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Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

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122-514: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was established in 1979 by homebrewers Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi in Chico, California , United States . The brewery produced 786,000  US bbl (922,000  hl ) in 2010, and as of 2016, Sierra Nevada Brewing is the seventh-largest brewing company in the United States and is the third largest privately owned brewery in the United States. The brewery

244-409: A keg using compressed carbon dioxide, or bottle carbonation with priming sugar. Any bottle that is able to withstand the pressure of carbonation can be used, such as used beer bottles, flip-top bottles with rubber stoppers such as Grolsch , or even plastic bottles such as soda bottles, provided they are properly sanitised. Priming briefly reactivates the yeast that remains in the bottle, carbonating

366-545: A pilsner brewed in the Czech tradition. Annual "Special Release" beers produced by Sierra Nevada include Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale, Hemisphere Harvest Ales and Chico Harvest Estate Ale. Bigfoot is brewed with two types of malt and three differing hops, and tops out at 9.6% ABV . It is a barleywine , but due to alcohol laws in the U.S. it must be marketed as a "barleywine style ale". Only alcohols derived from fruits, not grains, can be marketed as wine. It first won medals at

488-470: A shellmound , now mostly leveled and covered up, along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay at the mouth of Strawberry Creek . Human remains and skeletons from Native American burials have been unearthed in West Berkeley and on campus alongside Strawberry Creek . Other artifacts were discovered in the 1950s in the downtown area during remodeling of a commercial building, near the upper course of

610-548: A " penal bond " (which currently ranges from a minimum of $ 1000.00 to a maximum of $ 500,000 ) which had the prohibitive effect of economically preventing brewers of small quantities from pursuing their hobby. Owning or operating a distillation apparatus without filing the proper paperwork and paying the taxes carries federal criminal penalties. Homebrewing kits come in many different types and from many different manufacturers. A local homebrew store may create some of their own kits by packaging materials together. Most kits come with

732-506: A "much different process" from homebrewing. For its 30th anniversary in 2010, the company released a series of collaborative beers with the assistance of those Grossman considered an early influence on his brewing: Charlie Papazian , Fred Eckhardt , Fritz Maytag (Anchor) and Jack McAuliffe (New Albion). In November 2010, Stansbury Publishing released Hops and Dreams: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co , written by California State University, Chico professor Rob Burton, who researched

854-720: A LEED Platinum certification in June 2016 Sierra Nevada's Mills River brewery is the only LEED Platinum certified brewery in the USA. The Mills River brewery is also a Platinum Zero Waste facility, certified by the US Zero Waste Business Council. The brewery's year-round offerings include its Pale Ale, Porter, Stout, Torpedo 'Extra' IPA, Kellerweis Hefeweizen, and Hazy Little Thing. Sierra's flagship Pale Ale has been described as "a balance between aggressive hops and hearty malt flavor", with its Cascade hops offering

976-411: A bag has revolutionised home all-grain brewing as batch sizes of 9 to 45.5 litres (2.4 to 12.0 US gal) of wort into the fermenter are easily employed without any compromising on quality or versatility. A typical brew session using BIAB is typically 3 hours, not including fermentation. Cold water is preferred for the yeast for its high oxygen content. Some homebrewing kits usually instruct that

1098-614: A bill repealing federal restrictions and excise taxes, and President Jimmy Carter signed the bill, H.R. 1337 , into law, legalizing homebrewing of beer in the United States . Within months of homebrewing's full legalization, Charlie Papazian founded the Brewers Association and American Homebrewers Association . In 1984, Papazian published The Complete Joy of Home Brewing , which remains in print alongside later publications, such as Graham Wheeler's Home Brewing: The CAMRA Guide . People choose to brew their own beer for

1220-688: A brewery in Chico, California. Along with the brewery's location, Grossman says the company's name comes from his love of hiking in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada . With $ 50,000 in loans from friends and family, Grossman and Camusi rented a 3,000 sq ft (280 m) warehouse and pieced together discarded dairy equipment and scrapyard metal to create their brewing equipment. They later were able to acquire second-hand copper brewing kettles from Germany before moving to their larger, current brewing facility in 1989. The first batch brewed on premises

1342-439: A can, no-boil, and hopped wort, these beer kits contain liquid malt extract that has already been boiled with hops to introduce bitterness and flavor. Pre-hopped kits simplify the brewing process by removing the need to add hops at specific times during the boil. Some kits may not require a boil at all, but that may increase the risk of off flavors in the resulting beer from contamination from bacteria and wild yeasts. While some feel

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1464-425: A clearer beer, slowing the production of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), and hindering the growth of wort contamination by pitching yeast as soon as possible. Many homebrewers use an inexpensive wort chiller called an "immersion chiller." These resemble the "worms" used in distilleries consisting of a coiled length of copper or stainless steel tubing (typically 50 feet in length) with an inlet and outlet connection. The inlet

1586-518: A collaboration with the State of California that culminated in 1868 with the creation of the public University of California . As construction began on the new site, more residences were constructed in the vicinity of the new campus. At the same time, a settlement of residences, saloons, and various industries grew around the wharf area called Ocean View . A horsecar ran from Temescal in Oakland to

1708-563: A drain at the bottom, and the top cut open to create a large stainless steel cooking kettle. Many times, the piece of metal cut out of the top is re-used to create a false bottom for straining wort during the mashing process, as well as to strain the boiled wort when adding hops without using a mesh grain bag. Alternatively, kegs specifically designed for home brewing are available. The capacity may be matched to commercial extract brewing kits; typically 12 and 23 litres. Smaller 2.5-US-gallon (9.5 L) kegs are also made for ease of transporting to

