Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Bottle Packaging for Competitions  (Read 2537 times)

Offline bbump22

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 124
    • Bump City Brews
Bottle Packaging for Competitions
« on: March 25, 2010, 09:03:44 am »
I am going to start entering beers into competitions.  Fortunately, I live in Seattle and there are many drop off locations to enter my beers at.  When I am reading through the rules of the competition, it gave some packaging and shipping hints:

I. Packing and Shipping Hints
Carefully pack your entries in a sturdy box. Line the inside of your package with a plastic trash
bag. Partition and pack each bottle with adequate packaging material. Do not over pack! Your
package should weigh less than 25 pounds.

IMO, this is referring only to people who are going to ship their entries...For hand delivered drop offs, I can just put my beers in a 6 pack container and drop it off at the site location, right? 

How do other brewers package their beer when dropping it off at a location, not shipping.

Cheers!

mmmm....beer

Offline Hokerer

  • I spend way too much time on the AHA forum
  • ********
  • Posts: 2654
  • Manassas, VA
Re: Bottle Packaging for Competitions
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2010, 09:45:48 am »
Six-pack (or twelve-pack) containers are just fine for dropoff.  The packing instructions/hints are for shipped entries.
Joe

Offline hamiltont

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 988
  • Location: Eastern Nebraska
Re: Bottle Packaging for Competitions
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2010, 10:11:32 am »
6-pack or case.

Shipping: I go to our local building supply store and ask for the cardboard roll that carpet/linoleum comes on and then cut them 12"-13" long with a saw. Pack each bottle in a 1 gallon storage bag. Roll each bottle with enough bubblewrap to fit snuggly in the 12-13" cardboard roll.  Add more bubblewrap on both ends & tape. Then pack them tightly in a box lined with a garbage bag and add more bubblewrap or ???  Overkill?  Probably!  But it works....
If Homebrew & BBQ aren't the answer, then you're askin' the wrong questions... Cheers!!!

Offline bluesman

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 8825
  • Delaware
Re: Bottle Packaging for Competitions
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2010, 10:28:27 am »
I just packed my entries to ship yesterday. I used a sturdy box lined with a trashbag. I then lined the bag with several layers of bubble wrap followed by wrapping each bottle with several layers of bubble wrap and topped it off with several layers of bubble wrap up to the top of the box. I then tied the bag and sealed the box. Overkill...no...cheap insurance...yes.  ;)
Ron Price

Offline bbump22

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 124
    • Bump City Brews
Re: Bottle Packaging for Competitions
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2010, 03:04:16 pm »
right on...thanks for the extra packaging tips too.
mmmm....beer

Offline MDixon

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2313
Re: Bottle Packaging for Competitions
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2010, 06:24:06 am »
Some guy I know once posted this on JudgeNet (ignore the DHL comments since they are no longer ship domestically):
http://maltsters.org/MikeDixon.htm

Quote
From: Mike Dixon Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:36:01 -0500

Subject: Re: Packaging of entries

There is no standard for shipping a few bottles. I have found that using
the large diameter bubble wrap cushions the bottles better than the
small bubble wrap. If you can keep the bottles from clinking and from
moving around, that would be best. Also the bottles seem to travel best
upright rather than on their side. A friend sent me a few bottles in a
small styrofoam cooler with the bottles wrapped in bubble wrap and laid
at an angle. The cooler would hold three bottles in that manner very
securely. He simply taped the cooler shut and sent it. When I fill a
package for shipment I put each bottle into a ziplock, wrap that in
bubble wrap, and place into a box lined with a garbage bag. If something
breaks then at least it will not leak. If it leaks with UPS it is
trashed most of the time, FedEx will sometimes repackage and deliver,
and I have not broken anything with DHL which I have been using for the
last year and a half without incident.

Basically if you are not comfortable dropping the package onto the floor
from chest height, you have not packaged the bottles correctly.

Cheers,
Mike Dixon
BJCP National
Wake Forest, NC
It's not a popularity contest, it's beer!

Offline dontblake

  • Conference
  • Assistant Brewer
  • *****
  • Posts: 103
    • Indian Peaks Alers
Re: Bottle Packaging for Competitions
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2010, 08:38:26 am »
One thing that I always try to stress:
attach your bottle ID labels with a rubber band to each bottle.
Attach your entry form (fold it in thirds) with another rubber band to one of the bottles (place it over the previously rubber banded bottle id label).  This makes it much easier for the people checking in beers to strip the entry form and keep the bottle id labels on.
Do this for ALL of your entries if you are entering more than 1.   In one of your folded entry forms, include your entry fee.

We just unpacked and logged beers in for our competition.   Let me tell you, it was a royal pain in the butt when people entered 5 or so beers and then just papercliped their entry forms and fees and just threw them in with one of the 6-packs.   It's inevitable that they will get separated in the cooler, then you have 2 or 3 entries with no entry form and you have to go searching for the rest.

Good luck with competing!

Don Blake, Erie CO
Founder, Indian Peaks Alers
Grand Master BJCP Judge