Anyone have any hard data on that?
Thank you sir!
you are certainly a handy guy to have around.
alan
Sounds like we still shouldn’t ship when it’s hot out, but if you must…
Ask Dr. Dan regarding 2000 Bordeaux-sicles.
I think this experiment was done with empty shippers, and if so, its results and conclusions are meaningless!
That’s how I read it, too.
Please explain. I understand that it doesn’t tell you how warm wine would become under the experimental conditions, but doesn’t it nonetheless tell you something meaningful about the relative insulative properties of the two packaging systems?
Someone, I think it was Joe Davis, did some experiments where he shipped bottles in various packaging with temperature recorders to some people scattered around the country in order to test this out in a real world setting. I think he was evaluating packaging alternatives. The posts were on eBob a few years ago - if someone has an account there you might find it in the archives.
Bob, heat passes thru the walls of a shipping container and warms its contents. The R-value of the insulation in the shipper will control the rate at which heat flows into the shipper. If the shipper contains wine it will warm up slowly because the high thermal mass of the wine absorbs the heat. If the shipper is empty it has no thermal mass and will warm up in minutes nomatter how good the insulation. So taking temp measurements of the empty paper and styro shippers after twelve hours tells you nothing about how fast each shipper warmed up.
The experimenter recorded the maximum temperature measured in each package over a twelve hour period. Looking at the picture of the packages jammed between the roof of his car and the ceiling of the carport I don’t know how he could think that each package was exposed to exactly the same exterior temperature.
The OP asked about Styro vs Cardboard and my comments apply only to those shippers. The WineAssure system works well simply because it increases the thermal mass of the shipper.
When I ship wine I refrigerate the wine for two days and ship it Styrofoam. It arrives cool two days later.
I’ve explained to my ex wife she has a career as a wine courier during the summer months. No way in hell anything warms under her touch.
We have some samples of these >> http://www.thermopod.net/6wineshipper.php coming next week, looking forward to seeing how they are… They are also eco friendly.
as I recall from that thread, neither shipping container has a significant R-value and therefore neither provides more than a tiny bit of temperature protection.
alan
What will you pay for thermal protection?
If it’s coming to me GSO overnight in 70-80 degree weather like 95% of the wines I buy online? Nothing. The day I have such a shipment arrive with bottles that show any signs of heat damage will be the first time.
Too funny!
Are there any new and innovative wine shipper inserts out there? Styro is under more pressure now as many cities have banned its use in take-home food containers, so I imagine other steps aren’t far behind. There is cardboard, fiber, clear plastic (doesn’t seem safe to ship at ALL) - anything new out there?
Green Cell Foam® (made from corn instead of petroleum): Sustainable Packaging | Green Packaging | Point Of Purchase Displays | Biodegradable Foam Products
Yeah, I actually dug them up just prior to posting. Doesn’t look like they technically have a wine shipper, but I guess all those dividers could be configured in a grid.