1830-442: A form of seaweed, gelatin, and others can be added in the final 15–30 minutes of the boil to help prevent haze in the resulting beer. The primary reason to cool the wort is to get the wort to the proper temperature for healthy yeast propagation. Other benefits of rapidly cooling of the wort include "locking in" hop flavor and aroma, aiding in the production of "cold break" where haze-producing proteins coagulate ultimately resulting in

1952-469: A full set of instructions for brewing. These instructions, sometimes called recipes, may vary widely in the amount of instruction given. For instance, many all-grain kits assume a familiarity with the brewing process and so may give fewer specific instructions on the general process. Many advanced brewers prefer to design and perfect their own recipes rather than buy kits. Kits may or may not include yeast. For brewers with equipment and advanced knowledge about

2074-411: A function. Kegs may have residual pressure, and this must be vented to avoid having the valve explode and injure or kill a person as the valve shoots out. Conventional 15.5-US-gallon (59 L) kegs have circle spring clips that can be removed to release the tap valve. Some kegs such as those used by Miller have threaded valves that are threaded into the keg, and after venting, can be opened by turning

2196-535: A giftshop. In 2000, the brewery opened "The Big Room", a live-music venue located inside the brewery's facilities, featuring a variety of acts including country, bluegrass, folk, rock, blues, and other musical genres. Camusi retired in 1998 and sold his share in the company to Grossman. In 2010, Sierra Nevada Brewing partnered with the Abbey of New Clairvaux , with the monastery beginning production of Trappist -style beers in 2011. The Abbey has not yet been sanctioned by

2318-414: A grapefruit aroma and fruity palate. Like several other Sierra Nevada offerings, it is bottle-conditioned . It is the best-selling pale ale in the United States as of 2012. Sierra Nevada's Porter , along with its heavier Stout version, have been described by writer Michael Jackson as "gently coffeish" and "beautifully roasty" examples of their respective styles. The two offerings have been brewed since

2440-691: A halt. Facing rising housing costs, residents voted to enact rent control and vacancy control in 1980. Though more far-reaching in their effect than those of some of the other jurisdictions in California that chose to use rent control where they could, these policies were limited by the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act , a statewide ban on rent control that came into effect in 1995 and limited rent control to multi-family units that were built (or technically buildings that were issued their original certificate of occupation) before

2562-472: A local ethanol company to produce high-grade ethanol fuel from its discarded yeast. Spent grain is sold to local cattle ranchers for livestock feed; spent water is sent to the brewery's own water treatment plant , where it is reused, mainly as drip irrigation for its fields. Over 99.5% of the brewery plant's solid waste is diverted from landfill . The company owns one mile of railway in Chico for use in intermodal freight transport , which aids in reducing

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2684-451: A micro-manufacturing license (for quantities up to 2 million litres of spirits per year), and various other permits are required. For larger quantities, a full manufacturing license and various permits are required. Most states permit homebrewing of 100 US gallons (380 L) of beer per adult (of 21 years or older) per year and up to a maximum of 200 US gallons (760 L) per household annually when there are two or more adults residing in

2806-563: A secondary fermenter. This secondary fermentation process is often utilized by more advanced home brewers to enhance flavor. While not required, it is generally practiced by home brewers who wish to age or clarify their beer by removing it from the sediment left behind by primary fermentation, often through the addition of isinglass, colloidal silicon dioxide, or spakolloid. In addition to using two different fermenting containers, some home brewers may choose to only use one container in which primary and secondary fermentation take place. This container

2928-489: A small amount of milled, malted grain that must be steeped with the wort before boiling. A grain bag is usually included to facilitate this process. These additional grains help add different character to the beer so that a single extract can be used to brew several varieties of beer. A full boil is required, with hop additions at different times depending on style. A typical brew session using extract typically takes 2 hours, not including fermentation. Sometimes known as beer in

3050-727: A small, though busy, wharf by the bay. In 1866, Oakland's private College of California looked for a new site. It settled on a location north of Oakland along the foot of the Contra Costa Range (later called the Berkeley Hills) on Strawberry Creek , at an elevation of about 500 feet (150 m) above the bay, commanding a view of the Bay Area and the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate . According to

3172-471: A statewide referendum that proposed moving the California state capital to Berkeley was defeated by a margin of about 33,000 votes. The city had named streets around the proposed capitol grounds for California counties. They bear those names today, a legacy of the failed referendum. On March 4, 1909, following public referendums, the citizens of Berkeley were granted a new charter by the State of California, and

3294-427: A tablespoon of sucrose should be added per bottle. The principles behind the process of homebrewing beer are similar to commercial brewing . A hopped wort is produced and yeast pitched into the wort to stimulate fermentation . The complexity of the process is mostly determined by the approach used to manufacture the wort; by far the simplest method is kit brewing. Mashing is the step required to convert starch in

3416-568: A typical 5-US-gallon (19 L) batch before bottling. Homebrewers often use kegs for aging, filtering, and storing beer. These are seldom the standard kegs used by major brewers to transport draught beer to wholesalers, but instead are reconditioned Cornelius kegs (colloquially known as "corny kegs" or "cornies") that were originally manufactured to store soda ; these vessels are much easier to fill, clean and maintain than standard beer kegs. These kegs are stainless steel cylinders that hold approximately 5 US gallons (19 L) of liquid. The keg

3538-453: A variety of reasons. Many homebrew to avoid a higher cost of buying commercially equivalent beverages. Brewing domestically also affords one the freedom to adjust recipes according to one's own preference, create beverages that are unavailable on the open market or beverages that may contain fewer calories, or less or more alcohol. Some people join homebrewing clubs and enter homebrew competitions. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP)

3660-479: A vast stretch of land on the east shore of San Francisco Bay (the contra costa , "opposite shore") for a ranch, including that portion that now comprises the City of Berkeley. Luis Peralta named his holding " Rancho San Antonio ." The primary activity of the ranch was raising cattle for meat and hides, but hunting and farming were also pursued. Eventually, Peralta gave portions of the ranch to each of his four sons. What

