10,000 yr old glacier ice for my water source in the next batch.....

Very cool, I was thinking of pulling this off on my next trip towards Seward but you beat me to it.

Holy Cripe,
Ive been gone showing mom the sights since I posted, now im 5 pages behind on my own post!
Ok, this glacier has receded a 1/4 mile since I last saw it(20years ago). So, the exposed ice is pretty much from the core of the glacier. If I had had a chain saw I would have gone deeper, but this is still nice blue glacier ice. The park ranger who has been on the job there for over a decade based its age on the data she had available to her.
I filled a 70qt Coleman extreme to about 95%, plus gaps. There was alot of ice shard that I used to fill in and get as much as we could in the cooler. I dont know what it weighed, but it must have been 50 pounds at least. The glacial ice is much more dense then regular, and the ranger said I would get more water then I expected. I was going to go for a 2nd cooler full, but between my mom getting impatient, and me not wanting to drop dead of a heart attack, I took what I got and thanked the Creator I got it and was still alive to use it. It was in the low 80s up there so we were cookin as well.
Update: I have the cooler outside, with a wooden yardstick on edge holding the lid partial open. Its slowly melting, and though the cooler looks to be at least 70% full of ice still, I have 2.5 gallons melted and dripped through a coffee filter into a carboy. The filter is for surface dirt you just couldnt avoid.
Once I have it melted, I will size a batch to the available water. Im really thinking at this point of one of my all time favorites, the Orange Cascade. Ive never done wrong with that. The idea of glacier hops is a novel one as well. Im also thinking if this works out, rucksacks the next time. Rubber lined military. You could get alot out and it melts real slow, and then you could make multiple trips for more ice. Carrying a full extreme down a rocky face mtn base from where the glacier was, was a feat to witness.
I will post again to let you all know the progress Im getting melting this ice down. Its amazing how much water it is putting out. Ill re read the thread again in case I missed any questions, and try to post answers if there is one.
To be continued.....

Just a Note:
It is legal in Alaska to harvest glacier ice. No permits needed until you get into the tons. Folks remove and consume glacier ice (mostly by melt and drink) all the time from these places.
If you have never been on a glacier, then you wouldnt know how it melts. There are spots that do not fill in with existing snow ice or rain, and are as blue as blue can get. It is core ice exposed. And even core ice that is covered with snow, melts at such a slower rate that all new overcover is pretty much gone by this time. This glacier arm is receding mostly from melt, which it has been doing for centuries. So, its a pretty good bet this ice hasnt seen its water alter ego since before our ancestors.
Im using it for the same reason i just brewed my birch sap beer. Its an ingredient I cant just pick off a shelf, and takes a bit to harvest. And who knows, maybe I will unleash some apocolyptic pandemic that mutates everyone into beer drinkers. Just the thought.... Or it might just make a freaking great beer!
Im glad some folks are finding this an interesting experiment, and I will indeed keep you all updated as it goes on.
Just as a note, I drive 30 miles to an artesian well to get my beer brewing water up here. The same water the Silver Gultch Brewery in Fairbanks uses. Some of the best water in the interior.
I shall return when more news abounds....
Enjoy....

I think someone on the green board did this once. I don't remember how he said it turned out... I've thought about trying it seeing that there's a glacier about 2.5 miles from my house but I'm lazy. It's crazy to see how much has melted just in the past year... it's melting at quite an accelerated rate these last several years.

Im at 3.5 gallons, and still over half full cooler of ice. I might just get enough to do a full 5 gallon batch. That would rock.
FYI......

Wow, this is friggin' awesome. Let us know how it turns out.

And dude, you gotta use Glacier hops.

(This is my 8,888 post. WOW!)

I love this sort of thing

killer bro. i love the simpsons 'ahoy hoy' reference also (unless you got that somewhere else...)

i will be excited to see how this beer ends up. good luck!

android said:

i love the simpsons 'ahoy hoy' reference also (unless you got that somewhere else...)

Click to expand...

Exxxcellent......

This sounds awesome...

Just a thought - you should save some of that ice unmelted for another batch, and then use that to ferment it / for refermentation - let's see if those bugs that've been frozen for 10,000 years make beer that's any good? ;-)

I might have to do this. There's glaciers here in Washington that might be accessable for a project like this.

Ahoy hoy,
Well, we are just a bit shy of 5 gallons, and theres a good third to a quarter of the ice left. Drop by drop, it slowly grows. Im guessing I might pull 6-7 gallons out of this when its done. Thats alot less then Im used to using in my 5 gallon batches of late, but ill just have to pull back a bit. I like to use 2qt per lb when mashing. Might have to drop back to the ol standby, 1.25 or so. Or just tweak the formula. We will see. I will not and refuse to add any other water then the glacier melt.
The old timers say the quality of the water is paramount, so Im hoping for the best. Its fun none the less. I never got that chemistry set I asked for as a kid all those years ago, so, I still have some unfulfilled childhood things that blurt out and occur now and then
Ill keep you all updated as things occur....
A great day to all!

Sorry, I haven't read through the whole thread, but I thought I'd ask if you were planning on adding any minerals to the water? The glacier ice will basically be distilled water, with no mineral content.

I really have no idea, but why would it have no mineral content?

Glaciers are compacted snow. Snow is frozen rain. Rain is distilled water. Especially 10,000 years ago when there were no pollutants in the air.

Ahoy hoy,
well all the information I have been able to find all say the same basic thing. Glacier water is purer then most any other water, but there are naturally occurring minerals and they depend on where the glacier is.
I have decided not to add a thing. There will be water yeast malt and hops. Oh, and probably orange peel and coriander seed. But Dammit, thats it! :cross:
I wonder what I would find from using one of those over the counter water testers that we well users use off and on to check the state of their well water.
Hmmm.
More later....

homebrewer_99 said:

I used to give blood several times a year for years.

About 15 years ago I went hiking up to a glacier in Britsh Columbia. I drank the water flowing off the glacier. Three weeks later I gave blood again. Two days latert I received a notice from Red Cross that I had contracted hepatitis and could no longer donate blood.

Now I joke about getting contaminated by pteryldactyl piss...

Word of warning: You might want to get the water analyzed first.

Click to expand...

Did you go to your doctor to get a confirmation on that? He will do a much thorough test.
The blood centers get false positives all the time. And I mean all the time. Which is a lot better than false negatives. My mom used to work for MVRBC in the QC.

Now if you go get cleared by your doctor that you do not have hep, the blood center still won't let you donate .