how to bring home brew keg(s) to playa

[Hobo Brewer]

Virgin burner here. May not even do this for year one but I feel I'll be leaving some of my identity at home if I don't at least think of possibilities.

I brew a lot of beer every year in NY. I have access to a container which I could ultimately send most of my supplies on, but the most important part, the keg(s) of beer, are incredibly risky due to the lack of temperature control on the train the containers get shipped on. Beer would almost guaranteed to be spoiled by the time it gets there at 80-90 degrees.

I know there's some of you out there that brew and more so, I'm sure there are some of you out there that have this whole thing down to a science. Perhaps someone could throw me some suggestions?

[VultureChow]

Virgin burner here. May not even do this for year one but I feel I'll be leaving some of my identity at home if I don't at least think of possibilities.

I brew a lot of beer every year in NY. I have access to a container which I could ultimately send most of my supplies on, but the most important part, the keg(s) of beer, are incredibly risky due to the lack of temperature control on the train the containers get shipped on. Beer would almost guaranteed to be spoiled by the time it gets there at 80-90 degrees.

I know there's some of you out there that brew and more so, I'm sure there are some of you out there that have this whole thing down to a science. Perhaps someone could throw me some suggestions?

Check around with some of the larger NYC camps. Disorient comes to mind. They might have some people driving out who would be willing to transport some kegs.

[9ah]

Brew it in Reno?

[Hobo Brewer]

I appreciate the reply. I'm from Disorient and I haven't ruled out what you wrote as a possibility (hence the access to a container that I have). That said, I'm trying to see what everyone else may have done. Perhaps there's a stone or two I've left unturned such as a service I'm unaware of that isn't crazy expensive. But yea, I do see what you wrote as an option.

[Hobo Brewer]

hah, if I could brew one in Reno I'd have a lot of beer. But I need at least 2 weeks to make a beer minimum and I really can't take a month off from work.

[TomServo]

Trains have refrigerated cars. How many kegs are you talking about? An owner op, with a reefer trailer, may be able to do it as a partial load, but the cost would be way too much..IMHO.

[9ah]

I'm not sure about the process and oversight required, but you could fly in to set up and then come back and load out before the burn... If you know anywhere you can set up in the Reno area.

[VultureChow]

I appreciate the reply. I'm from Disorient and I haven't ruled out what you wrote as a possibility (hence the access to a container that I have). That said, I'm trying to see what everyone else may have done. Perhaps there's a stone or two I've left unturned such as a service I'm unaware of that isn't crazy expensive. But yea, I do see what you wrote as an option.

Didn't see your camp name there. You don't want a container. You want someone driving their own car, truck, van, RV.

Had a great time at Country Club last year. That was my first foray into the world of Burning Man. I loved it. I'm thinking about frying a couple of turkeys this year.

[trilobyte]

Yeah, you definitely don't want to chance putting it into a freight container. If you're not driving or doing a rideshare, I'd suggest posting something on puddle (Disorient's internal board) to see if you can connect with a fellow campmate who is traveling by road and would be willing to help you out. If you don't have any luck there (and I'd be really surprised if you don't), you may want to circle back and post something on the 2013 Share Resources board (where people post looking for rideshares, RV shares, and gear haulage shares).

[mudpuppy000]

I think driving to the playa might be the best bet. (what I do) I brought 45 gallons last year (bottles+kegs) and it was easily the heaviest thing in my truck. I thought my suspension was going to fail. The good thing is that it's a lot lighter on the way home. We also get a box truck for the camp and brought about 15 commercial kegs out in it. None of the beer went bad (that we could tell) but they were only coming from Sacramento.

[AntiM]

I would be concerned about the legality of transporting beer in quantity interstate. Even "for personal use" has limits. While most modes of transport wouldn't be subject to search, if it were as in the instance of the overloaded bus from Utah getting stopped in NV, and having to offload cargo to an RV, it could become an issue.

If a stop happened in Utah, and there was a search, you'd lose the kegs. Illegal in our state, and possibly illegal to transport them without a permit.

[Token]

I took 13 kegs out back in 07 to work on a 3 week build on an art project. Once on Playa they were not refrigerated except the night before the tap. Trust me, it was over 90 for a big chunk of the day over three weeks and absolutely no spoilage.

Besides, this is exactly what an IPA was designed to handle, a 3 month voyage around Africa on its way to India.

Just use the container and make sure you use fresh gaskets on the keg so it don't blow from elevation changes.

If you pre-charge a little CO2 in the keg before you siphon in the beer to get rid of any O2, risk of spoilage goes to near zero. Priming sugar will consume the rest of the O2.

[BBadger]

I would be concerned about the legality of transporting beer in quantity interstate. Even "for personal use" has limits. While most modes of transport wouldn't be subject to search, if it were as in the instance of the overloaded bus from Utah getting stopped in NV, and having to offload cargo to an RV, it could become an issue.

If a stop happened in Utah, and there was a search, you'd lose the kegs. Illegal in our state, and possibly illegal to transport them without a permit.

Yeah, we can't even transport more than 5-bottles of home brew at a time in a six-pack because then it would be like we're selling it or something. All these ticky-tack laws that do little other than to just make things difficult.

[VultureChow]

I would be concerned about the legality of transporting beer in quantity interstate. Even "for personal use" has limits. While most modes of transport wouldn't be subject to search, if it were as in the instance of the overloaded bus from Utah getting stopped in NV, and having to offload cargo to an RV, it could become an issue.

If a stop happened in Utah, and there was a search, you'd lose the kegs. Illegal in our state, and possibly illegal to transport them without a permit.

Yeah, we can't even transport more than 5-bottles of home brew at a time in a six-pack because then it would be like we're selling it or something. All these ticky-tack laws that do little other than to just make things difficult.

Smokey and The Bandit 4: Eat My Playa Dust