3782-459: Is Patrick Hollingdale. The hallmarks of BIAB are a single brewing vessel, a fine mesh bag to hold the grist (crushed malt/grain) and a single heat source. The bag, usually made of nylon or fashioned out of a voile material lines the brewing pot which contains the total volume of water needed for the entire brewing process. The water is then heated to strike temperature and then the grist is added. The traditional brewing technique of sparging (rinsing

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3904-422: Is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County , California , United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley . It borders the cities of Oakland and Emeryville to the south and the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington to the north. Its eastern border with Contra Costa County generally follows

4026-578: Is a free resource for homebrewers and homebrew competition organizers. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) trains and certifies beer judges through classes and tasting and written tests. BJCP judges evaluate the beer on 5 criteria: Aroma, Appearance, Flavor, Mouthfeel, and Overall Impression. The beer is also compared to a style provided by the brewer and described in the BJCP Style Guidelines. Berkeley, California Berkeley ( / ˈ b ɜːr k l i / BURK -lee )

4148-486: Is an American organization that oversees homebrew competitions, certifies judges, and offers categories for judging. Similar British organizations are The National Guild of Wine and Beer Judges, and the National Association of Wine and Beermakers (Amateur) - (NAWB), who have held an annual show since 1959. As of 2010 "agricultural distilling" permits are no longer available. Commercial operations require

4270-480: Is attached to a source of cool water such as a sink faucet. The immersion chiller is inserted into the hot wort then cool water pumped is through the coil where a heat exchange occurs thus lowering the temperature of the wort. Many homebrewers also use a "counterflow chiller." This device consists of a tube of copper or stainless steel tubing nested inside a larger diameter length of tube. It resembles an immersion chiller but works more like plate chiller in that hot wort

4392-473: Is brewed with organic wet hops and barley grown on the brewery's premises. Old Chico Crystal Wheat, a wheat beer , is named in memory of the Chico Brewery which operated in the town during the 19th century. Old Chico brand beers are only distributed in the northern California area around Chico. The "Resilience Butte County Proud IPA" is a limited edition IPA , released to benefit recovery efforts for

4514-404: Is circulated through the inner tube and cool water is passed through the outer tube counter to the direction of the hot wort, thereby cooling the wort quickly. Some homebrewers use the 'no-chill' approach. It is a water-conserving technique, depending on the ambient temperature being lower to cool the hot wort. After the boil the hot wort is racked into a fitting fermenter. After placing the cap or

4636-412: Is filled with liquid via a removable hatch on the top, which is then closed and sealed. Carbon dioxide is added to pressurize the keg via an inlet port on the top and is facilitated by gently rocking the brew back and forth. Liquid is dispensed via an outlet port attached to a tube that extends to the bottom of the keg. Pin-lock and ball-lock fittings (or posts ) are the two types of couplings used on

4758-480: Is known as wort (pronounced "wert") and is necessary for fermentation. A full boil of the wort is then required, with one or more hop additions at different times depending on style. A typical brew session using all-grain takes between 4 and 6 hours, not including fermentation. Some kits contain a concentrated malt extract rather than grain. Malt extract can be either dry or in a syrup form, both used to produce fermented syrup . A few advanced kits may also come with

4880-618: Is now Berkeley lies mostly in the portion that went to Peralta's son Domingo , with a little in the portion that went to another son, Vicente. No artifact survives of the Domingo or Vicente ranches, but their names survive in Berkeley street names (Vicente, Domingo, and Peralta). However, legal title to all land in the City of Berkeley remains based on the original Peralta land grant. The Peraltas' Rancho San Antonio continued after Alta California passed from Spanish to Mexican sovereignty after

5002-449: Is powered by solar energy , having 10,000 photovoltaic modules covering its rooftops and parking lot. In all, the brewery uses 2.6 megawatts of solar electricity on premises. It also has built a charging station for electric vehicles on its premises. The company uses a small-scale BioPro™ biodiesel processor to convert the used cooking oil from its restaurant for biodiesel use in its delivery trucks. In 2009, it reached an agreement with

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5124-399: Is the brewing of beer or other alcoholic beverages on a small scale for personal, non-commercial purposes. Supplies, such as kits and fermentation tanks, can be purchased locally at specialty stores or online. Beer was brewed domestically for thousands of years before its commercial production although its legality has varied according to local regulation. Homebrewing is closely related to

5246-501: Is the safest approach to carbonation. Exceeding recommended levels of priming sugar for a given recipe can result in exploding bottles (aka "bottle bombs"), as is using inappropriate bottles or improper capping methods. Beer may also be force-carbonated using a keg and special bottling equipment so that the carbonation level can be carefully controlled. Carbonation is often achieved with approximately 4 ounces (110 g) of corn sugar boiled in 2 cups (500 mL) of water then cooled and added to

5368-423: Is used; conversely the mash may be heated to around 80 °C (176 °F) to end such activity prior to placing it in the lauter-tun, and to prevent cooler grain from lowering the sparge water temperature to a lower than desirable figure. Whether the homebrewer chooses to mash their own grains or chooses to purchase malt extracts, the homebrewer will then need to boil the liquid and add hops. The length of time

5490-435: Is usually referred to as a uni-tank. Uni-tanks are usually conical in shape, and can be made from plastic, glass, or stainless steel. A popular plastic conical for homebrewing is FastFerment, while a popular stainless steel conical fermenter for homebrewers is The Blichmann Fermenator. Upon conclusion of fermentation, the beer is carbonated before it is consumed. This is typically done in one of two ways; force carbonation in

