Airplanes and beer

[dablak]

Hi,

This Christmas I'm flying and I want to bring some bottles with me in the checked-in luggage. What could happen in this two cases?

1. The bottles are 500ml flip tops, will the carbonated bottles hold the pressure? They are not heavily carbonated, like 3g of granulated sugar per bottle.

2. Also, I want to bring beer that has been bottled the day before and starts the conditioning. It looks like the temperature in the baggage area is around 7ºC. Will this and the shaking during the travel affect the conditioning beer? Will it dramatically slow down the conditioning?


Cheers,
Daniel

 

[ManseMasher]

First and foremost I would worry about baggage handlers. Aircraft holds are pressurised, same as the passenger areas. Might not be as well heated though, but saying that I can never recall picking up my hold luggage and thinking 'crikey - that's cold'.

 

[dablak]

They are pressurized but there's some variation after the taking off and landing. I can remember opening water bottles that pop after the taking off and then they contract during the landing.

I'm worried that this difference in pressure during take off could be too much for the flip top bottles that are already carbonated...

 

[ManseMasher]

Have you ever had a beer on an aircraft? Admittedly they are usually in cans, but I've never had one froth over, nor bottles of tonic. Can't see why yours would be any different. Still got to survive the tender administrations of the baggage handlers though.....

 

[dablak]

I'm going to double bubble wrap them and then wrap them in clothes. I hope that would be enough or otherwise it would be a real mess! I've used this method with wine bottles and never had any problem before.

 

[Alexislife]

Not tried travelling with any home brew but when I flew back from the states a couple of years ago I stuck some Sierra Nevada and Anchor seasonal beers in my pack, just made sure they were all well wrapped in articles of clothing and had no problems when I got back to London.

 

[McMullan]

No problem there. I always stash some beers in my suitcase when I'm returning from the UK. A hard shell case would be better, but not essential. For swing tops, I'd wrap some electrical tape round the tops, so the baggage handlers can't open any indirectly when they throw your case onto the runway. Bottle conditioning takes 2 weeks plus. Where exactly are you flying to, dablak :-?