Beer Forum

All packed up in 3/8" bubblewrap then surrounded by Northern Brewer bubble wrap.

You think its a big deal if they are laying on their side? Filled off keg with O2 caps.

I'd think that on their side, there would be more surface area exposed to the gas in the bottle. So, if there's any oxygen in there, it might be more prone to picking that up. As to if it's a big deal, no idea. There's no telling what orientation your box will be in on the back of a truck in any event.

If you capped on foam, then there's nothing to worry about, Tim.
Just MAKE SURE you didn't stick the bottle entry form on with tape or glue. Use an elastic band.
Keeps the organizers a LOT happier.

I'm hoping a bottle wrapped in bubble wrap and in a mailing tube with bubble wrap at either end stayed safe on its journey to San Diego.

Capped on foam. O2 absorbing caps. NO tape utilized inside the box. 1 rubberband holding form on each bottle. Each bottle wraped in about 2' of 3/8" (small) bubble bubble-wrap then all placed in a giant zip-lock bag. Bag surrounded by Northern Brewer thick bubblewrap.

I created an online Fedex account and just showed up at the FedEx Kinkos with my form and dropped it off.

I'm bringing this old thread up to talk about box sizes for shipping to competitions.

How do you size or buy your boxes for comps? Do you just find random sizes for what you think you need and use extra bubble wrap? Do you cut the box to size? What are your boxing strategies?

From work or random online purchases, I keep a few boxes around that range from shoe box to 12 pack to case box size. I re-use the bubble wrap too. I'll then use the box that is just barely large enough to hold the bottles wrapped in small-bubble sheets, either just held by how they fit or held with a rubber band or piece of painters tape. I line the box around with large-bubble sheets and add a little more on top to keep everything tight in the box to the point where it is bulging just a little bit.

No casualties and I don't think I've purchased any packing material other than rubber bands.

For just a few bottles, I buy 12 x 12 x 12 boxes from the local shipper. For a dozen or more, I use the boxes from E. Beaver Company.