5612-733: The Berkeley Oak Grove Protest began protesting construction of a new sports center annex to Memorial Stadium at the expense of a grove of oak trees on the UC campus. The protest ended in September 2008 after a lengthy court process. In 2007–2008, Berkeley received media attention due to demonstrations against a Marine Corps recruiting office in downtown Berkeley and a series of controversial motions by Berkeley's city council regarding opposition to Marine recruiting. ( See Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center controversy .) During

5734-505: The Camp Fire , which impacted areas nearby Sierra Nevada's Chico brewery in 2018; about 50 Sierra Nevada employees lost their homes in the fire. Resilience IPA is brewed at the Chico and Mills River, North Carolina breweries, and over 1,500 other breweries signed up to brew and sell the beer. 39°43′24″N 121°48′57″W  /  39.72333°N 121.81583°W  / 39.72333; -121.81583 Homebrewing Homebrewing

5856-691: The Centennial Record of the University of California , "In 1866, at Founders' Rock , a group of College of California men watched two ships standing out to sea through the Golden Gate. One of them, Frederick Billings , thought of the lines of the Anglo-Irish Anglican Bishop George Berkeley , 'westward the course of empire takes its way,' and suggested that the town and college site be named for

5978-589: The Great American Beer Festival in 1987. It is generally released January–February of each year. The brewery releases both a Northern and Southern Hemisphere Harvest "wet hop" ale. Introduced in 1996 as Harvest Ale, Northern Hemisphere utilizes wet (undried) hops from eastern Washington for its "fresh harvest" ale. It was the first fresh-hop ale brewed in the United States. The brewery later introduced Southern Hemisphere which features wet hops from New Zealand . The Chico Estate Harvest Ale

6100-592: The International Trappist Association , and therefore the monastery will not be brewing official Trappist beer . The brewery employed about 450 people in 2011. In January 2012, Sierra Nevada announced it would build a second brewing facility with an attached restaurant in Mills River, North Carolina . The LEED -Platinum-certified building opened in early 2014 on a forested tract adjacent to Asheville Regional Airport , re-using

6222-664: The Library of Congress website. Berkeley's slow growth ended abruptly with the Great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 . The town and other parts of the East Bay escaped serious damage, and thousands of refugees flowed across the Bay. Among them were most of San Francisco's painters and sculptors, who between 1907 and 1911 created one of the largest art colonies west of Chicago. Artist and critic Jennie V. Cannon described

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6344-729: The Mexican War of Independence . However, the advent of U.S. sovereignty after the Mexican–American War , and especially, the Gold Rush , saw the Peraltas' lands quickly encroached on by squatters and diminished by dubious legal proceedings. The lands of the brothers Domingo and Vicente were quickly reduced to reservations close to their respective ranch homes. The rest of the land was surveyed and parceled out to various American claimants ( See Kellersberger's Map ). Politically,

6466-516: The Vietnam Day Committee . Berkeley is strongly identified with the rapid social changes, civic unrest, and political upheaval that characterized the mid-to-late 1960s. In that period, Berkeley—especially Telegraph Avenue —became a focal point for the hippie movement, which spilled over the Bay from San Francisco. Many hippies were apolitical drop-outs, rather than students, but in the heady atmosphere of Berkeley in 1967–1969 there

6588-417: The "Infusion Mash", milled grains are combined in the tun and hot water is added. Before being combined with the grains, the water is heated to a temperature that is hotter than the desired temperature for enzymatic activity. The reason the water is heated is to compensate for the fact that the grain are cooler than the desired temperature. The grains are infused with yet hotter water to rinse more sugars from

6710-402: The 1880s Berkeley had segregated housing and anti-Chinese laws. The area near the university became known for a time as East Berkeley. Due to the influence of the university, the modern age came quickly to Berkeley. Electric lights and the telephone were in use by 1888. Electric streetcars soon replaced the horsecar . A silent film of one of these early streetcars in Berkeley can be seen at

6832-471: The BIAB method. In all grain brewing the wort is made by making a mash from crushed malted barley (or alternative grain adjuncts such as unmalted barley, wheat , oats , corn or rye ) and hot water. This requires a vessel known as a mash tun , which is often insulated, or can be done in a single brewing vessel if the homebrewer is using the BIAB method. In one procedure popular with homebrewers called

6954-656: The Exchequer Reginald Maudling removed the requirement for a brewing licence in 1963. Australia followed suit in 1972 when Gough Whitlam repealed the law prohibiting the brewing of all but the weakest beers in one of his first acts as Prime Minister . In 1920, Prohibition caused breweries across the United States to be closed down or to begin making malt for other purposes. The homebrewing of beer with an alcohol content higher than 0.5% remained illegal until 1978 when Congress passed

7076-449: The IPA category, it has also been described as a hoppy, malty amber ale , as well as a "bigger version" of the company's pale ale. Previous Autumn seasonal Tumbler Brown Ale has been described as a full-bodied, malt-heavy brown ale and is sold for the autumn months. Previous Spring seasonal Ruthless Rye IPA is an IPA brewed with rye and whole-cone hops for the spring, while Summerfest is

7198-955: The Police Department to avoid escalation of violence and to protect bystanders during protests. During a protest against bigotry and U.S. President Donald Trump in August 2017, self-described anti-fascist protesters attacked Trump supporters in attendance. Police intervened, arresting 14 people. Sometimes called " antifa ", these ‘anti-fascist’ activists were clad in black shirts and other black attire, while some carried shields and others had masks or bandanas hiding their faces to help them evade capture after street fighting. . These protests spanned February to September 2017 (See more at 2017 Berkeley Protests ). In 2019, protesters took up residence in People's Park against tree-chopping and were arrested by police in riot gear. Many activists saw this as

7320-522: The Town of Berkeley became the City of Berkeley. Rapid growth continued up to the Crash of 1929 . The Great Depression hit Berkeley hard, but not as hard as many other places in the U.S., thanks in part to the university. In 1916, Berkeley implemented single-family zoning as an effort to keep minorities out of white neighborhoods. This has been described as the first implementation of single-family zoning in

