Does bottled hombrew travel well?

[Tony1951]

My youngest son is getting married soon at the opposite end of the country. The family has hired a large country cottage near his fiance's home village and I want to take down about four dozen bottles of my brew to entertain my sons and their wive's girlfriends during the time we are not at the wedding festivities. We have the house for two days either side of the wedding.

My concern is whether the now crystal clear beer will travel 300 miles in the back of my estate car without turning into a cloudy mess and if it does stir up, how long will it take to settle again?

 

[Godfather50]

Congratulations on the wedding! If you've got a fine sediment and a Mercedes it'll be fine. If a big sediment lurks at the bottom and your taking a bone shaker down the single track, maybe not. Getting it there as early as possible and chilling it down might help settle it, then raise it up to serving temperature. Why don't you have a practice over 20 or so miles and see what state its in.

 

[Hopping_Mad]

I'd also try lining two cool boxes with some old foam to act as a bit of a shock absorber?

 

[Tony1951]

I'd also try lining two cool boxes with some old foam to act as a bit of a shock absorber?

Yes - I was thinking about padding up the floor so the crates would ride easy. Maybe a folded up duvet, boxes of beer on top and then pack in the luggage after to keep it all snug in place.

There is no other option. I'll try it and see how it goes. No doubt it will be consumed vigorously whatever state it is in. :)

 

[GHW]

Depends on your yeast in my limited experience. I drove to Wales from London with a few bottles in the boot, those brewed (3 different types) with sa-05 were fine, exactly as they were when we left. The one that had used wlp002 was like pea soup. It settled out again very quickly though.

 

[Niman]

IMO it depends how much sediment is in the bottle and the bottle i have found that flat bottomed bottles dont travel well but the like of oxbars with the dimples do...ive managed to carry them about for a day or 2 in my van and the recipients have been happy.

 

[Tony1951]

Great info there chaps - thanks. My bottles are flat bottomed and the yeast is Cooper's ale yeast. Not hugely thick, maybe at max a couple of millimetres. I can only take the padding precautions and hope for the best. If it settles quick - so much the better.

Cheers...

 

[HowbeckAles]

I brewed the beer for my wedding and transported it 200 miles in the back of the car. Left it in the cold for a couple of days and it was crystal clear when it came to drinking time. Fear not!

 

[Tony1951]

I brewed the beer for my wedding and transported it 200 miles in the back of the car. Left it in the cold for a couple of days and it was crystal clear when it came to drinking time. Fear not!

Great... I'm moving it 300 miles on Thursday. Hoping to drink some of it on Thursday night. Maybe a touch optimistic. We'll be there until Monday though, so some of it might be OK drinking.

 

[Tony1951]

I brewed the beer for my wedding and transported it 200 miles in the back of the car. Left it in the cold for a couple of days and it was crystal clear when it came to drinking time. Fear not!

You were completely right.

I drove the beer 340 miles on Thursday and it was completely clear as soon as I took it out of the car. The last 25 - 30 miles in Wiltshire was along winding, narrow, bumpy roads and the beer was ready to drink and absolutely clear . I did put a folded up spare duvet under the crates and I did strap them into place using some tie points so they weren't rattling about loose, though. In fact I took much more beer than was needed and brought 26 bottles back another 340 miles yesterday and that was perfect too as soon as it came out of the car.

It was kit beer made with Cooper's yeast, so that says something about the flocculence of that stuff.

Cheers

 

[Redron]

I love a happy ending....:

 

[HowbeckAles]

There was Coopers yeast in mine too! Think it was a pimped Thomas Coopers IPA kit. Travels well it seems! Great news and congratulations! :

 

[Tony1951]

There was Coopers yeast in mine too! Think it was a pimped Thomas Coopers IPA kit. Travels well it seems! Great news and congratulations! :

Cheers. :)