Shipping in sub-freezing temps

[kyle5434]

I ordered the RJS Cru International Cilean Malbec kit last week. Looking at the tracking, it looks like it made it to my regional UPS delivery hub on Saturday (12/30/17), and the latest tracking status says "Loaded on Delivery Vehicle" on 12/30. It's scheduled for delivery tomorrow (1/2/18).

Temps in this neck of the woods have been oscillating between -10F and +12F over the weekend. Assuming this kit has been sitting in a sub-freezing environment for a few days, am I going to be facing any issues?

 

[sour_grapes]

I thought that the high sugar concentration in the kit might save you. This surprised me -- I googled around to find the freezing point of a sugar solution, and it seems to me that the sugar concentration of a typical kit will lower the freezing point only by a few degrees. I think the kit would freeze at 27F (-2.7C).

Is this a problem? Not sure, but the biggest danger is probably if the ice crystals puncture the bag. I think I would move it indoors and try not to disturb it until it thaws.

 

[Johnd]

It won’t be an issue if the juice freezes, after all, we order frozen juice buckets and frozen must all the time with no problems at all. I’d imagine that the double walled bags kit juice is packed in would be an extra layer of protection against any potential ice crystals. As Paul said, thaw it out and let it rip!

 

[Trevor7]

I inquired when summer temps were in triple digits, and the folks at Master Vintner said there were no worries with shipping kits in hot or cold weather. Finished wines on the other hand...

 

[kyle5434]

So I'm not sure whether it was because of sitting in sub-freezing (actually, sub-zero) temps for a few days, or some other unrelated cause, but the Chilean Malbec arrived today leaking juice inside the box. I couldn't find any puncture points in the cardboard box or the juice bag, but a fair amount of juice had soaked into the cardboard.

Midwest Supplies said they'd get another one shipped out today, so kudos to them. Not knowing how long it had been leaking, I dumped the juice down the kitchen sink. Juice had also worked its way into the bag with the yeast, oak chips, etc., affecting one of the packages of oak chips (in a paper pouch), so I pitched that as well. I did salvage the grape skin packet, the sealed packet containing the yeast/bentonite/clarifier/etc., and the oak chips that were packaged in plastic, which were all sticky but otherwise seem to be uncompromised. Perhaps I'll leverage those with some Petite Sirah concentrate I have coming from Williams Brewing.

 

[Trevor7]

I had the same leaking bag problem twice last year - kudos to MidWest for standing behind their product that UPS damaged.

 

[Brian55]

I had the same leaking bag problem twice last year - kudos to MidWest for standing behind their product that UPS damaged.

UPS could break an anvil. Fedex is much safer.

 

[ceeaton]

So I'm not sure whether it was because of sitting in sub-freezing (actually, sub-zero) temps for a few days, or some other unrelated cause, but the Chilean Malbec arrived today leaking juice inside the box. I couldn't find any puncture points in the cardboard box or the juice bag, but a fair amount of juice had soaked into the cardboard.

Midwest Supplies said they'd get another one shipped out today, so kudos to them. Not knowing how long it had been leaking, I dumped the juice down the kitchen sink. Juice had also worked its way into the bag with the yeast, oak chips, etc., affecting one of the packages of oak chips (in a paper pouch), so I pitched that as well. I did salvage the grape skin packet, the sealed packet containing the yeast/bentonite/clarifier/etc., and the oak chips that were packaged in plastic, which were all sticky but otherwise seem to be uncompromised. Perhaps I'll leverage those with some Petite Sirah concentrate I have coming from Williams Brewing.

Well, hopefully it will get to you before it has to sit on a truck for the weekend. When I do order kits, usually from Label Peelers, I know they will come the next day unless I order them on a Friday, so you might want to "time it" a little better next time you order from them to make sure it doesn't sit over the weekend on a hot or cold truck. When the weather is this extreme, I will hang around the house to wait for the package so it doesn't sit and freeze on the front porch, which at 10-20*F will happen pretty quickly, unless it is in the sun. Luckily I live in a big neighborhood and we seem to be FedEx Ground's first delivery point, so it gets here by 9 - 10 am.

 

[ericreed]

I ordered the RJS Cru International Cilean Malbec kit last week. Looking at the tracking, it looks like it made it to my regional UPS delivery hub on Saturday (12/30/17), and the latest tracking status says "Loaded on Delivery Vehicle" on 12/30. It's scheduled for delivery tomorrow (1/2/18).

Temps in this neck of the woods have been oscillating between -10F and +12F over the weekend. Assuming this kit has been sitting in a sub-freezing environment for a few days, am I going to be facing any issues?