7442-434: The U.C. campus began to build up to the recognizable activism of the sixties. In the 1950s, McCarthyism induced the university to demand a loyalty oath from its professors, many of whom refused to sign the oath on the principle of freedom of thought. In 1960, a U.S. House committee ( HUAC ) came to San Francisco to investigate the influence of communists in the Bay Area. Their presence was met by protesters, including many from

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7564-657: The U.S. was started by the Ecology Center in 1973. Styrofoam was banned in 1988. As the city leaned more and more Democratic, local politics became divided between "Progressives" and "Moderates". 1984 saw the Progressives take the majority for the first time. Nancy Skinner became the first UC Berkeley student elected to City Council. In 1986, in reaction to the 1984 election, a ballot measure switched Berkeley from at-large to district-based elections for city council. In 1983, Berkeley's Domestic Partner Task Force

7686-478: The United States By 2021, nearly half of Berkeley's residential neighborhoods were still exclusively zoned for single-family homes. On September 17, 1923, a major fire swept down the hills toward the university campus and the downtown section. Around 640 structures burned before a late-afternoon sea breeze stopped its progress, allowing firefighters to put it out. The next big growth occurred with

7808-453: The United States. Whereas many of the newly spawned microbreweries of the 1980s went out of business, Sierra Nevada Brewing endured to become one of the largest independent brewers in the country, whose beers were noted for their "character and complexity". Grossman believed many microbrewers of the early 1980s had put out an inferior product due to lack of preparation for the financial and mechanical realities of commercial brewing, which were

7930-609: The University of California and a high-demand housing market, Berkeley was relatively unaffected by the Great Recession . State budget cuts caused the university to increase the number of out-of-state and international students, with international enrollment, mostly from Asia, rising from 2,785 in 2007 to 5,951 in 2016. Since then, more international restaurants have opened downtown and on Telegraph Avenue , including East Asian chains such as Ippudo and Daiso . A wave of downtown apartment construction began in 1998. In 2006,

8052-453: The action of heat and the natural enzymes have been destroyed, wheat and unmalted extracts need the help of enzymes to convert their starches into sugars. The next step up from extract brewing is to use a diastatically active malt extract to convert starches from other beer adjuncts such as flaked and torrified barleys, flaked and torrified wheat, wheat flour, and flaked oats into fermented syrup . These extracts are currently only available in

8174-415: The advent of World War II , when large numbers of people moved to the Bay Area to work in the many war industries, such as the immense Kaiser Shipyards in nearby Richmond . One who moved out, but played a big role in the outcome of the war, was U.C. professor and Berkeley resident J. Robert Oppenheimer . During the war, an Army base, Camp Ashby , was temporarily sited in Berkeley. The element berkelium

8296-425: The area that became Berkeley was initially part of a vast Contra Costa County . On March 25, 1853, Alameda County was created from a division of Contra Costa County, as well as from a small portion of Santa Clara County . The area that became Berkeley was then the northern part of the "Oakland Township" subdivision of Alameda County. During this period, "Berkeley" was mostly a mix of open land, farms, and ranches, with

8418-517: The bottle. Along with Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco and the now-defunct New Albion Brewing Company in Sonoma , whose owners offered Grossman and Camusi early guidance in their venture, Sierra Nevada is considered one of the earliest and most influential breweries which spawned the craft beer movement of the 1980s-90s. Grossman has been dubbed a "pioneer" by fellow craft brewers in

8540-415: The brew. Homebrewed beers and lagers are typically unfiltered (filtering improves visual appearance of the product, but complicates carbonation). Bottled beer becomes clear quicker than kegged beer, since the yeast does not have as far to descend. In homebrewing, adding priming sugar, malt extract, or carbonation tablets at bottling time to beer that has had its fermentable sugar content totally consumed

8662-413: The brewery's carbon footprint. Each rail car can hold the equivalent of four semi-trailers of grain; rail transport is more fuel efficient than road transport . Sierra Nevada is the largest buyer of organic hops in the United States. It also farms its own organic hops and barley for use in its annual Chico Estate Harvest Ale release. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Mills River, NC facility earned

8784-422: The brewing process, all-grain kits include all the ingredients necessary to create homebrew beer. Most kits include grain and hops, some kits may also include yeast that pairs well with the style of beer. A full set of instructions is generally included. What sets these kits apart from others is the inclusion of malted grain which must first undergo a mash to extract the sugars. This combination of liquid and sugars

8906-414: The canned form. Unmalted barleys and wheats can add extra "body" to a finished beer. Advanced homebrewers forgo the use of concentrated extract and instead convert starch into sugars from the grains themselves in a process often referred to as all grain brewing. Although considered an advanced method, all grain brewing is easily achievable by beginners and with rudimentary equipment, especially when using

9028-658: The city near the university and downtown. Increasing enrollment also led the university to wanting to redevelop certain places of Berkeley, especially Southside, but more specifically People's Park. Preservationists passed the Neighborhood Protection Ordinance in 1973 by ballot measure and the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance in 1974 by the City Council. Together, these ordinances brought most new construction to

9150-637: The company for three years. The company has claimed to be neutral on political issues, and reiterated this stance in 2010 when it was erroneously linked by a beer industry group to opposing the California Proposition 19 of that year, which would have legalized marijuana in the state. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. won the US Environmental Protection Agency's "Green Business of the Year" award for 2010. The brewery

9272-430: The company's first year of operation. Torpedo is an American India Pale Ale , and Kellerweis is a traditional Bavarian hefeweizen . Both were introduced as nationwide offerings in 2009. The brewery's current lineup of seasonals include Beer Camp Hoppy Lager, Summerfest Lager, Oktoberfest, and Celebration Ale. Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale has been brewed as a winter seasonal since 1981. While it has won medals under

