The brewing process begins when the malted barley grains are cracked in the malt mill and the resulting grist is mixed with hot water in the mash tun. The enzymes naturally present in the barley malt help convert the starches to sugars. It is important to note that we only use the finest barley malts and never corn or rice fillers.
Next, the mash is pumped into the lauter tun. Here water is run through the grain, and a very sweet and nutritious syrup is created. This syrup, called wort, is then pumped into the kettle where it is boiled. Unlike some breweries, we never "high gravity" brew and then dilute the beer.
During the long boil we add the hops. Distinctive hop character is a Sierra Nevada trademark and we are quite fanatical about it! We use only the whole cone hop, never hop extracts or pellets, and we use a much larger amount of hops than most breweries. Also, a large portion of the hops is added late in the boil so the volatile oils are retained. This adds greatly to the aromatic quality of the beers.
