Shipping beer in unrefrigerated trucks

[KTY]

Does anyone have any tips on shipping beer in unrefrigerated trucks in 100 degree weather for approximately 6-8 hour travel time? Refrigerated trucks are cost prohibitive at this point.

May be a dumb question but I was wondering if there was something simple I was missing.

[Natrat]

If you're going to do that, make sure of a few things...

1. Don't ship LTL, FTL only for non-reefer.
2. Check, double-check, triple check your dock time and that the truck will be there...delayed trucks and missed dock times can mean worthless product
3. Don't accept trucks with roofs that let light through

the thermal mass of a full load of cold beer will remain mostly cold (below 60F for about 10-12 hours). The main issue is often the fact that a great deal of water condenses on your packaging if it's humid, and can have deleterious effects on your product...if it's left wet, the cardboard will mold. Box strengths plummet when damp. Labels slip and slide if they are cold glue. Six packers wrinkle and look dreadful on the shelf.

Of course, if your distributor doesn't refrigerate your product anyway, it's all academic...

[BeerBred]

When I worked for a big brewery we put dry ice in the back of non reefer loads.

[TGTimm]

We regularly ship unrefrigerated during the summer, when local temps often exceed 100F, sometimes 110F. Our transport times are up to 8+ hours, and we ship from remote NE Oregon as far as the northern corner of Washington, SW Oregon (no direct route), and the Boise area of Idaho. We haven't had a problem yet, probably due to the considerable thermal mass of a few hundred kegs and/or dozens of pallets of cases--tightly packed. We thoroughly cling-wrap our pallets of cases, which seems to take care of the condensation problem.