9394-706: The creek. The first people of European descent (most of whom were of mixed race and born in America ) arrived with the De Anza Expedition in 1776. The De Anza Expedition led to establishment of the Spanish Presidio of San Francisco at the entrance to San Francisco Bay (the " Golden Gate )." Luis Peralta was among the soldiers at the Presidio. For his services to the King of Spain , he was granted

9516-486: The cut-down trees as lumber both in the building and for the rainwater cisterns that flush the toilets. From 2013-2022, the company operated the "Torpedo Room" in Berkeley , their first tasting room outside of Chico. In January 2017, Sierra Nevada issued a voluntary recall of certain 12-ounce bottles of different beers in 36 states due to a manufacturing defect that had possibly introduced chipped pieces of glass into

9638-449: The dangers of alcohol. On April 1, 1878, the people of Ocean View and the area around the university campus, together with local farmers, were granted incorporation by the State of California as the Town of Berkeley. The first elected trustees of the town were the slate of Denis Kearney 's anti-Chinese Workingman's Party , who were particularly favored in the working-class area of the former Ocean View, now called West Berkeley. During

9760-518: The domain of women stemmed from the fact that brewing was a by-product of gathering, and often considered a part of baking. The Greeks and Romans cultivated both grape wine and beer , to a lesser extent. Roman women often directed production in larger households while the labor was performed by slaves . By the Tang dynasty , homebrewing seems to have been a familiar domestic chore in China, albeit

9882-490: The eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish philosopher." The philosopher's name is pronounced BARK-lee , but the city's name, to accommodate American English , is pronounced BERK-lee . The College of California's College Homestead Association planned to raise funds for the new campus by selling off adjacent parcels of land. To this end, they laid out a plat and street grid that became the basis of Berkeley's modern street plan. Their plans fell far short of their desires, and they began

10004-474: The end of the Vietnam War in 1975. While the 1960s were the heyday of liberal activism in Berkeley, it remains one of the most overwhelmingly Democratic cities in the United States. After the 1960s, Berkeley banned most new housing construction, in particular apartments. Increasing enrollment at the university led to replacement of older buildings by large apartment buildings, especially in older parts of

10126-559: The end, the park remained undeveloped, and remains so today. A spin-off, People's Park Annex , was established at the same time by activist citizens of Berkeley on a strip of land above the Bay Area Rapid Transit ("BART") underground construction along Hearst Avenue northwest of the U.C. campus. The land had also been intended for development, but was turned over to the city by BART and is now Ohlone Park . The era of large public protest in Berkeley waned considerably with

10248-694: The environmental impact of fermented beverages by using less packaging and transportation than commercially brewed beverages, and by the use of refillable jugs, reusable bottles or other reusable containers. Brewers now have access to a variety of software tools, whether free /open source or commercial, which allow them to formulate and adjust recipes. There are also web based recipe creation and sharing sites with extensive recipe databases contributed by users that can be viewed or downloaded for printing or importation into software using BeerXML . More traditional Internet forums continue to provide brewers with sources of advice and information from their peers all over

10370-773: The fall of 2010, the Berkeley Student Food Collective opened after many protests on the UC Berkeley campus due to the proposed opening of the fast food chain Panda Express . Students and community members worked together to open a collectively run grocery store right off of the UC Berkeley campus, where the community can buy local, seasonal, humane, and organic foods. The Berkeley Student Food Collective still operates at 2440 Bancroft Way. On September 18, 2012, Berkeley became what may be

10492-445: The fermentable sugars ( maltose , glucose , and sucrose ) are consumed by the yeast, while ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced as byproducts by the yeast. A layer of sediment, the lees or "trub", appears at the bottom of the fermenter, composed of heavy fats, proteins and inactive yeast. This yeast is sometimes reused in subsequent batches. Often, the brew is moved to a second fermenting vessel after primary fermentation called

10614-515: The fermenter is stoppered with a fermentation lock , which allows the carbon dioxide gas produced to vent, while preventing other gasses and particles from entering. Recent innovations in nanotechnology have enabled a fermentation lock called the Sterilock to also prevent bacteria, wild yeasts and other potential harmful fungi reaching the fermenter although in some beer styles known as Sour Beer , bacteria or wild yeasts are desirable to obtain

10736-406: The first city in the U.S. to officially proclaim a day recognizing bisexuals: September 23, which is known as Celebrate Bisexuality Day . On September 2, 2014, the city council approved a measure to provide free medical marijuana to low-income patients. The Measure D soda tax was approved by Berkeley voters on November 4, 2014, the first such tax in the United States. In the fall of 2011,

10858-663: The founding of the Berkeley Art Association and the rivalries of competing studios and art clubs. In 1904, the first hospitals in Berkeley were created: the Alta Bates Sanatorium (today Alta Bates Summit Medical Center) for women and children, founded by nurse Alta Bates on Walnut Street, and the Roosevelt Hospital (later Herrick Hospital ), founded by LeRoy Francis Herrick, on the corner of Dwight Way and Milvia Street. In 1908,

10980-430: The grains into sugar by utilizing natural enzymes. This step varies depending on the skill of the home brewer. For extract brewing, the mashing has been done by the supplier of the malt extract. No mashing is required for the home brewer in this instance. A partial mash differs from an extract brew in that the extract remains enzymatically active. Unlike dead malts where some of the starch has been converted to sugar via

11102-404: The grains) is skipped and after the mashing period is complete (typically 60–90 minutes) the grain bag holding the spent grains is removed (lautering) and the bag is compressed to drain the wort from the grain ball. The all-grain brewing process then proceeds as normal: boiling, cooling, pitching and fermenting. Traditional mashing methods require three vessels and at least two heat sources. Brew in

