grb will help you create and manage remote branches. Why something like this isn't baked into git, I don't know. I'm just happy grb exists!
git_remote_branch version 0.3.0
Usage:
grb create branch_name [origin_server]
grb publish branch_name [origin_server]
grb rename branch_name [origin_server]
grb delete branch_name [origin_server]
grb track branch_name [origin_server]
There are also plenty of aliases for the various actions.
http://grb.rubyforge.org/