior to posting them ?

Don't know what is best for the beer, but I condition mine at low temps before shipping them. I don't think it makes much of a difference either way, though.
 
Cold conditioning will do pretty much nothing if they're going to get roused: The main objective of cold conditioning is the settling of solids.
 
In other words, when packing beers for a competition, always start by putting on some pants!

I think this quote applies to nearly all aspects of brewing like:

boiling :eek:
bottling for a case swap ;)
pitching yeast
or even opening a can of goo

The only thing that comes to mind thats expectable to do without pants would be drinking beer :huh:
 
If sending only a few I use APost's winepack. For more I pack them well with bubble wrap and styrofoam in a carton and courier them. Always send them as early as you can.
Screwy, can you recall how much the courier was? I might be looking at sending down 5 bottles or so.
 
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