11224-749: The hobby of home distillation , the production of alcoholic spirits for personal consumption, but home distillation is generally more tightly regulated . Beer has been brewed domestically throughout its 7,000-year history , beginning in the Neolithic period in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq ), Egypt and China . It seems to have first developed as thick beers ; during this time meads , fruit wines and rice wines were also developed. Women brewers dominated alcohol production on every occupied continent until commercialization and industrialization of brewing occurred. The tradition of brewing being in

11346-485: The household. Because alcohol is taxed by the federal government via excise taxes , homebrewers are restricted from selling any beer they brew. This similarly applies in most Western countries. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a bill allowing home beers, which had not been permitted unless the excise taxes were paid as a holdover from the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, which had been repealed in 1933. This change also exempted home brewers from posting

11468-549: The inlet and outlet ports. Coke distributors used pin-lock fittings, while Pepsi distributors used ball-lock fittings. Ball-lock are most frequently encountered. The pin-lock style is sometimes referred to as a "Coke" keg or style and the ball-lock is sometimes referred to as a "Pepsi" keg or style though the fittings themselves are removable, serviceable, and contain interchangeable parts. Homebrewers sometimes use 15.5-US-gallon (59 L) commercial kegs (known as 1/2 kegs) for boiling vessels in creating wort. The kegs are drilled for

11590-407: The lid, the fermenter is tumbled slightly to let the hot wort sanitise all internal surfaces. It then will be left alone (often overnight) until it has reached pitching temperatures, what may take up to the best part of a day. Contamination should not be an issue since near-boiling wort is a very effective sanitiser. Where the desired outcome is to capture wild yeast from the air, some homebrewers leave

11712-501: The lower classes had to make do with poorly-filtered mash . Laws against making alcohol were enacted and repealed between the Zhou and Ming dynasties . The 18th century Industrial Revolution brought about such innovations as the thermometer and hydrometer . These tools increased efficiency to the point that mass production of beer was possible for the first time in history . In 1857, French microbiologist Louis Pasteur explained

11834-519: The mainline of the transcontinental railroad into Oakland was re-routed, putting the right-of-way along the bay shore through Ocean View. There was a strong prohibition movement in Berkeley at this time. In 1876, the state enacted the "mile limit law", which forbade sale or public consumption of alcohol within one mile (1.6 km) of the new University of California. Then, in 1899, Berkeley residents voted to make their city an alcohol-free zone. Scientists, scholars and religious leaders spoke vehemently of

11956-467: The mash in a process known as sparging . There are two types of sparging. Fly sparging and batch sparging. Fly sparging involves rinsing the grain bed by adding small amounts of hot water to the top while draining equal amounts from the bottom. Batch sparging involves adding all or most of your sparge water at one time to the grain bed and slowly draining it from the bottom. The sparging process will also stop any further enzymatic activity if much hotter water

12078-533: The nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement came to two Berkeley locations: on the campus of the University of California and as an encampment in Civic Center Park. During a Black Lives Matter protest on December 6, 2014, police use of tear gas and batons to clear protesters from Telegraph Avenue led to a riot and five consecutive days and nights of protests, marches, and freeway occupations in Berkeley and Oakland. Afterwards, changes were implemented by

12200-508: The quality of beer from these kits can be on par with commercial beer or homebrew made from other methods, others feel that pre-hopped extract provides hop bitterness with little flavor and bouquet. A typical brew session using pre-hopped ingredients may take less than an hour, not including fermentation. Brew in a bag (BIAB) is a simplified all-grain technique developed in Australia. The main pioneer and continuing authority on this method

12322-619: The rest of the nation, fueled by spillover from the San Francisco housing shortage and population growth. South and West Berkeley underwent gentrification , with some historically Black neighborhoods such as the Adeline Corridor seeing a 50% decline in Black / African American population from 1990 to 2010. In the 1990s, public television's Frontline documentary series featured race relations at Berkeley's only public high school, Berkeley High School . With an economy dominated by

12444-694: The ridge of the Berkeley Hills . The 2020 census recorded a population of 124,321. Berkeley is home to the oldest campus in the University of California , the University of California, Berkeley , and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , which is managed and operated by the university. It also has the Graduate Theological Union , one of the largest religious studies institutions in

12566-542: The role of yeast in beer fermentation, allowing brewers to develop strains of yeast with desirable properties such as efficiency converting sugar to alcohol and ability to handle higher alcohol content. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, homebrewing in the UK was circumscribed by taxation: the Inland Revenue Act 1880 ( 43 & 44 Vict. c. 20) introduced a 5- shilling homebrewing licence. Chancellor of

12688-525: The safety catch. See "How to remove a Miller threaded keg valve (not retained by a spiral ring)". The safety catch prevents the valve from releasing under pressure. It is not recommended that kegs be sanitised with bleach. To avoid unpleasant residuals, kegs are sanitised with an iodine- or oxygen-based sanitiser. Sanitisers like Star-San and B-Brite are commonly used. The ball lock valves may be unscrewed using wrenches to allow further cleaning or replacement of O-rings or poppet valves. Homebrewing can reduce

12810-418: The sour characteristics. During this time, temperatures should be kept at optimum temperature for the particular yeast strain being used. For ale this temperature is usually 18–24 °C (64–75 °F); for lager it is usually much colder, around 10 °C (50 °F). A vigorous fermentation then takes place, usually starting within twelve hours and continuing over the next few days. During this stage,

12932-555: The state law came into effect in 1995. For cities such as Berkeley, where rent control was already in place, the law limited the use of rent control to units built before the local rent-control law was enacted, i.e. 1980. During the 1970s and 1980s, activists increased their power in local government. This era also saw major developments in Berkeley's environmental and food culture. Berkeley's last Republican mayor, Wallace J. S. Johnson , left office in 1971. Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in 1971. The first curbside recycling program in

