Question for Chicago lager brewers

[Hedo-Rick]

Hey Chicago,

I'm currently living in and have been brewing in San Francisco for the last 9 years, but want to move back to Chicago this fall.

95% of what I brew are German Pilsners, with the occasional hoppy beer sprinkled in. We have really lean water here and I can build just about any water profile I need with calcium chloride and gypsum additions.

What are you brewers in Chicago doing with your water to brew a German Pilsner? What is the water profile like coming out of the tap?

 

[madscientist451]

Water profiles from around the world, including 3 from Chicago:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/water-profiles

Many posts on HBT re: Using Chicago water for brewing:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/search/4243231/?q=Chicago+Water&o=relevance&c[node]=14

 

[Gameface]

RO systems are pretty affordable. Buckeye Hydro participates in this forum and has good prices and excellent customer service. You'll always know what kind of water you're brewing with and mineral additions are pretty simple when you use RO water.

 

[SaltPig]

Our water is from Lake Michigan and is pretty good without any modifications. For non-hoppy beers I don't really mess with it aside from a decent amount of acid to get the pH down. They use chloramine which is easily removed with potassium metabisulfite.

Water reports can be found here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/dep...ndreports/comprehensive_chemicalanalysis.html

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

They use chloramine which is easily removed with potassium metabisulfite.

Water reports can be found here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/dep...ndreports/comprehensive_chemicalanalysis.html

Didn't see any evidence of chloramine use in those reports. Just free chlorine.