Glacier Tanks Kettles and Mash Tuns

[almalkin]

I've done some searches, but couldn't come up with a lot of information.
Does anyone have experience with Glacier Tanks kettles or mash tuns? I'm looking at the 7 - 15 bbl sized options. They look fairly bare-bones in terms of options and fittings, but I'm curious about the build quality in general.
Thanks!

[Rick500]

I'm interested in the same info. Looking at one of their kettles.

[jrking01]

interesting thread.... I just sent off a check yesterday for Glaciers 10bbl kettle with a 400000 btu forced air burner . Will post back in 3-4 months when it arrives.

Jim K

[BonedaleBeer]

I don't know if it just the pictures that they have on their website, but their Mash Tun H:W ratio looks way too tall to be in any way efficient. I like the look of most everything else they have there, but that scares me a bit.

[almalkin]

I have a reference list from Glacier now, so I'm going to see if I can get some reviews from the listed breweries.

[BigBug Brewing]

I have a reference list from Glacier now, so I'm going to see if I can get some reviews from the listed breweries.

Steve,
If you don't mind could you please post the results of your inquiries? I am also interested.

Pete @bigbugbrewing

[almalkin]

The reference list from Glacier has quite a few tank customers listed, but very few that have purchased kettles and mash tuns. I've received one response from a customer that was brief but positive. I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple of other customers on the list. I'd love to see some pics of one of these systems in use.

Feel free to PM me and I can email the list for review.

[SoMe Brewing]

Any updates on Glacier? Quality?

[ColdFusion]

We have recently received a BK, MLT, and HLT from Glacier but haven't gotten our TSSA approvals just yet. Overall quality is pretty good but we had some issues with the vessels arriving at glacier with ferrules in the wrong place and certain customizations missing. Those were all essentially fixed prior to shipment to us. The perf plate for the MLT doesn't fit great and we've been waiting on wedge wire from them. Burners that we requested to be shipped with the kettles about 4 months prior to shipment didn't arrive until a week later and we are still waiting on sight-glasses. We still have a couple minor customization issues with the tanks but they won't stop us from making beer.

For sure you want the MLT cut down. You probably want longer legs too. Makes the MLT about the same height as the BK/HLT.

So, in general, about what you might expect for the money. Build and finish is pretty good; attention to detail isn't great.

[HogMountain]

ColdFusion,
It sounds like you bought individual tanks and not one of their complete brew houses. Is that correct? I ask because the prices on their site are extremely reasonable. If you don't mind me asking, which tanks did you buy?
Thanks

[ColdFusion]

That's correct. We bought direct fire, insulated 10BBL BK and HLT (set up the same for redundancy) and a 10BBL insulated MLT. We're hoping to brew our first batch this weekend if our burner assemblies get the nod from TSSA.

One more added thing is that Glacier is paying for our welder who fixed a few little issues.

[alestars]

Glacier Tanks

That's correct. We bought direct fire, insulated 10BBL BK and HLT (set up the same for redundancy) and a 10BBL insulated MLT. We're hoping to brew our first batch this weekend if our burner assemblies get the nod from TSSA.

One more added thing is that Glacier is paying for our welder who fixed a few little issues.

Hey guys,
Ordered 5 BBL mah tun and 7 BBL kettle from glacier at the time of ordering the 5 BBL kettle did not have enough head space for a 5 BBl batch with boil off and trub loss from my calculations so went with 7 BBL BK.
They have since increased the size on kettles and mash tuns.
Glacier is suppose to have tanks on monday and i really hope we recieve these late next week, though i know it will be the week after will post back.
How was the lead time on your tanks cold fusion ours have been a bit longer than discussed when tanks were ordered.
thanks!

[HogMountain]

I hope you'll both keep us updated with some results.

[ColdFusion]

Hey guys,
How was the lead time on your tanks cold fusion ours have been a bit longer than discussed when tanks were ordered.
thanks!

It was a bit longer, maybe two weeks.

[ColdFusion]

Update:

We are using 440k BTU jet burners (not forced air) in the 10BBL kettles to knock out 7.5 BBL. With a damper the firebox gets HOT. Seriously consider insulating these (or asking glacier to do it), they radiate a lot of heat. Also do something to protect the concrete under the firebox.

We tried many configurations and we believe we are getting good burn (did I mention that the firebox gets hot?) but we still only achieve about 1F/min rise on 100 gallons. Took 2 hours after sparge was complete to get to boil. None of the changes we've made have had much effect. Our current suspicion is that the surface contact for hot gasses is simply too small. Would love to hear if others have it working well, otherwise we are going to be making some modifications to augment the heating.

Last thing: MLT worked just fine other than it's too tall and the FB doesn't really fit well so we get a lot of grain coming through. The combination of a grant and in-line strainer worked just fine though. Once we get the wedge wire, we expect it to be much better (crossing fingers).