13054-473: The streets and projects to improve social service provision for this demographic, homelessness has continued to be a significant problem in Berkeley. A culture of anti-establishment and sociopolitical activism marked the 1960s. The San Francisco Bay Area became a hotspot for hippie counterculture , and Berkeley became a haven for nonconformists and anarchists from all over the United States. Most public discourse around homelessness in Berkeley at this time

13176-641: The university campus along what is now Telegraph Avenue . The first post office opened in 1872. By the 1870s, the Transcontinental Railroad reached its terminus in Oakland. In 1876, a branch line of the Central Pacific Railroad , the Berkeley Branch Railroad , was laid from a junction with the mainline called Shellmound (now a part of Emeryville) into what is now downtown Berkeley . That same year,

13298-458: The university preparing to develop the park. The city of Berkeley has historically been a central location for homeless communities in the Bay Area. Since the 1930s, the city of Berkeley has fostered a tradition of political activism. The city has been perceived as a hub for liberal thought and action and it has passed ordinances to oust homeless individuals from Berkeley on multiple occasions. Despite efforts to remove unhoused individuals from

13420-538: The university. Meanwhile, a number of U.C. students became active in the civil rights movement . Finally, in 1964, the university provoked a massive student protest by banning distribution of political literature on campus. This protest became the Free Speech Movement . As the Vietnam War rapidly escalated in the ensuing years, so did student activism at the university, particularly that organized by

13542-459: The valve counterclockwise using a piece of 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 -inch-wide (44 mm) metal inserted between the valve ears and turned with an adjustable wrench, or pipe wrench. A "wonderbar" type of pry bar just happens to fit. After the valve is loose it is still retained by a safety catch that must be pried inward. A simple valve seal depressing tool and a screwdriver with a 1 ⁄ 8 inch (3.2 mm) diameter shaft must be used to release

13664-457: The world. Homebrewers can submit their beer for evaluation into competitions. These competitions provide blind feed back to brewers so they can get objective feedback, make adjustments to improve their brewing, and be recognized for outstanding homebrew. Competitions can be organized by homebrew clubs, state fairs, or businesses. The AHA, BJCP, and HomebrewCompetitions.com all keep a list of currently scheduled competitions. Homebrewcompetitions.com

13786-502: The world. Berkeley is considered one of the most socially progressive cities in the United States. The site of today's City of Berkeley was the territory of the Chochenyo/Huchiun Ohlone people when the first Europeans arrived. Evidence of their existence in the area include pits in rock formations, which they used to grind acorns. wildflower seeds, grass seeds, and many different foods, including squirrel fat, and

13908-548: The wort boils with the hops varies depending on the style of beer , but is usually 60–90 minutes. Hops are added at different times during the boil, depending on the desired result. Hops added at the beginning of the boil contribute bitterness, hops added in the last thirty minutes contribute flavor. Hops added in the last few minutes or even after the end of the boil contribute both flavor and hop aroma. These hop additions are generally referred to as bittering, flavor, and aroma additions respectively. Finings such as Irish moss ,

14030-411: The wort to cool in a broad, uncovered container, typically called a coolship . Once the wort has cooled to a temperature that is friendly to yeast, the yeast is "pitched" into the wort and allowed to ferment. It is at this point that 'wort" becomes "beer." Primary fermentation in homebrewing takes place in large glass or plastic carboys or food-grade plastic buckets, nearly always sealed. When sealed,

14152-482: Was 25 to 30 barrels per week, and retired in 2017. The company distributed the beer itself in the early 1980s, struggling with financial and marketing problems. A 1982 article in the San Francisco Chronicle highlighting the brewery, as well as having its beer sold in prominent restaurants such as Berkeley's Chez Panisse , helped establish a market for Sierra Nevada's beer. By 1987, the brewery

14274-550: Was considerable overlap between the hippie movement and the radical left. An iconic event in the Berkeley Sixties scene was a conflict over a parcel of university property south of the contiguous campus site that came to be called " People's Park ". The battle over the disposition of People's Park resulted in a month-long occupation of Berkeley by the National Guard on orders of then-Governor Ronald Reagan . In

14396-513: Was distributing to seven states and production had reached 12,000 US beer barrels (14,000 hl) per year, causing the company to pursue building a new brewery. In 1988, the brewery moved into a 100-barrel brewhouse, with four open fermenters, and eleven 200 US bbl (230 hl) secondary fermenters. A year later, Grossman and Camusi added the Sierra Nevada Taproom and Restaurant, which serves lunch and dinner and includes

14518-400: Was established, which in 1984 made policy recommendation to the school board, which passed domestic partner legislation. The legislation became a model for similar measures nationwide. In 1995, California's Costa–Hawkins Act ended vacancy control, allowing rents to increase when a tenant moved out. Despite a slow down in 2005–2007, median home prices and rents remain dramatically higher than

14640-488: Was its Pale Ale, in November 1980. The following year, the brewery introduced Celebration, an IPA , which continues to be released as a winter seasonal. The company sold 950 US beer barrels (1,110 hl) of beer in its first year and doubled that amount in the second. The company's first employee was Steve Harrison, who was put in charge of marketing and sales. Head brewer Steve Dresler was hired in 1983, when its output

14762-599: Was named "Green Business of the Year" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 for its practices in sustainability . In 2014, a second brewery location was opened in Mills River, North Carolina . Sierra Nevada is considered one of the earliest and most influential American craft breweries in the latter half of the 20th century . Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded in 1980, with founders Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi expanding their homebrewing hobby into

14884-475: Was synthesized utilizing the 60-inch (1.5 m) cyclotron at UC Berkeley, and named in 1949, in recognition of the university, thus placing the city's name in the list of elements. During the 1940s, many African Americans migrated to Berkeley. In 1950, the Census Bureau reported Berkeley's population as 11.7% black and 84.6% white. The postwar years brought moderate growth to the city, as events on

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