[homebrewdad7]

Matt Chrispen wrote an excellent article on how to prepare for a competition.  It's pretty comprehensive, and is a great read. 

[ynotbrusum]

That is a concise article, with the packaging part being very important.  A broken bottle in shipment typically means that you aren't able to advance to BOS, unless you include an extra bottle in the shipment.  With shipping costs so high and packaging requiring such efforts to guard against breakage, I wonder why competitions don't allow a plastic half liter brown bottle with twist off caps to be used instead of requiring glass pryoff bottles only?  Less chance of breakage or leakage and they can also be carbed in the bottle like glass bottles (indeed I use a slightly under filled bottle with the air squeezed out of it as an "indicator" bottle to know that the bottle conditioning of a bottled batch is complete.)

Just my two Lincolns....

[theDarkSide]

Sometimes a broken bottle means no competition when UPS or FedEx realize your shipping alcohol.

I use the electronics bubblewrap from Home Depot.  Each section is 12" wide and I roll from the corner to corner.  This gives it a good amount of protection for the bottle and excess over the top and bottom to fold down.

[homebrewdad7]

Sometimes a broken bottle means no competition either when UPS or FedEx realize your shipping alcohol.

True, that.

[mchrispen]

Help receive and sort any competition and you will quickly learn how NOT to ship. Thanks for the kind words folk!

[AmandaK]

Help receive and sort any competition and you will quickly learn how NOT to ship. Thanks for the kind words folk!

Hahahahaha.

What, packaging tape around the entire bottle holding on the label, more packaging tape around the bubble wrap on each and every bottle, and more packaging tape around the ENTIRE black trash bag that's around all of the bottles isn't your idea of "good packaging"??

[santoch]

I think it should be made mandatory that anyone who send their beers in using Lobster Claw elastic bands to hold the entry label on should have to wear one of the Lobster claw elastic bands around his private parts from the time they package it until they receive their score sheets in the mail.